Interview with Yi Chen & Muchen Zhang

Yi Chen & Muchen Zhang ("YC&MZ") interviewed on Thursday, 16 May.

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

YC&MZ : We major is Fine Arts. We used to want to become a good artist, but this idea changed after graduating from university, because we accessed spatial design by chance and thought it to be interesting and of great help for our easel painting and spatial space installation works of art.

How did you become a designer?

YC&MZ : After graduated from university,, we designed some residential and real estate projects, which gained a lot of popularity and won some good reputation in the industry, so we therefore switched toward this direction and became a designer.

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

YC&MZ : Our design is carried out in line with respecting nature and the environment, showcase cultural literacy and spiritual pursuit behind the space. mainly in a way of ‘seclusion ’. That is to reduce human intervention, whilst accentuating nature, keeping a mentality of humbleness to the environment. An excellent design must have souls. We infiltrate design into our lives. Let the form of this design reveal itself faintly. What we are trying to do is to make design disappear and let it go back to humanity itself. This is also a process that makes tangible into intangible.

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

YC&MZ : There is an opportunity to release our imaginary space, which is exciting for us.

What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?

YC&MZ : The background of being an artist has influenced our design.

What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?

YC&MZ : Learn from our failures.we have no any planning for our future, but we believe God will lead us forward. We hope to be able to get the opportunity to design a church. It is not only our dream, but also in connection with our beliefs.

What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?

YC&MZ : Feel the life and full of passion to design, constantly self-denial, self-transcendence.

You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?

YC&MZ : Thinking about design projects and art works can't just be think about the form, more importantly it's to think about that let the space filling the soul. This is a process that makes tangible design intangible. This is what we think of as the highest state.

What is your day to day look like?

YC&MZ : We live a simple life every day. Think about the design or walk outside during the day, take care of the child and meeting with the company in Beijing at night. We also go to the church on weekend.

How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?

YC&MZ : We focus on the needs of current society, but we don't pursue state of art design trends.

How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?

YC&MZ : Design quality is reflected in whether the design works showcase cultural literacy and spiritual pursuit behind the space. An excellent design must have souls.

How do you decide if your design is ready?

YC&MZ : Every corner of the space has already presented the perfect state, the primary and secondary relations in the space also dealt with very reasonable, the mood in the space also expressed fully. At this point, the space design can be finished.

What is your biggest design work?

YC&MZ : Blue Lake House & Blue Lake Restaurant

Who is your favourite designer?

YC&MZ : We seek inspiration and absorb nutrients more from the realm of art. The artists we admire are more in number than the designers we admire, and these include the ancient Chinese artists Badashanren (pseudonym for Zhu Da) and Xuwei as well as the Spanish Salvador Dali, Max Beckmann, representative figure of German Expressionism, and others.

Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?

YC&MZ : We use artistic angle to think; to stand in the angle of the Christian faith to observe the world and our life state. We also on our's eastern culture background to locate our own aesthetic direction.

Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?

YC&MZ : We focused on integrating life into our design, allowing our spiritual design to be absorbed into nature. Our ultimate pursuit is to appreciate, embrace and consider nature in our designs.

What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?

YC&MZ : Design a novel, quality space that should be capable to maximize customer benefits and truly help make their dreams come true. In the meantime, it is our hope to showcase feelings of holiness, simplicity and intangibility in every space we design, thus reflecting the supreme spirit of God through our space.

What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?

YC&MZ : I think it is a good opportunity to communicate with each other.

Yi Chen & Muchen Zhang Profile