Ai Weiwei for Third Drawer Down Studio

by Abi Crompton

Last year I watched the amazing documentary 'Ai Weiwei, Never Sorry' by Alison Klayman at MIFF and it made me want to take action as a Product Designer and collaborate with Ai Weiwei to keep his voice a loud part of the digital conversation and empower one another to engage, create, and localize Weiwei's global cause. 

The connection with Ai Weiwei was randomly amazing.........I only have one friend in Beijing. So one day I was talking with my friend who asked me what I was up to...and I explained that I was interested in Ai Weiwei works and whether they knew of his art. My friend replied 'What, do I know Ai Weiwei's art?....I go to his parties Abi!'...... 
And so the door opened to be introduced to Ai Weiwei and now Third Drawer Down privileged, proud and taking action. You can too....... 

Please follow Ai Weiwei on Twitter here

Ai Weiwei is an artist and a social activist. His work encompasses diverse fields including fine arts, curating, architecture, and social criticism. Born in Beijing in 1957, he moved to Xinjiang with his family between 1960 and 1976. Subsequently he relocated to the United States in 1981 and lived there until 1993. He currently resides and works in Beijing.

On April 3, 2011, Ai was secretly detained by the police for 81 days at the Beijing Capital International Airport while on his way to board a flight to Hong Kong. He was released on bail on June 22, 2011 upon fabricated tax charges. Although the bail was lifted after a year, the authorities have not returned his passport and he remains prohibited from travelling outside China.

In collaboration with Herzog & de Meuron, Ai Weiwei designed the 2012 Serpentine Pavilion in London, UK. Among numerous awards and honors, he won the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent from the Human Rights Foundation in 2012, and was selected as Honorary Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK in 2011.