Beauty meets function at the 9th International Cultural Industries Fair in Shenzhen. It’s set to open Friday, take a sneak peak at the offerings before it officially begins.

This is a showcase of ideas. 43 venues will exhibit all kinds of creations at the fair. Outside one of them, a robot Jazz band gives visitors a hearty welcome.

The Yantian International Creative Harbor venue is a place to showcase authentic industrial designs.

Beauty meets function at the 9th International Cultural Industries Fair in Shenzhen.

For those who are picky about what they eat, this fruit tester is a must-have. Using its chemical sensor, the handy kitchen tool can help you gauge the freshness of a fruit or vegetable.

Tang Ying, Yantian int’l creative harbor, said, "Our target visitors are basically ordinary people who know little about industrial design. And we want them to know that industrial design actually transforms technology, which sounds very remote to them, into things that are very useful and human."

Beauty meets function at the 9th International Cultural Industries Fair in Shenzhen.

Traditional culture also has a place here. Some 100 ancient porcelain pieces, along with traditional sculptures and painted ceramic tablets, present designs from days gone by. The most striking of them all is this Qipao dress display.

Tang Guangyan, curator of Tang Song Qipao Workshop, said, "We will hold an evening party, demonstrating our dresses with a background set to 1930s’ Shanghai. There will be gramophones and rickshaws to make the scene more realistic."

Another highlight of the fair is one of the world’s most prestigious industrial award institutions, the Germany IF Award. The institution will display more than 1,000 pieces of internationally praised industrial design.