设计师李昱专栏

李昱:您对生活中的东方美有何见解呢？

James Lee:What do you think about oriental beauty in your life?

Micheal Young:

在亚洲生活了十几年后，我有幸饱览了中国的大好河山与自然美景，了解了中国的自然材料以及中国的技艺。我很幸运，因为我学会了鉴赏类似竹子这样的材料，了解了这类材料的用途和它们真正给人类感官带来的冲击。同时，我也了解了科技对人类感官造成的影响。亚洲和中国的历史之丰富令人难以置信，包括它的建筑技术和传统工艺。所以中国是个非常给人以启发的国家。

I think, for me, having spent the last 10 or 12 years in Asia I've been fortunate enough to see the nature , the natural materials from China, as well as the technology, so for me I consider myself extremely lucky because I've learned to appreciate materials like bamboo and what you can do with this type of- what they actually bring to the human senses, but also what technology has done to bring human senses, so that's an incredible richness of history in Asia, in China, for construction techniques, for traditional craft, so yeah ,it's a very inspiring country.

李昱：你曾经有用过自己心仪的中国材料来做设计吗？

Have you ever used something you like from China to do your project?

Micheal Young:

有的，最近我做过最令人振奋的一件事情就是用天然竹子为一家公司设计了灯。并不仅仅是因为竹子本身的特性适合做灯柱之类的部件。更是为年轻的消费者考虑，让他们能够领会竹子在社会上的自然之美，以及自然材料对中国的意义所在。

I think one of the most inspiring things I've done recently was design some lighting using natural bamboo for a company called Zen sense and not only did the bamboo lend itself very naturally to be used as a item, it was also for young consumers so they could appreciate the culture of bamboo in society and what it means to China as a natural material. So it was very optimistic。

李昱：在室内设计时把注意力放在了人类思维上，在产品设计时，我们总是第一时间会思考外形和造型，那么，在你的观念中，你是如何定义外形和造型的？谁更重要？

we always think about the shape, the Form, they are good to be first thing think about .how about you ,as an industrial designer. What you think about the form, the shape of your concept, Which one comes first? 

Micheal Young:

你要知道，外形和功能是很复杂的关系，举个例子，当你设计一个音响的时候，其功能决定了外形，因为声音输出的方式是特定的，所以没有多少挑选材料的余地，得考虑到实际的产品性能。再说到外形，我们很愿意去欣赏材料的自然之美，也会尽可能得对其进行工业加工。因为设计外形的灵感来源于文化，文化是你的目标消费者。所以我认为我们对外形持有一种非常开放的态度。但是有一点，那就是我们喜欢大量地应用技术，创造一些在市场上能让人眼前一亮的新东西，不单单只是遵循传统。我们要推进设计的界限，因为新一代的消费者或是年轻人已经开始探索新点子了。

you know, Form and function is a very complex universe. So, for example, when you design a speaker, the function dictates the form because the sound comes out in a certain way, so you have less room to play with materials because there's a reality to performance in the product. And when it comes to form, we very much like to appreciate the nature of the material and how far we can push it industrially because form is inspired by culture, because culture is your target consumer. So I think we have a very open mind towards form. But also the other thing, we like to play with technology a lot, and create something that's fresh on the market, not just traditional, pushing the boundaries of design, as new generations of consumers or younger people start to look for new ideas.

李昱：如果细究你的作品风格，里面包含了自然状态和技术，您能和我们谈谈这种自然状态和工艺吗?

I have seen your work. you have “raw” and “tech” if you check your style, can you talk about the “raw” and “tech” 

Micheal Young:

我觉得自然状态和自然的概念一向对我们很重要，因为我们从亚洲工业和工厂中获得启发。但是如果我们太过强调技术，就会不够人性化，因为人类灵魂是需要温存与触感的。所以我们在应用技术的同时会寻求一种方法来确保我们的项目能引起人们的共鸣，让人们在使用能与其产生精神上的连接的材料和有触感时能产生一种强烈的情感共鸣。

Yes, I think the concept really of 'raw' and 'tech' has always been important to us because we're very inspired by Asian industry and factories but if we make it too technical it becomes dehumanized because the human soul needs warmth and tactility. So we tend to have an approach where whilst we do use technical processes, we make sure the project has a very human resonance and that it's emotionally compelling as a material or tactility that connects spiritually to the person using it.

Yangmeixhu Street Public Toilets

杨梅竹街 公共厕所

李昱：我觉得自然状态和技术是相对立的，你是怎样在同一个水准或者同一进度同时做到两者的呢？

Because I think the raw and high tech are sort of opposites. How could you get those two on the same level or same page?

Micheal Young:

我觉得这是社会自身的功劳。许多人都被迫使用技术，但是总的来说技术是非常智能的。技术有条不紊，规规整整，还有完美的外表。但是大多数人都不能像电脑似的。因为人会着装，他们的衣服会变脏，还会有折痕。还有很多富人并不想张扬。所以我觉得还是有一些顾客喜欢随意一些的产品。

Oh, I think society has done that to itself, because, you know, a lot of people are forced to use technology, but generally technology is something which is very smart. It's very tidy, it's very square, it's got a very good surface, but most human beings can't look like a computer because they wear clothes and get dirty, they have creases, some people have money but they don't want to look so rich. So I think there's definitely a level of consumer that likes to have a sense of roughness around the product.

李昱：你曾经有为得到快乐做过什么事情吗？不为了具体的原因，就是图个开心

Have you ever done something just for happiness, not for some real reason, just for happy

Micheal Young:

我愿意去尝试为了快乐而做事情。快乐是一个很奇怪的词儿。因为当你为客户工作的时候，你就尝试着去让他们快乐，让他们的业务运作顺利。当我做一些事情让自己快乐的时候我就会开始我的设计，因为我会全心投入其中。但是我觉得最让人感到快乐的设计是为美术馆设计，为慈善事业设计，在这过程中可以自由发挥想象，没有过多的限制。我们下一个在洛杉矶的机器设计的原材料就来自中国，工厂也位于中国。这是个挺棘手的任务，但是我乐在其中。

yeah ,I tend to try to live my life to do things for happy reasons.But I think you know ,Happiness is a strange word because when you're working for a client,you are trying to ,make them happy, make their business happy .When I do things to make myself happy, I design something because it's got my heart in it,but I think the happiest designs tend to be for - art galleries, for charity, where you have a lot of freedom of imagination, less restrict ,so we working on the next machine in Los Angeles with materials and factories in China and this is a hard work .but I'm happy.

李昱：你有什么作品是可以反映意外之获这个词的概念的吗？

So, does any of your work reflects the meaning of serendipity?

Micheal Young:

我觉得我会引用这个词，这真是个好词儿。因为每一天都充满了惊喜、意外。所有生活中发生的事情就像是生活的湖面上泛起的波浪与涟漪。我认为这真是令人惊奇的奇妙设计，就像人类的想象和结交新朋友 .设计师不应该只是以自我为中心的独立思考者，我认为设计师应该互相帮助，建立团体。当然，设计需要独立的设计想法，但是所有设计师不得不承认，他们喜欢互鉴作品，并因此大受启发。

I think. yeah, I’ll use this word serendipity, it's a good word because every day is full of surprises,and.so you know, everything that happens in life is like creating waves and ripples in the surface. And I think that’s totally amazing design magic, people’s Imaginations and meeting new people and you know, designers should not be independent thinkers in the sense of egotism, I think If designers help each other and create community, of course design needs a vision from one person, but you know, all designers have to admit that they love to look at other people's work and everyone is inspired by everything.

TRUSSARDI FACADE CONCEPT DESGIN 

TRUSSARDI店铺概念设计

李昱：但是意外之获又是怎样转变成了创造力的呢，因为意外收获是一种生活方式，而创造力是我们的工作方法。

but how does serendipity turn into creativity? Cause serendipity is a lifestyle, but creativity is how we work.

Micheal Young:

我是这样认为的，每一次我们都会为那些每天启发我们的东西付诸精力，然后得到成品，这其实是个很直接的过程，如果我想要设计一把椅子，我就会和拥有工厂的人会会面。就说那个在长沙生产竹子的工厂吧，可能哪天我想起来他了我就会给他打电话。

Well, I think every time we get a project we put our energy into the things that are inspiring us each day and becomes the end product, so it’s quite straightforward...If I have to Design a chair, I meet someone who's got a factory, you know ,in Changsha who's making some beautiful bamboo, maybe one day I’ll remember this and give him a call

李昱：你对艺术和设计有什么见解，艺术和设计有什么区别呢。因为很多人说设计更偏向于技术，而艺术更加偏向于情感。

what you find in art and design - what is the difference between art and design? Because some people say that design is more the technique, but art is more like emotional.

Micheal Young:

嗯，当你还是个年轻的设计专业的学生时，你必须尽早做出论断，自己是一个设计者还是艺术者。设计的目的是创造经济，为人们制造环境氛围，而艺术则仅仅是创造概念。艺术仅与概念有关。艺术有时关乎金钱，而有时又与金钱无关。但这的确是一个显著的差别。设计不仅仅关于概念，因为若真是如此，就会失去了自身的目的性，也会失去了设计存在的原因，那就是为人类设计出功能并为其所用。

when you're a young design student, you have to decide very early if you're a designer or an artist, Design has the purpose of creating economy and making people, giving people atmosphere of surroundings. Art is about creating concepts only. Art is just about concept Sometimes it can be about money, sometimes it doesn't have to be about money. But that is a very difference. Design cannot only be conceptual, because otherwise it will lose its sense of purpose and the reason design exists is to serve human functionality, for human use.

李昱：对的，对我来说，我觉得艺术更像是一个梦，设计就像是，我在清晨醒来，就不得不去思考一些东西。所有我觉得对我来说艺术就想是在我内心深处的东西，而设计就像是我脑子里要去思考的东西。是内部与外部的关系。

For myself, I think art is more like a dream, and design is more like, I wake up in the morning, I have to think about something.  So, I think that art for me is more like my heart, to feel something, design is more like my brain, to think something. inside and out.

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