Six local students have participated in the 2016 WorldSkills Hong Kong Competition for Visual Merchandising & Window Dressing, fighting for a chance to represent Hong Kong at WorldSkills 2017 in Abu Dhabi.
WorldSkills is held every two years and it is open to competitors aged 22 or under who may only enter the competition once. Hong Kong Design Institute chose six students studying a Higher Diploma in Exhibition Design, to participate in the Hong Kong trial. Three students will be selected for further one-year intensive training. Only one candidate will be qualified to represent Hong Kong in 2017.
All six youngsters had no experience in dressing a full window set and had to apply their inherent skills. The trial ran for two days. Each candidate had three hours to draft their design and completed their showcases before the deadline.
Comprehensive training
The competition took place at an open space inside the campus. Without air-conditioning, competitors needed to brave temperatures of more than 30 degrees Celsius, also sweating it out under the spotlights of the windows.
Student instructor and competition judge, Hong Kong Design Institute Senior Lecturer Leo Chan said accommodating the weather was also part of the training. "This is because we want to test their patience and mindfulness. According to the past experience, there are quite a lot of distractions during the WorldSkills competition.”
The theme of this round was "summer sports". The contestants had to design and decorate their own windows, showcasing a simple product—bottled water. They faced different technical problems, like mistakes in cutting out the promotion slogan and time management.
The main goal of a showcase is to promote a designated product and to instantly send the audience a clear message. Sabrina Chung, who competed in this event, believed that creating her design within the limiting space of a showcase was a challenging task.
Experience exchange
Contestants were required to present their showcase to the judges. Sabrina was assigned blue as her theme colour and she chose water sports as the window's topic.
Christy Lam was another judge of the event. She was the first ever Hong Kong representative in the Visual Merchandising & Window Dressing section for the WorldSkills 2013 competition in Leipzig, Germany.
“The students performed really well these two days. They are skillful, resourceful and flexible. I wish they could all win the chance to join WorldSkills 2017. The experience was really amazing and it helped me a lot when I developed my career in Exhibition Design.”
Individual breakthrough
Leo Chan also felt pleased about the students' performances. "The windows are eye-catching and more than that, there are stories in the boxes. Note this is their first time to design, decorate and dress up the windows on their own. They really did a good job.”
All six contestants finished their showcases on time. They discovered their strengths and weaknesses and looked forward to doing better next time. Mr Chan encouraged the students by awarding them with a trophy. He thought they were all winners as they successfully broke through their own barriers.
Competitors are judged in both objective and subjective ways including completeness, tidiness, and safety awareness as well as how effectively they present the product.
Finally, Sabrina Chung, Lung Chi-sing and Lee Po-shan got the highest score. They will accept further training to compete for a place in WorldSkills 2017.
