seoul, south korea > part II

the second day at the conference pretty much started when everyone of the team arrived between 9 and 10am .. i got there kinda late too..cant really blame me tho..we only left the stadium the night before at 430 am, and back at the hotel by 5am! so had a couple of hours of sleep, and then back up at 8 plus, and off to the stadium. now, after working 2 days on our ideas, sketches and concepts..that hours that led up to our presentation at 3 were surprisingly calm and cool. chris, our mentor, was pretty much putting in the final touches for the presentation and the rest were kinda like hanging out till he finishes..

i finally i got the time i thought to check out the stadium grounds .. at last, some time to check out the vast array of innovations scattered all over the place. from one level to another, from one end to another, from one air d0me to another, at last, i could go check it all out.


and i wasn't disappointed.


there were so many items on display all over the place, that it was impossible to take it all in at one go. on one wing, there were products birthed from innovations in graphics, multimedia, industrial and product designs, and in the other, wild ideas materialized in architectural, interior and sculptural forms.

new ideas boldly pushing the limits of design
in terms of concepts, execution and creation.

from simple ideas like the the redesigning of clocks, cups and calendars, and other run-of-the-mill mundane items you find in your home, till the redesigning of an entire city, covering infrastructure, interconnectivity and interaction among future citizens. its amazing what the human mind can dream up when given the chance, almost to the point of playing God.

out of this world.

and the displays had come from all over...from design universities and technical colleges, from individual companies and public enterprises, from professionals and students, from the government itself till the layman walking on the streets. i really wished as i walked around that we had something of this magnitude and appeal back home in KL, simply because the sum of it all was such an exciting affair. it truly was an international effort.

so for the next hour or so, i walked around, or rather rushed around, trying to absorb as much as i could visually. it was just too much and i was in design heaven, but like all good things it had to come an end. i needed to rejoin my team by 1 for lunch and then of course, for the presentation at 3pm.

and so we rushed.

















we worked as quickly as we could. getting all the little things rite.
spelling. visuals. sketches. presentations. the works.


2pm, we approached the deadline. gotta hand up the cd to the organisers. and we did. we were a bit late, but we handed it up. finally, a breather. finally we were done. and now off to the air dome, this huge silver caterpillar, with a form that looks like it's contorted within itself for the presentation. one of my buddies who took a break last nite around 3am wanted to go out for some smokes, and he wanted to be in the fresh air, decided to light up just next to the airdome ... not a good idea!




the second the lighter was lit, some guards immediately came around and asked them to stay away from the dome..'why' you ask? cause you gotta realise that the dome is made of flammable plastic and one spark was all it would take to light up the air filled tent like the zeppelin that blew up the morning sky like some out of control giant air borne bonfire...


so back to the presentation...as we headed to the hall around 3pm, we were ecstatic. God knows we did the best we could, the rest was up to providence. but you know, regardless of the results, we were happy. happy to be here, happy with our work and happy to have made friends.






that's what really matters.

and so we waited for our turn. only after the first 6 teams tho..agonizing wait for some of us, im sure. but the good thing was we get to see what the others prepared..and i was kinda impressed too..we had teams presenting karaoke devices and interactive, net - friendly audio devices for the hearing impaired, chairs that morph and change form for the wheelchair bound, interactive hand held cube like computers for the disabled, and green community based projects for the elderly. and the presentations were wonderful .. ranging from simple but effective animations, 3D renderings, hand drawn sketches in pdf format and good old fashioned public speaking. all passionate about their work, and it clearly showed in their presence on stage.

i thought to myself, all this in 48 hours? wow.

and so one by one, we all went on stage. presenting, articulating and advocating. my team member even decided to get everyone up and about stretching themselves to get the blood moving again before she presented. Nice work, Hee. and when everything was finally over, and in goodwill one team won the best idea, it was time to rejoice! time to get together, time to celebrate and time to take photos. yes, we all got on stage and we all smiled for the camera. and the word of the day for the photo op?

why, kim chi of course ... what else is there?

and now its off to the farewell party. we were done by around 6 pm, loitered a bit, hung out a bit, took more photos and congratulated each other as much as we could. all in good spirits, all in good fun.next stop ... Seoul city, to party till the break of dawn.




















now that's what we really came for!