ZHOU Hongtao Ph.D., MFA, Professor, Director of Innovation Field

Dr. Hongtao ZHOU was born in Yanbian of Jilin Province, 1978. He holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University and a MFA from University of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently he is a Shanghai Oriental Scholar Distinguished Professor, Full Professor and Director of Innovation Field at College of Design and Innovation (D&I) , Tongji University and Visiting Professor at School of Architecture, University of Hawaii-Manoa.  Dr. ZHOU serves as Scientific Committee of Directors at Legno Arredo Training Centre-Permanent Collection Salone Satellite, Executive Member and Curator of the National Association of Chinese Artists in American Academia, China Red Star Design Award Jury and Hawaii Wood Guild Show Jury.

Prior to joining Tongji D&I, he worked as Assistant Professor, the Director of the Haigo and Irene Shen Architecture Gallery, Coordinator and Co-Director of Global Track and Executive Education programs at School of Architecture, University of Hawaii-Manoa. He also worked as Guest Curator at Milwaukee Art Museum, as well as an Instructor and Furniture Woodshop Supervisor at University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has lectured at Peking University, Tsinghua University, MIT and China Academy of Fine Art.

Dr. ZHOU’s research and practice in arts and design has won numerous accomplishments, including the First Place Award of Design Emphasis, International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta, the First Place Novice of Hawaii Woodshow, the Artist of Hawaii Award, the Silver Medal at the International Snow Sculpture Competition in Quebec, China Top Ten Prominent Youth Design Award Finalist Award by Dragon Design Foundation of China, China National Art Fund, Headlands Center for the Arts Residency Award, Vermont Studio Center Residency Award and Madison Art Commission BLINK Grant.

Dr. ZHOU has exhibited his work nationally and internationally, including the 40th anniversary opening exhibition of Georges Pompidou National Art and Cultural Centre, the European Culture Center during the Venice Biennale, the Milan Triennial, the San Etienne Design Biennale, the National Gallery of Art in Bangladesh, the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts, New York Design Week, SCOPE Art Basel Miami, Milan Design Week Salone del Mobile, Design Shanghai, Gwangju Design Biennale-South Korea, the 13th National Exhibition of Fine Arts (Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China), China Design Exhibition, New York Design Week, Milwaukee Art Museum, Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, Honolulu Museum of Art, Chipstone Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Chazen Museum of Art, University of Tennessee, the University of Hawaii-Manoa, Stanford University, the University of Oklahoma Art Museum, Taiwan Design Center, National Museum of China in Beijing, CAFA Art Museum and Tsinghua University Academy of Arts& Design. His work has been acquired into the permanent collections of Centre Pompidou, University of California-Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, the University of Virginia and many other institutions and private collections.

He has published his work and research in Interior Design, Wallpaper*, Domus, Art Daily, Arch Daily, Imprimer Le Monde, American Craft, American Style, Dwell, Metropolis, Modern Luxury, Journal of Modern Craft, Transmaterial, Wood Digest, Art Illustration, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Fox and Xinhua.

Research Area: Environmental Design, Furniture Design, Sculpture Installation, Modern Woodworking, Material Innovation, Sustainable Design, Craft Study, Curatorial Practice and Fabrication Shop Education Study.

Call for Undergraduate, Master, Ph.D. Students, Postdoc, Artist in Residency and Visiting Student Intern for interdisciplinary research and practice with support of research team, work space and state of art facilities.

Please contact Hongtao Zhou for more information: 

lifeisfurniture@gmail.com

www.hongtaozhou.com

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2017-Present Professor, Director of Innovation Field, College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Shanghai, China (Basic Design Studio, Design Communication, Art Center Studio, UN Master Design Studio)

2017-Present Visiting Professor, School of Architecture, University of Hawaii–Manoa

2015-2016 Global Track Professor, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai, China (Arch 693 Special Topics Exhibition Design, Arch 750C Architecture Studio Urban Design, Arch 781 Critical Inquiry Research Thesis)

2012-2016 Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, University of Hawaii–Manoa, Honolulu, HI, (Basic Design Studio Arch 101, Arch 201, Arch 693 Grad Furniture Design and Fabrication, Arch 690 Grad Advanced Sculpture and Installation, Arch 490 Exhibition Design, Arch 490 Sculptural Installation)

2011-2012 Chief Designer, Drift Studio, Madison, WI

2009-2012 Guest Curator, Milwaukee Art Musuem, Chipstone Foundation

2010-2011 Instructor of Record, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, (3D Design)

2008-2010 Woodshop Supervisor, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, (Teach Woodshop Safety, Supervise Wood/Furniture Classes and Manage Departmental Woodshop and Advanced Woodshop)

2005-2008 Teaching/Research Assistant, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, (Design for Computer Numerical Controlled Manufacturing and Introduction to Environmental Conservation)

2001-2005 Assistant Professor, Furniture Design Department and Landscape Architecture Division, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China (Foundations, Interior and Furniture Design, Sculpture and Ice& Snow Art)

SELECTED HONORS/GRANTS

2019 China National Art Fund

2019 Shanghai IV Summit Discipline in Design-Publication Fund

2019 Artist in Residency Award, Headlands Art Center

2018 Shanghai Government Key Project: City Colour Design and Shanghai (Participant)

2018 Finalist, China Top Ten Prominent Youth Design Award, Dragon Design Foundation, China (Awarded in the Great Hall of China)

2018 Shanghai IV Summit Discipline in Design-Open Research Fund

2017 Shanghai IV Summit Discipline in Design-Environmental Design Fund

2017 Shanghai Oriental Scholar Grant

2017 Shanghai IV Summit Discipline in Design-Furniture Master Studio Fund

2017 Artist of Hawaii Award and Violette Wong Hu Award, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI

2013 First Place, Hawaii Woodshow, (Novice), Honolulu, HI

2012 BLINK Grant, Madison Arts Commission, WI

2011 Fellowship Award-Sculpture, Vermont Studio Center, VT

2010 Silver Medal, International Snow Sculpture Competition (Team Captain), Quebec, Canada

2010 Cover & winner, The Best of Core77: Favourites from 2009

2008 3rd Place, International Design Awards (IDA)Competition, Los Angeles, CA

2007 Merit Award, Taiwan International Design Competition, Taipei, Taiwan

2006 First Place Trophy, Design Emphasis 2006, International Woodworking Fair, Atlanta, GA

RELATED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2019 International Jury, SaloneSatellite, Salone del Mobile.Milano, Shanghai

2019 Artist Talk, Saint Joseph's Arts Society, San Francisco

2019 Scientific Committee of Directors at Legno Arredo Training Centre-Permanent Collection SaloneSatellite

2017-2019 International Advisor, UHM Architecture Global Track and Executive Education

2018 China Forest Product Association Woodworking Committee Vice Chairman

2018 Wanted Design, New York Design Week

2018 Panel Speaker, Eternal Flow, Zaha Hadid Design Crossover Forum and Exhibition. How Art Museum, Zaha Hadid Design, London

2017-2018 China Red Star Design Award Jury

2016 Award Advisor, 1st Place Award, ASCE Geo Wall Competition, Wood Structure, Team Zhejiang University

2014-2017 Executive Committee Member, Association of Chinese Artists in American Academia (ACAAA)

2014 Speaker, College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Peking University, Beijing

2014 Speaker, Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

2014 Mediator, ARCC/EAAE European Association for Architectural Education, University of Hawaii at Manoa, School of Architecture, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

2014 Honorable Oversea Member, China Ming Furniture Institute, Beijing

2013-2016 Committee Member, University of Hawaii-Manoa Campus Art Advisory Committee (CAAC)

2013 Judge, Hawaii Wood Guild Exhibit, The Isaacs Art Center, Kamuela, HI

2012-2017 Coordinator /Director (16-17), UHM Architecture Global Track and Executive Education

2011 Instructor and Residency, Walden Project, Willowell Foundation, Vergennes, VT

2010 Conference Speaker, The Lifecycle of Furniture, 2010 Furniture Society Conference, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA

2007 Vice President, Purdue Chinese Student & Scholar Association, Purdue University

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS (*Denotes Solo Exhibition, +Denotes Juried Exhibition)

2020 Harmony and Evolution, Ruth Davis Design Gallery, UW–Madison’s School of Human Ecology, WI

2019 Shine Shanghai Conceptual Design Show, TX Huaihai, Shanghai

2019 Shanghai Riverside Textscape, Shanghai Shipyard MIFA 1862 by Kengo Kuma, Shanghai

2019 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season (SUSAS) Joint exhibition, LIGHTENING the living future, Shanghai

2019 Typojanchi: International Typography Biennale, Seoul, South Korea

2019 The 13th National Exhibition of Fine Arts, China 70 year Anniversary.

2019 Design Intelligence Award Grant Exhibition, China Academy of Art, Zhejiang Exhibition Hall, Hangzhou, China

2019 The Beauty of Visual Language of Art, San Francisco Public Library

2019 Venice Design, Venice Biennale

2019 Milan Triennial (National Exhibition of China, Tongji University, College of Design and Innovation)

2019 ZHOU Hongtao Solo, Michigan State University Union Gallery

2019 Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne

2019 Interference, Grand Church San Pietro, Como, Italy

2019 China Design Exhibition, Shenzhen Modern Art and Urban Planning Museum, GUAN Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen (China Culture Administration)

2019 Shine Shanghai Conceptual Design Show, Shanghai Opera House

2019 Land of Art, Jardins de Marqueyssac Garden, Dordogne, France

2018 The 4th New Craft International Artist Exhibition and Academic Seminar, National Art Gallery, Bangladesh, University of Dhaka.

2018 The 43th China International Furniture Fair (Shanghai) ICFF

2018 Textscape, If So, What? The Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco

2018 After Tomorrow, France Consulate, San Francisco

2018 Design Shanghai, Shanghai Exhibition Hall

2018 UNTITLED, The Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco

2017 Art Basel SCOPE, Miami, Untitled, San Francisco

2017 Momentum, China Interior Design Week, Tongji University Museum, Shanghai*

2017 Words in Characters, Books as Vehicle, East Asia Library of Stanford University, Museum of Art at Oklahoma State University

2017 Textscape, Printing the World/Imprimer le Monde (Opening Exhibition of Pompidou 40th Anniversary),Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (Top 40 Key International Digital Artists/Designer)

2017 Artists of Hawaii, Architectural Installation with Kaili Chun, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI*

2016 The Spotlight: Functional Lighting as Illuminated Sculpture, the Craft in America Center, LA

2015 Gwangju Design Biennale, South Korea

2015 Across the Divide, Beijing Normal University Gallery, (Arch 201 Students’ Work) *

2014 Time is a Saw: Contemporary Chinese Artists, Crossman Gallery, UW-Whitewater, WI

2014 Aesthetic Afterlife, Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI

2013 Sticky, Group installation with Graduate Students: School of Architecture Gallery, University of Hawaii–Manoa, Honolulu,HI

2013 JING- International Furniture Design Exhibition & Forum, Visual Art Center at Academy of Arts & Design,Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

2013-2014 Fearless Furniture, Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites, Indianapolis, IN+

2012-2014 The Tool at Hand, Curated by Ethan Lasser. Originating: Milwaukee Art Museum travels: Philadelphia Art Alliance, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland

2012 Scary Identity, School of Architecture Gallery, University of Hawaii–Manoa, Honolulu, HI*

2012 Ossuary, Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, WI+

2011 Design for Sitting, Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum, Beijing, China+

2011 Beijing International Design Triennial, National Museum of China, Beijing, China+

2011 IIDEX/NeoCon, Canada's National Design Expo & Conference, Toronto, CA+

2011 Reconstituted, Memorial Union Porter Butts Gallery, University of Wisconsin, WI*

2010 Outdoor Furniture Exhibition, 2010 Furniture Society Conference, MIT, MA+

2010 Forward, Co-Prosperity Sphere, CAA Conference, Chicago, IL+

2009 Green Furniture, Milwaukee Art Museum, WI

2007 International 2007 Taiwan Design Expo, Hsiao-Long Cultural Park, Taiwan+

COLLECTIONS

2019 Shanghai Shipyard MIFA 1862 by Kengo Kuma, Shanghai

2019 Historical Dongchang Cinema, Shanghai

2019 GUAN Shanyue Art Museum, Prominent National Art Museum, China

2019 The UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

2017 Centre Pompidou, Paris, France 

2015 University of Virginia, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library

2014 Lincoln State Park’s Nature Center, Department of Natural Resources, State of Indiana

2012 Stevens Point Sculpture Park, Stevens Point, WI

2012 Madison Public Library, Madison, WI

2011 Chipstone Foundation

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2019 Tontsen Eye, Wallpaper*

2019 Tontsen Eye, Domus

2019 Take A Seat, France TV, Culturebox

2019 Take A Seat, France Newspaper, Dordogne Libre, Feb 25

2019 Take A Seat, YAHOO News, France, Mar 15

2019 Growing Chairs, Interior Design, New York

2015  A 3D Font That Reads Like Text But Can Be Viewed Like Sculpture, Huffington Post Arts, March 25, 2015

2015 Textscape, Clarin, Argentine, March 15, 2015

2015 Hongtao ZHOU Architectural Texts, Artsillustrated, India, March, 2015, p106

2014 Fearless Furniture, Indy Star

2014 Aesthetic Afterlife, Express Milwaukee

2014 Chair or Axe, profile artist in Nuvonews Weekly of Indianapolis

2011 Beijing Triennial, Zhuangshi, Tsinghua University Press, China, p89

2011 Zero Impact Experiments, Modern Weekly, Hong Kong/Shanghai, Jan

2011 Burniture, Design Bureau, Chicago, May/June

2010 Snow Furniture by Hongtao ZHOU, Journal of Modern Craft, London, May

2010 Chinese Snow Artist on World Stage, Xinhua News (Evening), China, February 6th

2009 Green Furniture on Display at Milwaukee Art Museum, Journal Times, Dec, 1B

2009 Cold Seat, (Parting Shot, Winter), American Style, p104

2009 Sustainable Ice and Snow Furniture, NISHA design, Israel, April, P5

2009 The Cold Truth: This Furniture Won't Last, Wisconsin State Journal, February, P3

2009 Hongtao ZHOU Really Cool Furniture, Square, UK, February

2008 Arm Rocking Chair, Furniture Business, Russia, Issue 68, p26

2006 CNC Rocker, Inside cover, Modern Woodworking, October, p4

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

2020 Hongtao ZHOU, Meng CHEN, European Craft Making: Glass Craft, Zhejiang People Press

2019 Hongtao ZHOU, Jump Out Of Page, Textscape By Hongtao ZHOU, People's Fine Arts Publishing House, China

2019 Xiaojia SU, Hongtao ZHOU, The Dunhuang Grottos and Global Education,Chapter 9, The Significance of the Dunhuang Mogao Frescoes for Universal Education Today, The University of Hawaii Press

2016 Bing LIU, Hongtao ZHOU, Wei SHAO, Its ShowTime-Design and Enlightenment of Organic Furniture, Lecture Notes in Management Science, vol.65, 2016, p 123-126

2016 Bing LIU, Hongtao ZHOU, Research of Material Concepts on Arts Education, International Science and Higher Education, Vol.53, p28-31

2015 Hongtao ZHOU, Bing LIU, Experimenting for Creativity across Academic Boundaries-Architecture, Sculpture and Furniture, Across the Divide, China Light Industry Press, p245

2015 Textscape, Interior Design, New York, March 2015, Big Ideas Issue, p146

2015 Sticky, Contemporary Installation Art, Artpower International Publishing, Hong Kong, p201-202

2013 The Tool at Hand-A Chipstone Object Lab Experiment, Collected in US Congress Library, Book Chapter Profile, p96-99

2010 Structural Tambour, Transmaterial 3, Princeton Architectural Press, p86 & back cover

2009 The Cold Truth, American Craft Magazine, Oct/Nov, p30-31

2005  ZHOU, H. & WANG, F. Chinese Words Furniture Creative Design, Zhuangshi, China, p1

SELECTED CONFERENCE

2017 Textscape, Imprimer Le Monde Exhibition and Symposium, Design and Industrial Prospects, Centre Pompidou in Paris, France (Top 30 Key International Digital Artists/Designer)

2015 L. MITCHELL & H. ZHOU, Science Fiction and the Spatial-Tectonic Futures of Bodies, the 31st National Conference on the Beginning Design Student, University of Houston, TX

2014 Design as A Process: Collision and Fusion on the Boundaries, Startrack 2: Colourful Multi-Dimensional Design World, 1st Annual World Congress of Designers, Dalian, China, p59

2013 M. SIMMON & H. ZHOU, Sogetsu Ikebana: An Eastern Influence on Beginning Design, the 29th National Conference on the Beginning Design Student, Temple University, PA

2007 H. ZHOU & E. HAVIAROVA, Design and Testing of Plywood Finger-End-Joint for CNC Adjustable Furniture, Forest Products Society 61st International Convention. Knoxville, TN. Abstracts, p7

2007 H. ZHOU & E. HAVIAROVA, Adjustable wooden furniture manufactured from CNC technology, The Sixth Advancing Manufacturing Summit. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. Abstracts

2006 H. ZHOU & E. HAVIAROVA, Seating Furniture for Plus-Size Population, Forest Products Society 60th International Convention. Newport Beach, CA. Abstracts, p49