| Lenovo sees the light with Olympic Torch design |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Monday, 30 April 2007 | |
  
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The launch came amidst the controversy of Taiwan, which is happy to have the Torch visit the island, as long as it comes and leaves via territories that have no connection with the Chinese mainland (i.e. no arrival or departure through the mainland, Hong Kong or Macau), frustrating relations between Taiwan and the Chinese Mainland, although there is no real surprise there, and the slightly odd local controversy of the path the 2008 Torch will take on its journey into Australia. The Australian path will see the Torch travel exclusively through Canberra, which only has a few Olympic soccer games from the Sydney 2000 Olympics as its claim to Olympic fame, in what is a bit of a snub to the actual Olympic cities of Sydney and Melbourne, both previous Olympic hosts of international repute. Of course, neither the Taiwanese or Canberran controversies have anything whatsoever to do with Lenovo, they just happen to have come at a time when the Lenovo-designed Olympic Torch was unveilved and as such are worth briefly mentioning. Lenovo’s Olympic Torch design is called the “Cloud of Promise” and will be carried by torchbearers around the world in the Olympic Torch Relay preceding the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
 Lenovo's Olympic Torch: The Cloud of Promise “Lenovo’s spirit, similar to that of the Olympic Games themselves, is multicultural, collaborative and competitive. As a TOP Sponsor of the Olympic Games and Worldwide Partner of the Olympic Torch Relay, Lenovo has a deep understanding of the significance of the torch to the Olympic movement. The Lenovo design team brought great passion and strong professional capability and experience to create the ‘Cloud of Promise’ themed torch, which marries modern technology and Olympic spirit with the Chinese traditional culture. We are proud for people to carry this torch around the world.” Since its inception in 1936, the Olympic torch has come to represent the history and culture of its host country and city. Lenovo’s unique approach for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch incorporates a sleek and modern design with historical Chinese symbolism. The primary theme of the torch’s artwork is clouds, which are intimately associated with Chinese culture, and are often represented in works of Chinese architecture, drawing and painting, furniture and story-telling. The torch, fashioned from a polished aluminum-magnesium alloy, measures 720 millimeters x 50 mm x 40 mm (28.35 inches x 1.97 in x 1.56 in) and is exceptionally lightweight at about 1,000 grams (2.21 pounds). Additional features of the torch design include: - Primary coloring of deep red and bright silver, a fusion of traditional Chinese art and contemporary design, blending symbols of Chinese culture, philosophy and art; - A handle designed not only for comfort, but to emulate the unique sensation of one hand holding another thanks to a coating of rubber-based paint; and - An embossed pattern of clouds, which represent the ever-developing Chinese culture. Lenovo’s award-winning design team spent more than 10 months on the design of the torch. Altogether, more than 30 Lenovo design specialists were involved in the torch project including the core team of 10. The team was truly multinational, including designers from Germany, Singapore, US, Japan, New Zealand, Italy and China. The experience and specialties of the designers were equally diverse, and included majors in graphic design, chemistry, engineering, materials, anthropology, art and history. For months the teams engaged in intensive brainstorming, including game playing and creativity exercises, to help them look at the torch design from many different perspectives. “Inspired by the shape of a traditional Chinese scroll, the imagery of the ‘Cloud of Promise’ represents the traditions of China, while the shape, texture and technology evoke the Olympic spirit,” said Yao Yingjia, Executive Director, Lenovo Innovation Design Center in Beijing. “We approached the design of the torch with the same process we use in designing our personal computers. First we explore the connection between the user and the solution we create for them, looking at factors like size, weight, features, etc. Then we encourage the Lenovo design team to take a fresh approach to make the product unique and friendly to the customer. This is what we did with the torch, realizing it must be attractive to those who see it, and comfortable and light for those who carry it. In the case of the torch, our ‘customer’ is both the torchbearer and the spectator.” The official torch lighting will take place in Olympia, Greece, in March 2008. The torch will travel to 20 countries around the world including the UK, France, USA, Australia, India and Japan, and then make its way through Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau before visiting 113 cities in China to arrive at its final destination in Beijing on August 8, 2008 to mark the start of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. For those who are unaware, the number 8 is lucky in Chinese culture, much like the number 7 is lucky in Western culture. With August being the 8th month of the year, a start date of the 8th of the 8th month in the year 2008, or 8/8/8, is supposed to be very lucky indeed, and should bode well for China having a fortune filled Olympic extravaganza.{moscomment} |
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