THE REAL ZOULOGY
WHO / ZOU
a.k.a. Klara Sibeck born 1979 in Sweden >see CV as PDF
zou came to Shanghai in 2005 on a one-way ticket. This daring move has inspired friends in Sweden to move abroad as well – at least one of them went as far as to Norway! Well, it wasn't the first trip to Asia for zou: she had been studying in Taiwan and visited the major Asian cities during that year. She fell in love with the streets of Shanghai and decided it was a place she had to come back to.
zou in shanghai. photo by butsou
Since January 2008, zou is working at WILDDESIGN Shanghai together with oni. She also runs her own company, providing product development and manufacturing services in China for Swedish clients. She is an engineer, after all. Even though she sometimes pretends to be a designer, or even a writer. At WILDDESIGN, she has been making use of all of her skills, leading the projects in graphics, packaging design and strategic brand identity creation.
LEFT BRAINED COMMUNICATION LOVER
zou grew up in the deep forests of Sweden in the small town Karlskoga where Alfred Nobel used to live – yes, that's the guy with the Nobel Prize. After some serious years studying natural science she went to art school for a short laid back respite before starting her university degree to become a Master of Engineering in Industrial Design, a study program that mixes mechanical engineering with product design. This inclination to engineering and logic thinking makes zou the left side of the onizou brain: she's an undercover geek who loves reading about the latest tech news.
Now, it turned out that zou was more excited about making beautiful project presentations than doing the actual product design projects. So after two years she took a study break to lead the university’s student magazine (pictured left) as a full-time employee, writing many of the articles and doing the layout.
After a year full of long working nights and print deadlines, zou went back to her studies but continued working part time as a writer and editor, employed by her university for projects such as creating the catalogue of courses to attract new students. Fun work, indeed. Was industrial design really the right way to go? She wasn't sure, so she went studying in Taiwan. Half a year of studies at NCTU and then six months as an intern at Philips Design in Taipei where she learnt about design management and the competitive consumer electronics market. Then back to Sweden for graduation and six months work at the advertisement agency valentin where she handled the production of Saab’s brochures for international market, learning all about typos and V8 engines.
bike lamp project illustration / magazine illustration / product design
having more fun doing cool project illustrations than the actual product design
at philips design taiwan / coordinating saab brochures / leading the design team at TAO
Before getting stuck in Gothenburg with a Volvo, a villa and a dog (the Swedish stereotype) zou decided to leave for Shanghai. Her first year in China was spent in the outer suburbs of Shanghai, working for the French company TAO light designing the decorative lighting range, packaging and brochures. More about this in >works/projects. She was also the leader of a sourcing office before partnering up with WILDDESIGN. And the rest you know already: she now works with a delightful mix of product design, product development, manufacturing, strategy, branding, graphics and communication. All is well that ends well.
MAGAZINE ARTICLES ABOUT ZOU
2008/OCT/15-21 Metro Teknik/Karriär
"Klara found work after 6 weeks in Shanghai" – interview with zou (a.k.a. Klara Sibeck) about working in Asia. In Metro's monthly career section.
"Klara Sibeck vågade starta eget" – article about zou (a.k.a. Klara Sibeck) and her work in Shanghai in the magazine of Chalmers University of Technology. In Swedish.
2008-03 chalmers magasin.pdf
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