"0 rules" define the space, and "0 pressure" express yourself. Jianze launches the "Jianze Friend" column to advocate and support every unique person to use space to express and display themselves.
The home of designers Clark and Corgi Oscar is in Shanghai. It is an old house completed in 1940. At over 80 years old, it exceeds the age of our generation. In a longer period of time, various ancient and modern objects come and go, revealing the inclusiveness of time in space.
01 The process of designing a home and gradually responding to oneself
Clark's house is rented and his home is his own. It was almost an empty shell when I moved in, and now it’s filled, changing every month. There is no planning in the process of living. For the sake of comfort and convenience, I just place them one by one in various places, gradually adapt to each other with the house, and slowly transform into the current appearance.
Q: Briefly introduce yourself
A: I am Clark, from Zhangzhou, Fujian. I go to university, work and live in Shanghai. I'm a designer and illustrator. My job is UX design, which is the design of user experience in digital products such as user research, concepts, interactions, interfaces, and motion effects.
△The old bungalow before and after renovation
Q: How do you view the impact of design on daily life?
A: The word design is actually very big, and it involves all aspects of life, including architecture, space, products, vision, and even the experience design I am doing. Some designs are practical, help people solve problems in some scenarios, and have certain functions or conveniences. Some pay more attention to aesthetics. In addition to the basic functions, they bring pleasure to people and even release some imagination space to respond to some more spiritual demands.
For example, Bauhaus advocates that function is more important than form, and many interfering elements can be simplified. The core is to satisfy function. Another example is that some of Philippe Starck's works are inconvenient to use, but for him they are designed as works of art. The scope of attention and the values pursued by different designers are different.
In short, good design can enhance people's happiness in life through the values they adhere to.
02 If you don’t feel restrained, it’s your home
As a collector, Clark's home is extremely complicated. Other people's homes are doing subtraction, but he is doing multiplication:) The storage space is limited and open storage is used. At first glance, it seems a little messy, but to him it is Very relaxed state. Especially when you are at home for a long time, you can get a lot of creative inspiration by walking around and touching here and there without doing anything specific.
Smoothness is more important than neatness. If it is particularly clean, "you will feel that no matter what action you take, it will destroy this state and make people more restrained." When taking pictures and drawings, Clark will not deliberately clean up the traces of life. They are all real life at home. state.
Q: Can your home be classified into a certain style?
A: My home is actually a mixed style, closer to the "medieval style", which was probably popular from the 1930s to the 1960s. It continues the Bauhaus' "form follows function" and adds some specific elements, such as dark colors, Wood, metal, lots of greenery.
My home basically meets these characteristics: wooden floors throughout and Shanghai-style retro steel windows. Because the floor height is high, we don’t have to worry about depressing colors and lack of space, so we successively added large pieces of dark-colored furniture and also raised many large tropical plants.
03 In the old bungalow, the dancing mountains and sunlight
Q: Which corner of your home represents your lifestyle?
A: The most representative thing is the workbench by the window. I have never worked in such a comfortable position before. It is the landscape view of my home. The window area is very large, and you can directly see the street view, and there are very tall sycamore trees. Painting and reading here, the leaves are swaying, and the sunlight shining through is beating.
You can also hear the clear calls of birds in the morning, and see squirrels running around in the trees, sometimes fighting each other to grab things. Although it is a downtown area that was once part of the French Concession, when it is quiet, it feels like being in a forest, and the sensory effect is quite great.
The interaction between the open windows and the outside world extends the scope of the home to the outside, and the external photosynthesis is also fully introduced. Clark and Oscar usually move around in pursuit of the sunshine at home, taking some quiet time in the midst of the hustle and bustle, and feeling the passage of time. When the weather is nice, you can stay on the open-air balcony, which is a bridge connecting to the sky. There are two camping chairs where you can sit and drink tea, read a book and look at the sky.
Excellent lighting, bright decorative paintings and Clark's own works hung on the walls, plus surrounding plants and a scurrying corgi, make this originally ancient space full of life.
04 Discover in life the easter eggs of our generation
Q: How would you describe the ethos or themes of this generation?
A: The contemporary era in my memory is segmented by events, such as the rise of the Internet. Before that, most people cared more about themselves, explored inwardly, were very focused on doing, studying, and thinking, and would stick to one thing for a long time. . After that, there was an explosion of information, and the whole world was opened up more wonderfully. People explored more outwards, but they also became more impetuous.
Another example is that before and after the epidemic, peaceful and stable lives were affected, and people's mentality changed. They no longer planned for distant goals and began to "failure". In fact, part of it is self-release, and paying more attention to the present is not a bad thing.
In recent years, I have also been trying to return to a state of inward exploration, how to let go, avoid distractions, and focus on myself. This may also be a common theme for our generation.
One day this year, I picked up a very big and thick piece of wood on Anfu Road. The whole street was closed at that time. This piece of wood was used to decorate the window display of a shop and was thrown at the door." Clark prepared to use various Plant moss and tie it on top to cover it with life or remember the depression and helplessness of that period. "It's very representative."
Clark joked that he is a scavenging blogger who practices green and environmental protection. There are many decorations in his home that he thinks are beautiful, or dead branches and leaves picked up on walks, or old objects found from friends who have moved. Encountering something foreign that suits you by chance is more like a treasure hunt for self-insight.
05 Life is like a tourist, the journey never stops
Clark is also a traveler: chasing blue sheep in the Helan Mountains of Yinchuan, hiking in the rain in Jiuxi, Hangzhou, watching the sunshine and lakes in the hinterland of the Tengger Desert, picking mushrooms, wild fruits, and fishing next to a forest cabin in Stockholm..."Except Increase your knowledge, chat with different people, eat delicious food, and another very important feeling is to change your rhythm and mentality, temporarily put aside the daily anxieties, trivialities, and distracting thoughts, and focus on the scenery and feelings in front of you. "
When you can't travel, just relax at home and observe details that are not easy to notice at ordinary times, such as which corner has grass growing and the grass is blooming. "Travel is just a means, and more importantly, focus. The real results come from your different subjective feelings."
Q: Why do elephants often appear in your works?
A: I am an only child. When I was a child, I was often at home alone. There were many encyclopedias at home. As I flipped through them, I became more interested in ancient behemoths like mammoths. As an adult, I learned more about elephants. Although it is a social animal, when an old elephant feels that its life is coming to an end, it will take the initiative to leave the herd and then find a place to wait for death alone. This feeling of loneliness from life itself is very shocking. Life is a one-way journey, and your choices must be true to your heart.
Because of his childhood and excitement, Clark has his own incarnation "Puff Elephant" in most of his works, maintaining his curiosity about the world and never ending adventures.
Q: Before understanding Jianze, what was your impression of Jianze?
A: The word Jianze reminds me of "rhythms at different distances" and "interludes" in music.
The symbol "0", I didn't expect it to be a number at first, because it is not linear but three-dimensional. It is more like an egg, rice, longan or lychee after shelling. It has a soft feeling visually.
Q: Which Jianze products have been selected?
A: PONY and YÂNG, if you lift them up and weigh them a few times, they are heavy and both are made of solid wood. But in terms of design, including color, curves, and rounded corners, it conveys a "soft sense of firmness."
△YǍNG CHAIR painted by Clark
