As I am writing these lines from the patio of our summer vacation lodge, 8000 km away in the city of Hong Kong it takes place This Happened HK 2014. It's the forth time that Input/Output (I/O) in collaboration with K11 present This Happened HK and managed through all these years to create a platform to promote interaction design. This Happened is a multi-functional event: it is educational, informational and communicational. For the history, This Happened was founded in 2007 by Chris O'Shea, Joel Gethin Lewis and Andreas Müller aiming to bring insight to audience for better innovative work in the future and in 2009 LED artist Teddy Lo, founder of LENOVATION Andrew Pang, multi-discipline media artist and co-founder of Videotage Ellen Pau and new media artist/interactive web designer and director of pill & pillow Henry Chu brought This Happened to HK.

Three talented artists and interactive designers (Alan Kwan, Frantz Lasorne and Nicolas Guyon co-founders of Visionaries 777 Ltd and Yuki Tazaki, creative director of WOW inc.) from Hong Kong and Japan were invited as guest speakers to share their creative ideas and working progress to the public in order to bring incredible insights to the viewers through their spectacular presentations.

Alan Kwan, copyright Input/Output

Beating Clock, 2011, Alan Kwan, copyright Input/Output

As I am reading the material which was kindly sent by the organisers I would look mindless not to say a few words about the speakers. Alan Kwan is an independent film director and an artist with many show exhibitions, including the Ars Electronica Festival in Austria, ZKM Centre for Art and Media in Germany. Recently, he received the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Award for Young Artist (Media Art) and the Asian Cultural Council Fellowship. His recent projects, blend film, video game and emerging technologies such as life-logging devices and brainwave sensors.

Visionaries 777 Ltd, founders Frantz Lasorne and Nicolas Guyon, copyright Input/Output

Visionaries 777 Ltd was founded in 2010 and is based in Hong Kong. The master minds behind the multidisciplinary studio are as we mentioned previously Frantz Lasorne and Nicolas Guyon. The group has a vision to enhance the design of innovative interactive experiences based on emerging technologies that enhance the perception of the physical world through Augmented Reality; Involve a specific part or the entire human body through natural user Interfaces; react with physical space through Interactive installations. Moving forward, they will maintain a philosophy and desire to continually explore and push the boundaries of these technologies ongoing research, experimentation, and prototyping.

Yuki Tazaki portrait, copyright Input/Output

Nike Tech Pack Box Tokyo, 2013, Yuki Tazaki, copyright Input/Output

Art and Satellite Project, Yuki Tazaki, copyright Input/Output

Yuki Tazaki is the creative director of WOW inc., working for Nike Japan, Sony and WOW's original project "aikuchi". aikuchi project is an international collaboration project for making "KATANA" in order to pioneer new perspective of Japanese super craftsmanship. He also committed in art field such as “ARTSAT: Art and Satellite Project” which utilizes a satellite orbiting the earth as a “medium that connects everyday life to the universe”.