Dialogue with A&X designers: Use original designs to create high-quality lifestyles

On September 10th, the 42nd China (Shanghai) International Furniture Fair opened with the theme of "Global Home Furnishing Model" in Shanghai Hongqiao National Convention and Exhibition Center. United Continental Furniture brings its original brandsA&XAnd the Italian minimalist light luxury brand ESEDRA/CASA, with integrated customized solutions incorporating many years of design experience and designer original innovative products, log in to Trend Furniture Hall 4.1 Hall A01 Booth. The 500-square-meter Huamei Exhibition Hall perfectly presents the beauty of original design, craftsmanship, and quality of the two brands. The crowd on the day of the launch, the audience moved, and the interpretation of popularity. When ingenuity meets luxury, design meets quality, and European furniture tells it with original strength Why does the industry lead the way? With its dignified pavilion design and high-quality, high-quality and high-grade product support, United Euro Furniture has attracted dealers, designers and buyers from all over the world.

The first day of the exhibition,A&XItalian designer Marco Seveso and Gigi Trezzi visited the venue to discuss original design issues with guests and media friends. As well-known Italian designers, the design thinking in their works is indeed worthy of our taste. Interpretation from their stories and perspectives through a series of in-depth reports and videos “A&XThe experience of the original furniture design road", to explore the development of the current post-modern style furniture design concept, from Sina Home Furnishing, Tencent Home Furnishing, Sohu Focus Home Furnishing, Pacific Home Furnishing, Phoenix Net, Netease, Toutiao, Tencent Video, iQiyi A dozen or so reporters from the media will be there to witness this art and design dialogue, and take you to exploreA&XThe story behind the success.

Interview Record:

<span style='color:#CCCCCC;font-family:' font-size:14px;background-color:#cccccc;'=''>[Media]: Your design works and company's design projects have repeatedly won international design awards. Can you share your representative works and honorary awards with us?

[Marco]：First of all, I want to make it clear that my partner Gigi Trezzi and I are architects and we graduated from the Milan Polytechnic. Our design studio is mainly engaged in the construction industry, mainly villas and commercial buildings, including interior decoration design and project renovation design. Our clients generally ask us to design the exterior and interior of the house at the same time, which allows us to go with the flow and start furniture design. I noticed that one of the biggest differences between Chinese and Italian designers is specialization and diversification, which we are obviously not used to in Italy. Specialization is certainly useful because it allows you to understand your industry more deeply, but in my opinion, specialization also tends to limit your thinking development.

A master architect once said that an architect can contract a project, from a spoon to a city. That is to say, the thinking process is similar, although it will not be exactly the same, but from the design of a small object to the overall design of a city, the most important thing is the design idea and design concept.

This premise explains why we are fortunate to have won some architectural projects and other design awards, including the "Milan Furniture Design Award" and the "Lake Como Architectural Project Award", which are familiar to Chinese people.

[media]:  As an Italian designer, when did you start working with Chinese high-end furniture brandsA&XBefriended?

[Marco]：We started to cooperate with Mr. Tong's A&X brand in 2014.

I found that Mr. Tong is a very interesting person with his own ideas. He believes that his company must develop strong design capabilities even at the creative stage. He must have his own design characteristics.

It is undeniable that many Chinese furniture companies have achieved great development and growth in the process of manufacturing furniture designed by European companies (usually Italian furniture). This is because the market needs a large number of lower-priced products, and Chinese manufacturing has happened to have labor cost advantages in the past few decades.

But Mr. Tong is different from other furniture manufacturers. He wants to have his own original design, and he wants to develop his company's design style. he thinksA&XMust become a well-known brand with its own personality, not just a furniture manufacturer. So we started to cooperate, Mr. Tong began to let us design furniture products for him. When he asked us if we were interested in doing this, we found that many of our design ideas coincided with each other, so in 2014 we started a pleasant cooperation between us.

Recently, I have seen many very thoughtful, beautiful and modern design projects at various furniture exhibitions in China. These original design projects are all completed by Chinese designers, who have the ability to better interpret the history and modern culture of their country. Today, we see a new modern Chinese design, very interesting, some works are even at the forefront of design. I think that although Mr. Tong is not the only industrialist who pursues his own design style, there are indeed not many such industrialists. There is no doubt that such industrialists have a great influence on the development of the entire furniture industry.

A&XThe brand furniture is of very good quality, exquisite workmanship, and excellent materials, thanks to the workers who create each product, who can skillfully combine various elements such as wood, leather and steel.

Personally, in terms of art, I have always been attracted by Chinese culture. So this is me andA&XAnother reason for such an excellent Chinese furniture company to cooperate.

[Media]: Excuse meA&XWhat will be the next design trend of post-modern luxury style? Will there be major changes or adjustments?

[Marco]：Personally, when I design furniture products, I think of the international market, not a specific country or regional market. Many people who run companies are forced to connect with their markets. This means that many times the original design will change. I have to say that when we cooperate with Chinese companies, this change is much more than when we cooperate with Italian companies. All of this is understandable, because Chinese companies face a huge internal market, so they must consider regional design changes.

I am an Italian designer, but when I start project design, I will not treat my Italian customers and Chinese customers differently. No matter which country it is, I will do my best.

In the past 15-20 years, the luxury furniture market has undergone great changes. In the beginning, customers prefer classical style products, difficult-to-made furniture or precious and rare materials for the choice of luxury furniture (including villas, hotels, and representative architectural facilities). We seek high-end furniture that does not change over time, because it shows our wealth. The Chinese luxury goods market also joined this trend, so in the late 1980s and 1990s, the Chinese classical style furniture market began to appear and developed rapidly.

But the times are running. The new generation is growing. From the late 1980s to today, it is useless to explain how the world has changed. These new generations of wealthy people have begun to demand products that are still iconic but with more modern features, including the machines they see, the technical products they see, and the buildings they see all over the world.

Therefore, the demand for classical style furniture began to decline sharply.

I can say that luxury furniture is destined to belong to Italy. The main reason is that Italian furniture companies are companies composed of highly skilled craftsmen, and these companies have always been accustomed to establishing partnerships with designers.

The so-called globalization is determined by the emergence of the Internet and all instant messaging systems. These systems allow you to see images of distant countries in real time and also allow the globalization of the market. The furniture market has become more global. Italian companies believe that small and medium enterprises are very flexible, able to focus on the quality and exquisiteness of materials, and can develop more international designs that can attract the world, from Dubai to Moscow or Miami, China or Nanyang.

In the initial style replacement stage, designers will try to balance the movement of classical styles and more modern designs. However, the furniture must show wealth and wealth. Therefore, use gold, large sizes, very shiny materials, marble, or anything else to prove the owner's wealth. The 2008 international financial crisis made people realize that this shameless way should no longer be used to show off wealth. Therefore, the taste began to look for products with noble but no ostentatious ingredients, simpler and more advanced designs. The details are very demanding. The micro becomes more important than the macro.

Personally, this change makes me happy because I resonate more with the rationalist culture in architecture and design. My teachers are Mies, Eams, Magistretti, Zanuso, and they are architects dedicated to modern architecture. .

[Media]: For furniture designers who are keen on originality, you areA&XWhen creating this brand, what is the source of the most inspiration? Is there a standard process or method for furniture design?

[Marco]：I must say that a product project is actually closely related to ideas and inspiration. Architecture requires a more pragmatic attitude. I don't think there can be a standard process and method to do the project. Of course, you need to know how things are done, the nature of the materials and how they are handled.

But the most important thing is the designer's ideas, design concepts. Projects are born in the mind, they pass through and are filtered by the heart, and they come into the paper through the hands. I told my students that if they want to learn how to design, they must go out, walk around the city, walk around the village, and see different things. What I express is a kind of "curiosity". In fact, this is what my university professor told me. We must be curious, we must equip our minds with tools for thinking and research, to study the history of architecture, the history of design, to see what the masters have done, to see what is happening in the world today. Sometimes, even watching a movie, watching a fashion show, or going to a car dealer who sits at a desk all day will help a lot.

Then do more technical assessments, learn more about your partner company, understand the needs of the partner company, and understand what the partner wants.

[Media]: When you areA&XAmong all the works of brand design, which product is the most satisfactory to you?

[Marco]：Mr. Tong's companyA& XThe brand is a well-known high-end furniture brand in China with excellent product quality.

I think it’s important to convey this respect for the pursuit of high technology and high quality. Therefore, we discussed choosing to use wooden parts with rounded curves and metal fittings composed of some curved elements. Everything must match perfectly. Once you have a clear idea of the path you want to follow, the rest of the process will become simple. It is purely the personal style creation process of each designer. I can say that these products are just like my children, they all love each other in the same way. And I believe that even if children are different, they tolerate each other in different ways. Some products may be sold less, but I personally like it very much because I have seen that after 4 or 5 years, new trends in these products are coming.

But timing is not a good thing, you need to be able to make the right product at the right time. I believe that the best product will always appear in the next product. The meeting between the designer and the partner company is not simple, it requires brainstorming and spark collision. We need to understand each other, we need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each party, we need a feeling, we need trust and respect for each other's roles in order to create better.

Conclusion

Looking at the development of the home furnishing industry, style division has been dominating for many years. There are not many original design brands in the home furnishing circle that can make people amazing. The changing market has led to a dazzling array of styles. However, the needs of consumers have undergone earth-shaking changes, from simple functional requirements to general convergence of style positioning, and the same furniture makes consumers lose their aesthetic taste.A&XAfter in-depth thinking about the market and aesthetics, the furniture proposed a return to the mainstream international aesthetic taste, established the concept of post-modern neo-decorism, created luxurious overall furniture, and established its own design team in the design capital of Milan.A&XFurniture has quickly become a banner of domestic high-end brands, and is committed to providing customers with high-quality aesthetic overall furniture. Success is not accidental. Behind it is focus and persistence. Through this interview, we knowA&XHow did the brand grow from a relatively niche brand to a well-known original design brand inside and outside the industry, relying on the advantages of original design and precision quality. This is whyA&XThe reason to be able to stand upright in the home furnishing circle where discounts are popular, and not to attract customers with discount promotions. Design your own personality based on the market orientation, and then use the mainstream international language to pass it to the market, so that the design and quality of Chinese high-end furniture can compete with foreign products,A&XTake the first step.