East Meets West | Theodora Mantzaris: How can Olympic design reflect the shared values of East and West?

The Hangzhou Asian Games open on 23 September in Hangzhou, China, with more than 12,000 athletes from 45 national (regional) delegations in Asia and tens of thousands of guests from various countries (regions) to witness this Asian Olympic event. Among them, the Hangzhou Asian Games mascot, emblem and aesthetic elements also become the important carrier for China and the countries (regions) to enhance understanding and promote cultural exchanges. How can the designs of the Hangzhou Asian Games reflect China's national image and the image of Asia? How to enhance the communication and integration between the East and the West through design? Theodora Mantzaris, a famous designer from Greece - the birthplace of the modern Olympics - was recently interviewed by East Meets West to give her point of view of the relevant topics.

Theodora Mantzaris. Credit: Gang Wang

Theodora Mantzaris, renowned Greek designer, designer of the 2004 Athens Olympic emblem, senior advisor to the International Olympic Committee, and advisor to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

You have been involved in the design work related to the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic Games, etc. Please tell us about your involvement in these projects and what are the results of your work that you are most proud of?

The Olympic Games are an excellent opportunity to show the national image and attributes of the host country. Designing the visual identity for the Olympics is every designer's dream, and certainly mine.

I was very lucky to have my design selected for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games emblem design competition. Every line of the emblem was drawn under my creative direction, this is an experience that made me very happy and proud.

In 2022, I was honoured to be chosen and invited to work together on the design projects for the Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Together with my Chinese friends, I provided design and creativity for the project. I learnt about China's most cutting edge and stylish technologies during this collaboration and was able to reflect the Olympic values in my work. The design of the Winter Olympics is based on a picture of China's thousands of years of history, with cultural and philosophical significance. These artistic expressions are combined with the Olympic Rings in venues, costumes, etc., reflecting the concepts of inclusiveness, solidarity and co-operation, sustainable development, and conveying to the world the consensus of global unity and peace, which is a characteristic that can be felt by the global audience. Both the Beijing Winter Olympics and the Winter Paralympics emphasise the fact that cultural exchange and cooperation are essential to promoting global understanding and appreciation.

What is your understanding of Olympic event design? What should be reflected in the design?

The Olympic originated in a Greek city called "Olympia", where we sought cultural unity and solidarity. The Olympic Games, in accordance with the Olympic Charter, have become a living philosophy that puts sport and culture at the service of all humankind. The beauty of the Olympics is reflected in the fact that is held in different country every time, which is an opportunity for the host country to showcase its long history and to allow the Olympic spirit to be intertwined with the identity of it.

China is a country that honours the Olympic spirit and puts it into practice itself in many of its activities, and both times Beijing hosted the Olympic Games it demonstrated sportsmanship as well as a strong cultural heritage.

The Olympic Games are a very special event and we needed to design something that was closer to the athletes, something that would tell them about the aims and objectives of the Games and also present the special moments for the athletes.

From my experience, the Chinese team has not only given their designs the significance of the Olympics, but has also demonstrated how the Olympics can enhance the cultural environment of a city. Since the Olympics should not only reflect the values of Olympia, but also the culture of the host country, China has done a very good job of combining the two. The design of the 2008 Beijing Olympics reflected the world's embrace of each other, and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics also reflects the integration of the beautiful environment of this thousand year old country, and its concept of sustainable development. In addition, the use of special technology in the team uniforms of that time is worth thinking about the innovations that China has brought to the world.

Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium. Credit: Jianfei Fang

Hangzhou Asian Games emblem, mascot, city image design have been released, for these designs, what do you feel about them?

I travelled to Hangzhou not long ago and saw the fabulous Hangzhou Asian Games mascot and emblem, as well as some of the landscaping designs at the airport. The designs were fantastic and you could see the enthusiasm with which everyone was looking forward to the Asian Games, and they gave me a very special feeling that the Hangzhou Asian Games were going to be fantastic.

In my design creations, I have always believed that it is important for cultural heritage to be presented, which is a new way of preservation. When I travelled to Hangzhou Liangzhu Ancient City Park, I was shocked at how this ancient and creative culture gives us a better understanding of social life 5,000 years ago, and I'm glad to see that these great Chinese cultures are also well represented in the Hangzhou Asian Games mascot.

For example, one of the mascots for the Hangzhou Asian Games, "CongCong", is a representative of the Liangzhu culture, with the design of a jade cong on its head. I really appreciate that the mascots of the Hangzhou Asian Games incorporate elements of Liangzhu, which tells the story of China to the world. I feel that the mascots not only reflect these traditional elements, but also act as cultural ambassadors to bring the Hangzhou Asian Games to the world, so that countries and regions around the world can learn about China's culture through social media and other channels.

All in all, many image designs of the Hangzhou Asian Games are presented in a language and pattern that can be understood by people all over the world. I appreciate having this new channel that is for China's foreign exchanges and the dissemination of Chinese culture to the outside world, and it can better promote the communication and exchange of various countries and regions.

Hangzhou Asian Games mascot. Credit: Chenfei Qian

What impact do you think the Hangzhou Asian Games-related image design will have on the city as well as its culture, and how should the Asian Games-related image design be further utilised for market application and promotion, so as to reflect China's national image and Asia's image?

Hangzhou is a very beautiful and romantic city, with an ancient region, culture and history, as well as very advanced technology. The combination of technology and culture reflects China's determination to contribute to the world. I love the romance of China and appreciate China's determination to make the world a better place.

I think the image associated with the Asian Games should reflect the city's style, and this should be an opportunity to promote culture. When we think about the Asian Games, we can't just look at the sports and culture, we should look at the long term, look at the wealth that this city has. We should know not only the ancient Chinese culture, but also China's latest development, innovative technology, the idea of making people's lives better, etc., all of which should be shown through the Asian Games; with the help of online and offline media platforms as well as modern technology for the promotion, to show the world the beautiful Chinese culture and the latest development of China, presenting Chinese characteristics, Zhejiang style, Hangzhou vibe.

What role do you think design can play in enhancing communication and integration between East and West?

Nowadays, there is no longer any particular difficulty in communicating between the East and the West, and design and art are a bridge between them. This is something that I personally feel very strongly about, as my previous trip to Beijing for the Winter Olympics was unbelievably wonderful, not only in terms of providing design ideas, but also in terms of gaining a deeper understanding of the Chinese culture and meeting so many wonderful Chinese people, which I am very grateful to have learnt from this design work.

Eastern and Western design have a lot in common. Take China and Greece for example, we both have a great respect for tradition and history. Both culture place great importance on values such as harmony, balance and the pursuit of knowledge, which is reflected in many of our designs. At the same time, we are both focus on unity and understanding each other's cultures, which creates a better environment for communication between the two countries, allowing us to share and learn from each other.

Speaking of the future, I would like to continue to call for ever-increasing co-operation, whether in design, art or in other areas, where East and West can find innovative ways of solving problems. The Hangzhou Asian Games is a great opportunity for us to share and learn from each other's sports and cultures, to pave the way for meaningful exchanges of ideas and artistic expressions through an understanding of shared cultural heritage, values and historical values, and to create a more creative and friendly future through co-operation, respect and continuous cultural exchanges.