How to make the cultural intellectual property industry flourish is one of the hot topics in the design industry. This year's Beijing Design Week launched a special section to promote the application of cultural IP. CGTN went to a newly established platform to see how they are trying to revive classical IP and help young designers.

At a cafe by the Forbidden City, visitors can enjoy a moment within a space decorated with the well-known "One Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains" by Wang Ximeng, and have a taste of royal flavor from the Palace Museum, such as "Kangxi Likes Chocolates." And as a model combining modern design and the traditional culture, Si Shi Ying Wu presents the cooperation between inheritors of intangible cultural heritage and designers.

All the paintings on the wall were downloaded from a platform called Creative Commons Zero (CC0) Design.

"Under the CC0 license, a list of famous museums, including the British Museum, has opened their digital materials to the public for free. This is a great leap in the history of human civilization," Zhao Dongbao, co-founder of CC0 Design, told CGTN.

"It's a pity that only a few Chinese cultural institutions are cooperating with these international organizations. We are doing this to get more people to know about this and make full use of it," he added.

The platform has stored a large amount of content and is continuing to expand its capacity. Users can search and download for free, and the platform also encourages young designers to create their own works based on these materials. It is the first of its kind to develop products based on CC0 license.

"The CC0 license has mobilized more designers to create their own works based on high-definition digital material," Yu Fei, co-founder of CC0 Design, also Assistant President of Sinofaith Group said. 

"Since then, a lot of amazing artworks have been produced, which are dynamic and popular and somehow extend the life cycle of museum collections. For some time, we've been discussing how to breathe new life into cultural relics. They shouldn't be kept asleep in museums. We need to let more people learn about them and enjoy them. We hope our designers can find these materials easily, and those precious masterpieces will give them great inspiration," Yu said.

It's a hope which resonates with young designers. Chen Hui, a product designer said, "It's difficult for us designers to find materials. We have to search a bunch of websites. This website collects all these materials. It is a user-friendly platform and all of these are free."

So far, over 10 museums in the world have adopted the CC0 license. Yu expressed his hope that more domestic museums will open up their digital materials as well, giving designers and related industry more opportunities.

(Cover image: A replica of Van Gogh's bedroom in Arles at the Beijing Design Expo. /CGTN )