The Year of Dragon has kicked off promisingly – act now and reach out!

January has come and gone, bringing February to town in what seems like the blink of an eye. Still, walking down the street today feels breezy rather than chilly, hopefully a sign that spring has finally sprung.

There’s a Chinese saying about spring: ‘an hour in the morning is worth two in the evening; a year’s plan starts with spring’.

Now that things have finally slowed down a little at Perspective after the phenomenal success of our awards last November and our well-received China-focused January issue, we are gearing up for another of our flagship annual events – the 40 Under 40 young talent recognition programme.

We started calling for nominations just over two weeks ago, and already the number received is more than double what we expected, and that’s no doubt a good sign of more to come – and of a healthy pool of rising design stars out there.

Every year, Perspective’s 40 Under 40 programme celebrates 40 creative talents in cross-disciplinary design and art fields across Asia-Pacific who are aged 40 or under. We recognise their work and achievements, but most importantly, their spirit.

In the five years since we launched the programme, we have saluted 200 creative talents and are not in the least worried that we might be running out of people – not even from Hong Kong, never mind Asia-Pacific. There are dreamers and heroes alike out there in the creative world, and it is these people we raise our glasses to.

40 Under 40, to us, is not a one-off event but an on-going programme which we hope will also inspire our nominees to nurture other new talents they encounter. Naturally, we’re always thrilled to hear from our past winners, especially when they go on to fulfill their promise and potential.

One of our all-time favourite artists is Sarah Tse (see my earlier blog entry, http://www.perspectiveglobal.com/blog/post-270-you-never-know), who recently returned to Hong Kong for a short break from her New York adventure.

Over a much-too-short lunch meeting, Tse proved she was still the live wire we came to know through 40 Under 40, talking about her experiences at art school in New York, her reunion trip to Taiwan and a visit to Japan, all of which have been keeping her fully inspired.

Tse has steadily built herself a solid base in her artistic journey, but what has puzzled her is how Perspective spotted her in the first place. For us, finding (or being pointed to) creative talent is simple enough; it is these bright sparks who constantly inspire us.

There’s still a month to go before nominations for Perspective’s 40 Under 40 closes, so act now and tell the world that you are here, and we care. http://www.perspectiveglobal.com/40-under-40