One afternoon in early autumn, Design Trends visited YuQiang & Partners, a well-known design firm located in the Oct Creative Culture Park in Shenzhen, and had an in-depth dialogue with its founder, Mr. Yu Qiang.
Mr. Yu Qiang has been involved in china's interior design industry since the beginning of its inception, and has been famous for nearly 30 years, YuQiang & Partners, which he single-handedly founded and developed, is known for "unlimited creativity", and takes "design creativity" and "plate specialization" as the methodology, forming a group development state of 5 major brands and 8 business sectors, and is also a well-known design benchmarking force in the industry, which can be called the "evergreen tree" of the interior design industry!
All along, Mr. Yu Qiang firmly believes that design has an internal logic, from cognition to values, methodology, creative thinking and then to the final performance, such a progressive thinking and path, which clarifies his professional beliefs and design expressions, guides the team to firmly walk on the right design path, and also forms the advantage that YuQiang & Partners can prosper in the market competition.
Yu Qiang
Founder/Design Director of Yu Qiang Interior Architects
President of SIID Shenzhen Interior Architecture Design Association
Visiting Professor, School of Art and Design, Shenzhen University
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Yu Qiang has been deeply involved in the field of interior design for nearly 30 years, has a wealth of professional design experience, and he always adheres to the belief that creativity is design. In design, he is good at blending art and creativity, interpreting the individuality and difference of contemporary design, carefully polishing each project with professional techniques, exquisite quality, extreme details and perfect service, and conveying the attitude and fun of life with design. His works are proficient in aesthetic research and creative breakthroughs, showing a balance between commercial value and artistic achievement.
Under his leadership, YuQiang & Partners, relying on the strength of a professional team, has provided services for the top 50 developers in China for many years, and has reached strategic cooperation with 50% of them, and continues to create a forward-looking and market-valuable industry model for customers, which is favored by customers and the market.
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Logic: from cognition to results, from thoughts to actions
"Fundamentally, designers are designed to conform to human nature and conform to life."
YuQiang & Partners was founded in 1999 as an "interior architect firm", aiming to become a design platform for outstanding designers to work together, through the exchange of information and the interaction of ideas, to promote the continuous progress of design concepts, and always maintain design innovation and vitality.
For decades, whether it is design or running a design company, Yu Qiang has always had a clear set of thinking logic for treating things, that is, cognition - values - methodology - action - results. It is a complete closed loop, from thought to action, on the road to success, these are indispensable.
Shenzhen Bay No. 1 Restaurant
Dongguan Yuanyue Marketing Center
# 01
Cognition: Based on human nature, from life, into design
YuQiang & Partners expresses the recognition of design: "Based on human nature, derived from life, made of design!" "That is, starting from human nature, serving life, and ultimately expressing it with design." Correct cognition is the most critical core of this whole set of logic, and it is fundamental. When we are discussing real estate, in layman's terms, design is to serve people's lives, whether it is family life or office life, leisure life, etc., design to bring progress to people's lives, and the direction of life progress comes from continuously satisfying the demands of higher and higher levels of human nature. 'Based on human nature' is the root and starting point of our cognitive design. ”
Guoling Group Office
Hangzhou Vanke Canal Center
# 02
Values: Unlimited creativity
"The formation of correct values is not out of personal preference, but the right choice for the correct cognition of things."
Opinions based on cognition, i.e. values. In Yu Qiang's view, from the perspective of human nature, people's thoughts are infinite, and human nature is always pursuing novel things.
As Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory expounds, people's needs level from material to spiritual continuous advancement, each stage of the needs are different, once people pursued the need to eat and wear warm survival needs, and when these basic needs are met, people began to seek emotional experience and satisfaction. "At the end of the day, we still have to look at design from the perspective of human nature, but at the same time we need to maintain a balance of wisdom, and the ultimate purpose is still to design in a better direction, in order to make the occupants feel happy." 」 Therefore, "designing for the progress of people's lives" has become the core mission of YuQiang & Partners, which is achieved through continuous progress.
"Now people are beginning to pursue high-quality, personalized products, if the design is still on the road of the past, and does not conform to the development trend of the times, it is likely to be eliminated by the market." Based on the cognition of "based on human nature, derived from life, and made up in design", Yu Qiang and YuQiang & Partners further developed the value of "unlimited creativity" as the core.
Therefore, YuQiang & Partners adheres to the creative design, is to try to follow the objective laws of things to do design, in their view, the only creation should be to follow the laws of people and life, on the basis of doing different, interesting, beautiful design. "Every era has creativity, and each era's creativity is different, and making more wonderful designs is always our pursuit."
At the same time, YuQiang & Partners also maintains flexible and pragmatic characteristics in the design service process, based on problem solving and systematic thinking, each project is considered from the perspective of investors, operators and users, "Design is not limited to the expression of creativity, but from the perspective of commercial operation and maintenance, reverse space design and landing implementation, comprehensive consideration of quality, cost and creative expression, scene experience balance." ”
Zhonghai Huizhi Building
# 03
Methodology: creative design, plate specialization
The value of focus, the power of collaboration
Driven by the mission of "designing for the progress of people's lives" and guided by the value of "unlimited creativity", Yu Qiang and YuQiang & Partners have formed a set of effective codes of conduct, which do not point to a specific approach, but around the correct cognition and values of the evolution of a variety of, time-sensitive, tailor-made methodologies - "design creative, plate specialization". This is the brand advantage of YuQiang & Partners, which together build a strong competitiveness that is different from its peers, meets the different design service needs of customers, and gives life unlimited possibilities.
YuQiang & Partners' "design creativity" lies in the cooperation of international original R&D teams, always maintaining the spirit of pioneering exploration, and building the unique value of the firm's "leading trends and being good at originality". And how to understand "plate specialization", Yu Qiang gave a key word - focus.
In his view, on the one hand, people engaged in the design industry have different talents, if the talent is limited, then the "plate specialization" methodology of "focusing on the plate and focusing on the field" can make more people who love design play. "Once people focus and focus on one thing to strive for excellence, they will have a lot of power, although this power can not replace the genius of the creativity, but for the designers themselves have a great improvement, our 'plate specialization' is to play the professional strength of each team member to the extreme."
On the other hand, it stems from a strong judgment of the basic market demand. When YuQiang & Partners talks about focus, it also points out that design should focus on life, always design around human nature, and achieve maximum value for customers with efficient management mechanism, professional design team, focused design attitude, and rich design experience. "In short, based on the mission of 'designing for the progress of people's lives', we focus wherever there is demand, which is also a strategy for running our business."
In the process of practicing the methodology of "design creativity and plate specialization", YuQiang & Partners has formed a flexible and efficient collaboration system of creativity and professionalism, specialized plate and the overall industrial chain, whether it is in grasping the overall situation or improving the details, solving problems for customers in all aspects.
Wangzhou· OCAT Xi'an Pavilion
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Action: Extreme execution
Relying on correct cognition, core values, and professional methodologies, it must ultimately be implemented into action and practice in order to reap the results. Yu Qiang's insistence on logic also has a complete closed loop in design and drives the development of YuQiang & Partners. "Based on the recognition of human nature and unlimited creativity, adhere to the design for people's life progress, with a plate professional approach, in the market demand layout of industry and business development."
Since its development, YuQiang & Partners has maximized the advantages of the platform in gathering outstanding talents and integrating multiple resources, and its format layout has shown the characteristics of "rich and accurate", "professional and efficient", and has become a leader in the field of interior design. At the same time, its company has carried out corresponding optimization and adjustment in the structure, with five major brands such as YuQiang & Partners, EK Design, Womble House Design, Yu room construction, and bubble art gallery, relying on eight major sectors of residential real estate, display sales, comprehensive office, top luxury houses, innovative cultural tourism, commercial fashion, health industry, and smart technology, forming a diversified pattern of the development of the whole business chain, and excellent works are frequent.
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The result: a wonderful work that combines creativity and professionalism
On the basis of cognition, the mission, values, methodology are explored, and finally relying on the ultimate landing level, the harvest has been fruitful - YuQiang & Partners' works show the characteristics of both artistic creativity and professional skills, and are highly recognizable and competitive in the market.
At present, YuQiang & Partners not only has professional accumulation, but also has the vitality of continuous innovation, as well as the ultimate execution, through international design vision, forward-looking design research and development, rational design control, more than 120 cities across the country, the cumulative realization of more than 2500 projects, the scale of the platform and the influence of the team continue to expand.
In recent years, YuQiang & Partners has focused on a variety of new trends in office design such as green, diversified, efficient and artistic, and with its forward-looking artistic vision, it has accumulated project design experience of various scales such as self-use office and office display, and has gradually become a pioneer in the development of office design.
"Whether it is the present or the future, we always hope to stand at the height of international vision, fully serve the needs of customers, not only be proficient in aesthetic research, creative breakthroughs, but also skillfully achieve the balance of commercial value and artistic achievements, and continue to provide customers with fine works." Yu Qiang talked about the company's future direction.
Excellent Qianhai No.1 office
DT Design Trends × Quick Q&A
DT: You have been in the industry for nearly 30 years, and you have been deeply involved in the design profession, what are the core values you adhere to?
Yu Qiang: First of all, I think that design has an internal logic, that is, cognition- values - methodology - action - results. First, there is cognition. The second is the view that arises based on cognition, that is, values, followed by the formation of a corresponding methodology, and finally practice according to the methodology, and implement the results.
I can measure everything with this logic of thinking, and when you act according to this logic, even if you don't get a high score in the end, the result is at least correct. In general, no matter how you choose, you should be on the right path, choosing your favorite way and the degree of effort on the right path. When you measure it with the same ruler, the big things and the little things are actually very clear.
DT: In this logic, what is the relationship between "cognition" and "values"?
Yu Qiang: Values without cognition are blind and not profound. Therefore, correct cognition is the most core key and fundamental in this whole set of logic.
When confined to one box, it's hard to see the whole of design, because you're bound by the industry. You have to jump out of this box and go to life to see that it is people who make up life. So, ultimately, we have to look at design in terms of human nature. Human nature is to hunt for curiosity, but at the same time we must maintain a balance of wisdom that satisfies curiosity without detaching from life. Fundamentally, designers are meant to conform to human nature and conform to life.
DT:YuQiang & Partners aims to be a design platform for good designers to work together, is there any management experience you can share with us?
Yu Qiang: In terms of management, our pursuit is "no management, less management", we hope that the partners who struggle with me can have independent judgment and coordination ability. For example, when we want to accomplish something, they can show their abilities and help others, and we hope that everyone can play to their own strengths.
Source: DT Trend Figures