Post-80s designer Huang Quan is the leader of China's young designer generation. It is influenced by the dual influence of traditional culture and the spirit of Haipai, since its early years, as the pioneer of the "Haipai Oriental" design vocabulary, he proposed to interpret the traditional culture of the East with a modern design language, which was widely used in project practice, forming its unique style characteristics, which attracted international attention.
Today, Haipai, more often interpreted by Huang Quan as a spiritual attitude of "sea and diversity", has gradually precipitated from the external design language to an internal wisdom, extending to culture, lifestyle and even enterprise development and management.
In 2019, Huang Quan founded a new interior design brand "WJID Weiji Design", and in only two years, the company has developed rapidly as a dark horse, becoming a leader in China's independent and innovative interior design brand and a unique scenery in Shanghai. He pointed out that the essence of the establishment of "WJID Weiji Design" is a kind of boundary integration, which is to create and replace its own aesthetic concepts and design vocabulary with an open attitude under the background of absorbing emerging trends, no longer limiting design services to the spatial level, but extending to commercial, brand and other fields, providing design strategy solutions in a way that integrates the whole industry chain.
"In a literal sense, the dimensions will connect the relationship between people, artifacts, and space. At present, the scale of the company has reached the order of about 130 people, based on the characteristics of each member, I hope that everyone can find the best cooperation status in Weiji. Huang Quan mentioned in an interview with DESIGN TRENDS.
Huang Quan
Chief Designer of WJID Design
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Influenced by the dual influence of traditional culture and the spirit of Haipai, Huang Quan created the design vocabulary "Haipai Oriental", proposed to interpret oriental traditional culture with a modern design language, and carried it forward in his projects. He has won many international and domestic design awards, and has been named one of the Top Ten Outstanding Young Designers in China by Guanghua Longteng Award, and won the 2018 "Hurun Report" China Annual Most Popular Designer Award. In 2019, Huang Quan founded the high-end interior design brand "WJID Weiji Design", which is committed to providing customers with diversified and innovative interior design services.
# 01
Break boundaries, integrate the industrial chain, and create diversified design services
DT: What does the company name "Weiji" mean?
Huang Quan: Dimension, representing space, is associated with geometry, space theory, thinking, thinking, is the different dimensions of the world we see; Several, usually refers to utensils, the internal development law of things. The creation of the WJID design is essentially a fusion of boundaries. In a literal sense, the dimensions will connect the relationship between people, artifacts, and space. Further analysis, this brand can provide full-dimensional design and services. We provide diversified design through the integration of space, products and industrial chains, not only to create services for customers, but also to convey a new concept of life to the public through the brand.
DT: Can you talk about the original intention of creating a brand?
Huang Quan: The original intention of our establishment of the Weiji brand is to provide solutions at the design strategy level in the way of the integration of the whole industry chain, and our design is not only at the spatial level, but also extends to the creation of new product brands. In the future, we will provide popular design services and design brands for the public, hoping to create more social value. In addition, we also integrate upstream and downstream industry chain resources to strengthen our implementation of specific projects through a more optimized design process.
The ultimate purpose of design is to serve people, and we think through a human-centered way, what people really need at the moment, and what design can do. This is a shared era, for design, through the space to carry - to develop a scene, or to innovate a concept, to change life. The establishment of the brand can use an open attitude to create and change its own aesthetic concepts and design vocabulary under the background of absorbing emerging trends, and even explore the new forms of traditional culture in the present.
DT: What keywords would you use to describe your design, and what values would you like to convey to the outside world?
Huang Quan: I hope that more emphasis in the design is an inclusive attitude. In the face of different projects, the design ideas we present are not the same, we will cooperate in the local and cultural as the basis for thinking, through the modern design language to translate cultural elements, so as to break the limitations of design, so that design is not a single definition, so that design has more possibilities, with innovation to carry more diverse life scenes, presenting the spirit and attitude of the world and all-encompassing.
Jining OVERSEAS Town Canal Culture and Art Center
Yanlord Marine Source Marketing Center
Greenland Global Commodity Trade Port Sales Office
# 02
Based on user thinking, design services empower products and brands
DT: How do you see the current domestic real estate environment? What are your strategies in the face of changes in the market environment?
Huang Quan: At this stage, the brand power based purely on design is declining, and the speed of product replacement on the market is increasing. We see more and more cross-border integration cases in the market, and customers enhance the strength of brand communication through more industry exchanges. More and more people expect design not only to be design itself, but to have a clearer logical framework that can empower products, bring traffic to products, and even create a premium for brands. Therefore, we also hope that products and brands can be empowered through design services, and technology-oriented design companies can have product thinking.
DT: For the field of real estate design, we have seen that Weiji has created many successful works for developers such as Greenland and Xuhui in the field of real estate design, and has also won many awards. Can we illustrate the different understandings of the design of the model room and the sales office with specific practical examples?
Huang Quan: Under the premise of respecting customers and product logic itself, we add our product genes to express emotions at the design level. We don't impose labels, but always design based on the customer's product itself. In the market, the product logic and value judgment of each developer are different, each developer's own brand has its corresponding culture, and each developer brand has its own special corresponding rich product line. Different product lines have corresponding customer groups, and their own product positioning and value orientation. Under the premise of understanding these product features, we integrate the design strategy and integrate our own design as a product to integrate the corresponding product positioning, which is based on the premise of relying on the product characteristics, rather than purely subjective expression.
For example, Sunac Changle Yasong, we extend from the concept of "Song", combined with the project's own cultural context and spatial form, a large number of interpretations of existing forms of artistic expression, while allowing the humanized experience to be revealed in the product details. Only by fully understanding the design proposition can we give the most abundant design strategies and ideas.
Sunac Changle Yasong
DT: What kind of product system does Vincorp currently have? What are the advantages in the face of market competition?
Huang Quan: At present, the product system designed by Weiji covers a very rich business format, including different fields such as commercial, real estate, hotel, office, luxury house, product, lighting design and so on. We have built a relatively complete service chain through multiple combinations. Weiji Design is committed to providing customers with diversified and innovative interior design services, advocating space design that returns to the essence and conveys beauty. We attach great importance to design innovation and have an excellent team advantage in our own product iterations. At the same time, we also pay attention to the integration of the industry, from front-end market research, to product and brand research and development, to the marketing level, through a systematic operation, so that the team has a more abundant service capability for the general public.
DT: How do you understand the relationship between Party A and Party B design company?
Huang Quan: Party A and Party B are a cooperative relationship. Especially for the current market environment, the cooperation between A and B is constantly improving, and each other has gained experience. On the one hand, party B and party A can more fully understand the trend, keenly perceive the market, deeply understand the needs of customers, and promote the iteration of design products. On the other hand, Party A also needs the design company to take the initiative to undertake the innovation of product strength, update the brand with product power, from the product and brand end, through the entire marketing closed loop, and empower the brand through design. The two must cooperate with each other, and only a good cooperation can bring better works and market traffic.
DT: In addition to the field of real estate design, in which areas does Microbis have its own exclusive advantages?
Huang Quan: In addition to real estate design, our company is actually involved in other design fields:
First, urban renewal, such as the monastery apartment, as the "first living room" of the old Shanghai, we have reshaped an old Shanghai era through transformation; Another example is the time Shanghai Blackstone M+ Hotel, we can say that we have created a period of urban popularity, so that everyone has punched in the old buildings that have been reborn for a hundred years; There are also commercial office designs such as Vanke Shanghai Hongqiao Wanchuang Center and Pudong Urban Planning Art Center.
Second, the integration of cultural and creative culture requires the ability to integrate cross-border resources. For example, the Shanghai Happiness Collection and Friendship Garden Project, in the context of urban renewal, we have built it into a living experience space with books, fashion, coffee, and art exhibitions as elements, as well as a new urban literary and artistic landmark in the surrounding neighborhoods; In addition, our new products in cooperation with TURRI are also newly released this year.
Third, product advantages, including product design, lighting design, we have our own professional team.
In the above three aspects, we all maintain a leading edge.
Shanghai Hongqiao Wanchuang Center
Abbey Apartments
M+ Hotel Shanghai Blackstone
Happiness Club・Friendship Garden
Huang Quan x TURRI |" Pinnacle Series" is newly released
# 03
Design life, easy management, create more social value
DT: How large has the dimension grown now? How do you work collaboratively with your partners? Can you talk about the management experience of a design company?
Huang Quan: At present, our company is about 130 people in scale, there are special business departments, corresponding hard decoration teams, soft decoration teams, and special product research and development teams, including lighting design, etc., the entire industry chain of professional coverage is relatively complete. The company has established a partnership system, and the team is currently in a state of doing its part. The division of labor between me and my partners is relatively clear, and my positioning of myself is to focus on influencing the company's decision-making from the design of products, and exert my own experience reserves and influence; Partners focus more on management, maintaining the overall operation and process optimization, and at the same time, we cooperate and combine. Specifically, our company is based on each person's own characteristics, so that different business units to develop their own advantages, to achieve the best state of cooperation.
DT: How do you see future trends in real estate design? Can some keywords be given and interpreted?
Huang Quan: First, "innovation-driven", based on product perspective and user thinking, the future is expected that the innovation of the design end can bring competitiveness to the products on the marketing side and achieve market product differentiation, we need to have a complete set of design strategies, to do the corresponding products, and pass on the corresponding values;
The second is "return to the scene", the actual experience of basic users, to do the necessary and logical design from the perspective of daily life needs, and to support the necessity and inevitability of the strategy through data and research;
Third, the "role" of design companies is becoming more and more plump, from brand planning, products to design landing, design companies hope to complete more integrated design, even including art curation, event planning, etc., the coverage will become more and more extensive.
DT: At this stage, what do you think about the most for the company?
Huang Quan: First, the innovation of product strength, in the current situation of rapid market changes, how to maintain their own advantages, grasp the market wind direction, and even actively guide the market; The second is the construction of the brand, with the continuous rise of the maturity of the industry, the design company understands the needs of Party A and builds its own product competitiveness have put forward higher requirements; The third is the management level, in the process of the company's continuous expansion, to enhance the team's ability to collaborate, maintain organizational vitality, and create a beautiful organizational culture, so that design through the younger generation to exert creativity.
DT: What is your usual day's work status?
Huang Quan: Relatively speaking, this is a relatively relaxed state. Whether it's as a company manager or executing a specific project, including attending some activities, I can find easy ways to switch, which is also a sense of freshness in maintaining a life. Designing itself is not an easy task, no matter how much you do, there is still the same, plenty of room to explore and improve. After years in the industry, I think that design itself is attractive and keeps me creative. Therefore, I still have a original intention for design, seeing it as a way to love life, a connection with the world. Design is a way of expression for me, with my emotions, my pouring into time, my perception of the world, and what I want to present to the world.
DT: What kind of person are you, and what do your family and friends say about you?
Huang Quan: Simple and casual, may have fewer words, and are better at doing it. Like most people, I like to pursue new things, love to travel, love photography, pursue fashion and food, be full of research, love and try all new things. Because I used to spend most of my time working or semi-working, I now pay special attention to spending more time with my family and some time to communicate, meet or party with friends.
DT: What are your expectations for your future?
Huang Quan: In general, I hope that in the future, I can better match my design and life state. On the one hand, I hope that the company can continue to grow and develop, create certain values, form a positive influence, and bring social value. For design, I look forward to working with clients to create more good works. On the other hand, with the changes in life stages and the sudden outbreak of the epidemic in the past two years, I feel that people's hearts are a relatively returning state, more pursuit of family companionship and a healthy lifestyle, when recognizing the meaning of life, people instead hope to seek a sense of satisfaction in simplicity. Just as the product is also serving life in a more essential way, in the future, I also hope to find the touch of life in simplicity, and in design, it may be hoped to find the belonging of the soul for people through minimalist works.
Source: DT Trend Figures