Beijing Winter Olympic Torch Appearance Designer: Daofa Nature Design "Flying"

Li Jianye, the exterior designer of the Beijing Winter Olympic Torch, was interviewed by Li Xiang, a reporter from China News Network

BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- On February 2, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Torch Relay began. During the three-day torch relay, about 1,200 torchbearers will conduct the torch relay in beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. On the evening of February 4, the "Flying" torch will rekindle Beijing's Olympic enthusiasm at the Bird's Nest.

A few days ago, Li Jianye, as the designer of the "flying" torch appearance of this Winter Olympics and one of the torchbearers, accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Network.

Reporter: How about becoming the torchbearer of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics?

Li Jianye: I am very excited and honored to carry the Olympic torch of my own design to carry the Olympic flame, and my heart is extremely honored.

Reporter: As the exterior designer of the "flying" torch for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, what does the Olympic torch represent in your heart?

Li Jianye: The most original meaning of the Olympic torch is to convey light, hope and peace. Every time the Olympic torch is designed, everyone pays special attention to it, because it represents the message and image of the host country and city of the Olympic Games. So in my opinion, the Olympic torch is a symbol of cultural exchange.

Reporter: Why did you do the project of the 2022 Winter Olympic Torch Design at that time?

Li Jianye: I myself have an Olympic complex. In 2008, I won the ticket for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games in Hong Kong, and I flew from Hong Kong to Beijing to participate in and experience the Olympic Games. Looking back on that time, I was very excited, especially when I saw Mr. Li Ning holding the "Xiangyun" torch to light the main torch tower, I felt very shocked. But I never thought I would have the opportunity to design the Olympic torch.

Until 2019, when a colleague came to me and said that there was such a project, I felt that I could try it, because I personally worked in the field of industrial design for many years, plus my own understanding of the Olympic Games and Chinese culture, I wanted to try.

Reporter: After going through the whole design process, what is it like? If you had to describe the design process in one word, how would you describe it?

Li Jianye: This is a very difficult problem, because the design process has too many large and small stories and interludes, and the whole design process is difficult, but I think more about the word "romantic".

Reporter: Romantic? Why?

Li Jianye: When we decided to do the torch design, the first picture that flashed in our minds was the opening scene of the movie "My Motherland and Me", a red flag slowly fluttered into the painting, there was a sense of Chinese history, but also pregnant with a kind of strength. It also has a vision and yearning for the future, a self-breakthrough mood.

The picture of the film laid the original intention of our team to design the torch, and finally there was a romantic presentation of the "flying" torch.

Reporter: Is this like talking about a "romantic love"?

Li Jianye: Yes, love may be like this to some extent, from the beginning may not know, and then slowly become familiar with it, with it to have some interaction and communication. At the same time, there will be more difficult times, such as the Olympic Organizing Committee is not satisfied with our plan, the process is also very painful, feeling that it is going to break up, and it will soon fall out of love.

Looking back now, the whole design process is sweet, sour, bitter and spicy, full of flavors and miscellaneous tastes, and everything feels.

Reporter: After going through such a process, when you learned that your design plan was finally determined to be the torch of the Beijing Winter Olympics, how was your mood?

Li Jianye: At that time, the whole design team was holding a summary meeting, and at the meeting I received a message that "the flower roll is out of the pot", and at that time, there was a feeling of tears, but because the design team members were all there, I had to hold back, in fact, the tears had spilled out of my eyes.

Reporter: Is this like hearing "I do" after the love process and hearing "I do" when proposing?

Li Jianye: Yes, but I think at that time, it was only a successful marriage proposal, and the certificate was not yet received. The whole design team was excited and immediately put into new work, that is, to make our design into a physical object. In any case, the success of the Olympic torch from "acquaintance" to "proposal" is always a matter that makes the whole team happy.

Reporter: The final "Flying" torch is very different from the previous first draft, what kind of inspiration inspired the "Flying" torch designed to be hollow?

Li Jianye: After the first draft was submitted, the Olympic Organizing Committee was not satisfied, and then we fell into a creative dilemma, and even thought of designing the sugar gourd as a symbolic element into the torch. This process is more painful, many times it is constantly drawing circles around a circle center, you have the feeling that this direction is right, but it is difficult for you to go directly to the center of the circle.

Just when everyone was at a loss, we were inspired to see a dry leaf of green plants on the conference room table fall down. The leaf was half-dried, taking on a spiral hollow form.

We observed that the rotation of this leaf is accelerated, and this vitality allows people to find a certain connection between nature and human society, that is, life is not only straight, but curved forward, and there are fast and slow, which also inspires us to design the torch.

Looking back now, it is the four words "Dao Fa Nature", which can naturally give you different and fresh inspiration and inspiration.

Reporter: When designing the 2022 Winter Olympic torch, how to break everyone's inherent Olympic brand to seek more innovation?

Li Jianye: Designing the torch itself is a propositional essay, which has been repeatedly rewritten in human history. The attention of the Olympic torch is very high, and it is necessary to produce new ones in the design process, but it cannot be blamed, so the design process is indeed difficult.

The 2008 torch embodies papermaking through scrolls, while also using the element of "auspicious clouds", which is somewhat a review of Chinese culture. When we designed the "flying" torch of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, we gradually changed the design of the "Xiangyun" pattern to the "snowflake" pattern, and then put elements such as technology, environmental protection, and green into it to enrich the sense of the future, so I think it is a design that carries on from top to bottom.

Reporter: If you used one word to describe the "auspicious cloud" torch and the "flying" torch, which two words would you use to describe it?

Li Jianye: The Xiangyun torch should be described as "peaceful", and the flying torch is "passion".

Reporter: What do you think the "flying" torch represents?

Li Jianye: I think that the "flying" torch represents a Chinese design on the one hand, and a dialogue between China and the world on the other hand, which conveys our Chinese attitude and passion for the future, and some imaginations of the future. At the same time it shows a particularly dynamic country and a group of particularly dynamic people. (End)