Huawei is an immense tech company that you may not have heard of if you’re entirely US-centric. It focuses mostly on its domestic Chinese market, India, and emerging economies. You know: most of the world. It had a huge presence at Mobile World Congress.
If there was any doubt, though, that its ambitions are large, word comes today that Huawei is opening a “Paris Aesthetics Research Center” and hiring 10 designers who specialize in luxury design, fashion, digital, and brand strategy. The company says the center has already contributed to the H2 wristband wearable introduced last week in Barcelona.
The center is led by the designer Mathieu Lehanneur. His money quote from the announcement: “We are at a turning point in history. Technology is no longer simply around us – it is with us, and, in the case of wearables, on us. The challenge now is to give it shape.” Sounds not unlike the challenge that Apple has accepted, too.
By the way: Huawei now claims 170,000 employees, 9,900 of whom are in Europe. Odds are good that you’ll be hearing more from them in the future.