Lin Zuoxin, former president of the Asian Furniture Federation, gave a special speech at the "First China New Chinese Redwood Furniture Forum"
In recent years, the new Chinese style has become popular. At the beginning of August this year, Zhongshan Dayong had the first new Chinese furniture exhibition, which is of course a good thing.
The term new Chinese is proposed by Zhang Dishu of Beijing Forestry University, Zhang Binyuan of Nanjing Forestry University and Hu Jingchu of Central South University of Forestry and Technology to distinguish it from traditional Chinese furniture - mahogany furniture.
I believe many people will ask: Why does the new Chinese style arise, and where will it go? Let us briefly sort out China's traditional furniture trends.
Ming-style (1368 -1644 years)
Ming furniture is the first peak of Chinese furniture, affecting the world, not only design, but also structure, technology and materials. These are the designs of today's Nordic countries that the old Europeans could not match. They are all self-evident, even the most famous designs, such as Hans Wegner, his China Chair. Self-explanatory.
Qing-style (1644 -1911 years)
In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the corruption was prevalent, and the income of the official was rich. So the literati was keen on the career. The furniture industry suddenly had no soul, leaving only a large number of artisans. The production of furniture also fell into the hands of artisans. Where does the craftsman know what Taoism and what minimalism? It can only be developed in the process, so the carving is more and more complicated. In the end, it is completely skillful. The furniture of the Qing Dynasty was large in volume and complicated in carving. Therefore, it can be said that the furniture of the Qing Dynasty was the furniture of artisans.
Republic of China Furniture (1912 -1949 years)
At that time, the Chinese thought that China's backwardness was caused by the old culture (in fact, it was the agricultural society of the millennium, which was not transformed into industrial society in time), so the whole thing was negated.
The same is true for furniture design. The exterior design is all copied from the West, from Baroque to Rococo, all imported, but the material is mainly mahogany, and rarely used oak, ash, etc. (the wood used in the West).
The craftsmen are of course Chinese, so the craftsmanship, the carving method, and so on, are all original ones. Because craftsmen have "inherent culture", in some places, it is inevitable that they will be mixed with some "Chinese elements."
The national state is a mixed four. This kind of Chinese traditional furniture and Western furniture "hybrid", divided into two ways: mainly in the ocean, supplemented by the middle; mainly in the middle, supplemented by the ocean. This is the product of the times and the helplessness of the times.
Today's furniture (1949- )
After the founding of New China in 1949, due to lack of materials, furniture has no style at all, and it is very simple, in order to meet the basic functions of life. After the reform and opening up, the material has gradually enriched, and the Chinese furniture style has returned to the old path of the country. Because we are completely enveloped in Western culture, architecture, clothing, and living utensils are all Western-style, Chinese culture. Lost in depth.
As China's national strength has increased, the nation's self-confidence has gradually recovered, and people began to review their own culture and traditions. In the 1990s, Chinese traditional furniture, the so-called mahogany furniture, began to rise, but the market share of furniture in China has never exceeded 10%. Why? The reasons are probably as follows:
In design, first, in the western-style apartment, the old Chinese traditional furniture is very uncoordinated; instead, the traditional furniture pays attention to etiquette, and the modern people pay attention to comfort.
In terms of materials, mahogany furniture is made of mahogany, which is precisely the development of traditional furniture made of mahogany. Because the CITES Convention places most of the redwoods under the control of endangered species, it is not allowed to cut down on trading. Domestically, the so-called mahogany standard is limited to a very narrow range (5 genera, 8 categories, 33 types). All of the above gave the merchants the opportunity to hoard, and the price of redwood was smashed all the way. These three aspects are mixed together and doomed the future of mahogany furniture.
Therefore, we say that the Ming Dynasty is the furniture of the literati, the Qing Dynasty is the furniture of the craftsman, and the modern is the furniture of the material.
Looking at the Tudor design in the United Kingdom, the Tudor dynasty (1485–1603) was the era of the British heyday. It was in the same period as the Ming Dynasty of China. The furniture of this era was luxurious, full and rich, but it has developed to the present day. Made a lot of changes. Our furniture in the Ming and Qing Dynasties did not go to modernization, so we could only go to the small alleys and go further and narrower.
Hu Shi said: "Culture is a way of life formed by civilization."
After the reform and opening up, China's great achievements in industrialization formed a modern civilization and formed a new way of life, so the Chinese began to challenge Western culture. Chinese traditional culture challenges Western modern culture, which is a very normal logic.
Malinowski's cultural three-factor theory divides culture into three levels: artifact, organization and concept. In the upper and lower sides of the Western artifacts and traditional concepts, our lifestyle presents a state of "earth ocean" and miscellaneous. The soil of the country has four kinds of soils. It is no wonder that today's furniture market in China, European and American furniture still dominates.
However, as China's national strength strengthens, national self-confidence also strengthens, traditional culture becomes stronger, squeezes Western modern culture, organizational layers will change, and lifestyles will change. The new Chinese style finally appeared.
The new Chinese style is different from traditional furniture. The design is simple and functional, but it also captures the traditional tail and continues the tradition with Chinese elements. For example, the four-character print, the scroll book, the grass pattern, the long-shoulder pattern, the back-grain pattern, the horseshoe foot, etc., hope to use these elements to resist the invasion of Western furniture.
I believe that the way of life is inherited. The Chinese and Western cultures collide in the organizational layer and gradually form a new lifestyle. This kind of collision is a kind of wrestling. It is the Chinese traditional culture that has gradually emerged, forming a way of life. Only after having the demand for the nation and culture, has a new Chinese style.
The new Chinese style is the historical role of the past and the future.
The Chinese and Western cultures will continue to collide, and the wrestling will continue. This will definitely bring us back to the original point of design and return to rational design.
The rational design is: fully investigate the market and find out what Chinese people like. The products we design and produce must conform to the Chinese people's lifestyle. Naturally, the Chinese characteristics of the products are born in it.
The new Chinese style continues to develop, and so is it. There is no need to entangle the Chinese elements. The Chinese design furniture that is used by the Chinese and conforms to the Chinese way of life is Chinese-style furniture. It’s that simple, of course, we have to remember the words of our ancestors: to use the materials, to adapt to local conditions, to vary from person to person, and to make use of the situation.
On the material, let it go, you can use any suitable, easily available wood, qualified wood-based panels and even other new materials. In terms of technology, follow the national industrial process, try to adopt new technologies, new processes, new equipment, and do not rely on artisans.
Otherwise, China's furniture market can only continue to be left to furniture designed in Europe and America.
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