Creative and cultural industries | No job to come back to, says Macanese fashion designer

Nuno Lopes De Oliveira is a young, up-and-coming designer who was born and raised in Macau. The 24-year-­old is a recent fashion design graduate from Middlesex University in London, and has had his work featured in numerous fashion publications.  The Macanese designer is hesitant about returning to the MSAR, fearing that he will be unable to find work in the creative industry. He tells the Times that local residents with creative talent often find employment lacking in their field of study, and some choose to stay abroad.
Macau Daily Times (MDT) – Why do you think so many Macau students in the creative industry seek education abroad?
Nuno Lopes De Oliveira (NLO) – The leading universities in Macau are unable to provide proper art education. This has already made it difficult for young Macau citizens graduating from high school, because they have fewer opportunities to pursue careers in the creative industry.
I feel that [studying fashion design] in Macau would be a much more challenging and daunting task [than in London] because of the lack of creativity and fashion placements.
For example, one of my lecturers [at Middlesex University] works closely with Lady Gaga’s design team and even created garments for Lady Gaga and Florence and the Machine. These [experiences]  alone encouraged me to continue the pursuit of my career in this extremely competitive industry.

MDT – How effective do you think the government’s efforts to diversify Macau’s economy away from gaming and toward the cultural and creative industries have been?
NLO – I have heard over the years that the Macau government has been pushing forward in terms of diversifying Macau’s industries, but their main focus is on small businesses. For example, the government is offering loans for young Macau citizens to start up their own businesses.
But in my opinion, there is a lack of education in terms of what is required to be successful in opening a business in the arts and creative industries. People are set up for failure because of the lack of knowledge – after all, education is key.
There are bound to be many talented individuals in Macau that go undiscovered and unnoticed due to the dominance of the gambling industry. The government is so desperate to push gambling that they forget about other important areas that contribute to a diverse society.
In a nutshell, the government should include the arts as part of the curriculum at schools and offer more diverse courses at their higher education institutes. Children will grow up being more aware of their potential.

MDT – You say that getting young people involved in creative education can help the development of creative sectors and provide employment opportunities. But will more creative graduates mean fewer job prospects?
NLO – If Macau pushes toward a more creative society, students that want to study creative subjects will be less likely to move abroad [where they would not] contribute  to the economy in Macau. Furthermore, if Macau invests money in creative arts facilities, people may even move to Macau for their education.
This can benefit [Macau’s] economy greatly.
Once Macau develops its creativity, jobs will naturally crop up around Macau such as teaching jobs, retail jobs and designing jobs.
At the moment, the only jobs that are suitable for fashion design graduates in Macau are those working for a casino’s wardrobe department, which lack an outlet for individual creativity. Had I studied in Macau, it probably would have left me working in a casino’s wardrobe department.

MDT – As a successful designer abroad, will you return to Macau if you can find work in the fashion industry?
NLO – The long and short of it: no, I wouldn’t return to Macau to work, unless Macau’s government does something serious about the creative industry. The opportunities that have arisen in London in one year would have taken a whole lifetime in Macau.
[Since arriving in the UK] I was fortunate enough to be one of the students chosen to showcase my work at London Graduate Fashion Week […] and to have British Vogue and Vogue Italia showcase my work on their websites.
This was quite overwhelming considering how prestigious such fashion publications are. I never expected this to happen to a 24-year-old Macanese boy who moved to England to gain more experience and a creative outlet.
The educational departments [in Macau] do not have the same networks that the UK universities do, such as media involvement with publications such as Vogue. I believe that this is due to the current state of Macau’s educational system and [society here] being so secluded from Western fashion. Daniel Beitler