Things That Can Only Be Done with Friends
As a designer raised in China, I’ve long felt uneasy about incorporating overtly foreign regional styles into my work. Since embarking on independent design, I’ve made it a priority to define a "Chinese style" that feels authentic and grounded.
The greatest challenge lies in the sheer vastness of our nation’s geography and history. Yet, more than fearing failure or complexity, I feared unconsciously replicating "Scandinavian," "Japanese," or "Rococo" designs. For a designer, the trap is this: if you allow yourself to become a mere "prop master" for fleeting trends, you must accept that when the show ends, the props will be discarded. This prospect breaks my heart—it contradicts the contemporary design ethos I believe in.
With the rise of the open internet and smartphones, many artisans began sharing videos on short-form platforms to document their craft or promote their work. These fleeting glimpses—ten seconds, a minute—of folk techniques were like traces of blood in water, sensed by us from afar. Driven by raw intuition and audacity, we charged forward like sharks, chasing the promise of something greater beneath the surface. Over four years, through conversations, purchases, visits, research, and experimentation, we connected with remarkable artisans across China’s folk craft landscape, came to understand them, and became their laotie (a term from short-video platforms meaning "close friends").
Through observation, I’ve tentatively categorized the works of these laotie into three "styles": warmth, charm, and simplicity. China’s long, diverse agrarian history means that many crafts preserved in these videos—like cultural snapshots—are tied to rural life. We describe techniques that sustain village social bonds as "warm"; "charm" embodies the narrative power and bold visuals of local totems and folklore; "simplicity" is necessity—the collective wisdom of people surviving millennia of hardships. These materialized virtues endure in every region, waiting to be rediscovered, revived, and reinterpreted.
The videos of laotie reveal scenes alien to urban audiences. The language of objects is potent, yet it can also hinder communication. As young designers, our role—and duty—is to act as translators. We interpret the allure of these crafts, their vitality, their reason for being, and perhaps their future.
In the end, I realized that only by understanding these things can we begin to grasp what our nation’s design style truly is—and how to move forward. But such a daunting task can’t be done alone. So we’ve become laotie with more artisans, befriending them. And with friends, we can do the things that only friends can do together.
展首语：和朋友一起才能做到的事
作为从小在中国长大的设计师，我总觉得在我的设计里表现出其他强地域性的风格不够好。于是开始独立进行设计工作以后，我把为自己寻到一种有据可依的“中国风格”视作重要的事。
最大的麻烦在于我们国家的地缘和历史太过于辽阔。但比起怕失败和麻烦，我还是更害怕自己在不自觉做着一些“北欧风”“日式”“洛可可式”设计。对于设计师这个陷阱在于如果放任自己成为某个短暂的社会景观里的“道具师”，就要接受戏散场，所有道具被丢到垃圾场的后果。而这样的事让我心碎，和我受到以及相信的当代设计精神是相违背的。
开放式互联网和智能手机普及后，为记录生活或推广产品，许多手工艺者开始在短视频平台发表视频。这些短片里展露出的十秒，一分钟的民间工艺，犹如大海里的一小股血腥气，被千里之外的我们嗅到。凭着青涩的直觉和勇气，我们像鲨鱼猛冲过去，企图捕捉血腥味道背后的鲜美大物。经过四年里，和短视频创作者的聊天，购买，走访，研究，思考，开发，反复这样的流程，与惊人的中国民间手工文化工作者们建立联系，了解他们，和他们成为“老铁”（短视频平台上常见的用于，朋友的意思）。
经过观察，我想我可以暂时把我们认识的这些“老铁们”的作品分为三种“风格”：“温暖”，“可爱”，“质朴”。中国有长久，辽阔，多元的农业社会史。在短视频平台上被“老铁们”拍摄，像文化切片一样碰巧保留下来的民间手工大略都和农家生活相关。我们把帮助维系了农村社群关系的工艺评价为“温暖”；“可爱”则代表与本地信仰图腾和文本有关的叙事意味和强视觉风格。“质朴”是一种必要，是千百年来在无数灾难中存活下来的人们集体潜意识留下的大小智慧。这些物化了的美好品格恒久地被保存在各个地区，只需要被发现，翻新，转译，便能继续使用。
“老铁们”的视频充满让城市人陌生的生活图景。物质的语言很有力，因此它有时反而阻碍人们交流。而作为年轻的设计师，我们能做，也应该花点力气做这个“翻译”工作。我们转译这些手艺的迷人之处，转译它的生命，它存在，发展的理由，也可能探讨它的未来。
最终，我意识到搞清楚这些，也许我们才能慢慢弄明白什么是我们国家的设计风格，才能最终明白要用怎样的双腿去走路。想要做到这么难的事儿，光靠自己是不够的，于是我们和更多的手工艺人成为“老铁”，成为朋友，有了朋友，就可以去做一些和朋友一起才能做到的事。
STUDIOMONANA 主设计师何鲜
2024年07月23日