The 7th Zhejiang Yunhe Wooden Toy Creative Design Competition – International Design Camp kicked off on July 18 and will run to Oct 8 in Yunhe county in Lishui city in East Chinas Zhejiang province.

Featuring international guest speaker Professor Peter Litzburg – from the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart in Germany – the 2023 competition is proving to be an exciting event.

It's a collaboration between 11 domestic academic institutions, one design studio and 12 wooden toy companies – working together to boost the development of Yunhe wooden toys.

This year's competition is taking a fresh approach to meet the practical needs of businesses and speed up the implementation of design solutions, with the ultimate goal of achieving commercial success.

During the contest, 11 academic institutions and one independent studio are partnering up with 12 companies for targeted, one-on-one product design collaborations. This is expected to enable designers to gain a better understanding of wooden toy craftsmanship and customer needs, which is seen as being crucial for the successful implementation of design solutions.

What's more, Professor Litzburg will deliver a week-long lecture series at the Yunhe Wooden Toy Industry Innovation Research Institute of Zhejiang University of Technology, to share his thoughts on the sustainable development of the wooden toy industry.

Officials from Yunhe county expressed their excitement about the potential for the local industry to transform from an original equipment manufacturer provider into an innovation hub.

This transition is not only up to individual enterprises themselves, but also requires the joint efforts of design forces from all sectors of society, they added.