王國華 品牌創始人
Establishing “Ugan concept” designer floor brand in 2015, Wang Guohua brought up the concept that “floor is the first skin of space”, advocating presentation of floor’s beauty in oriental aesthetics in the modern context among the relationship between space, floor and man.
2015年創立“感物 Ugan concept”地板家居設計品牌,并于同年提出“地板是空間第一層肌膚”的概念。在空間、地板與人三者關系中,去呈現地板在當代語境下的東方美學之境。
Dialogue with Ugan concept: Nature, home and man
What role does floor play in a space?
W: It was about the year 2013, when I was in Machu Picchu, I began to think about other things outside of floor for the first time, such as the roles of the universe, the nature and floor in home space and their relationships with man. Floor is the first skin of space, especially in home space. When a home is decorated with proper floor, the feeling it expresses will surpass geometry concepts and conveys certain emotions. When a tree finishes its mission of the nature, it will change its role to become a medium for human and nature by bringing the nature into “human”’s field and enabling coexistence of nature and human in home (space). Of course, the field can be a home, a studio, a gallery, a shop or any other kinds of space.
Why did you establish the brand “Ugan concept”?
W: We have talked about the role transforming of trees. What “Ugan concept” wants to do is to get involved into the process in which trees are transformed into wood. Where would a tree go when it finishes its natural mission? At this moment, the tree is passive while what “Ugan concept” does is to well present the process how the tree is materialized into wood. I have been in the floor industry for over 10 years and I’m very familiar with its history and development. I’ve been to many international floor exhibitions but barely saw a brand that can present the modern China. The DOMOTEX - Hanover Exhibition in Germany in 2007 sowed the seed in me to establish my own floor brand, but at that time the condition was premature neither my personal experience nor the external environment. So I waited for the opportunity until 2015 and finally launched the “Ugan concept” plan.
What is the brand idea of “Ugan concept”?
W: Between the intimate, outside the outside.
Between the intimate: the relationship between man and floor is intimate. Intimate means there is no distance between. “Between the intimate” represents the function aspect of floor.
Outside the outside: outside shows the beauty of prospect born from the object. It’s the spiritual aspect of floor.
The category of “Ugan concept” is very special. Can you talk about it in detail?
W: The category is built on “Ugan concept”’s brand gene. “Ugan concept” is a floor brand deeply rooted in oriental culture. It is natural to expand its concept according to oriental aesthetics. The word-formation method of Chinese character is very oriental. “木 (wood)” is the original material of floor boards. Based on this pictogram, we deploy other four characters that are combinations of characters of “木 (wood)” and “一 (one)”. Their meanings differ when “一 (one)”’s position changes on “木 (wood)”. It is very interesting and symbolic. Even a foreigner who doesn’t know Chinese can easily remember those characters.
What features of floor attract you so much?
W: My love with floor came gradually with time. When I graduated from college, it was my first job and I just took it step by step. Now thinking it seriously, it is some features of “wood” that attract me:
1. Mono no aware of wood: I have very strong mono no aware tones especially to objects polished by time. Wood is one of the representatives. In oriental culture, especially in China and Japan, wood is always used as the main material in architecture, while in the west it is stone. Wood is a kind of thing that is easy to fade away. It will fade into the nature again along with the time. The process is beautiful, quiet and full of power.
2. Growth rings of wood. Life of trees begins from rotating rather than stretching out. We all know that trees have growth rings, which grows year after year around the original center. The growth rings preserve orders of time and space. It is a profile for human to explore into the unknown areas of our universe. It is a record of sunlight, soil, humidity, macula, position and even volcano explosions. It is a method for trees to record time. If we see the growth rings as the time flow of the universe, then the cracks on the wood is the mark made by time, the channel from finite to infinity. The naps and gaps marked by time are also branded by man who uses it and creates memories on it.
Can you tell us more about the designing idea of “Ugan concept”?
W: The idea is simply to“present wood’s beauty by its nature”.
First, our design focuses on material, which means material comes first than design and design serves for material. What our design expresses is not designer, but material. I think good designers and designing groups should understand material’s “language” and then express it according to material’s “instruction”. The process is in fact the connotation of “Ugan concept”.
It is said that you are working on a concept of “floor recycling”?
W: The total resources of our planet earth are limited. “Floor recycling” concept of “Ugan concept” recycles our old products on one hand and on the other, collects and recycles floor boards on a global scale. This will be the “末 (mo)” series. Such kind of resources is quite rich in Europe and I think there will be more in China also. For me, ideally, good floor boards can be used for the whole life and can be passed down to the offspring as art works. When the brand structure is more complete, “Ugan concept” will gradually perfect this series with more investments, adding businesses such as floor care and repairing.
地板在空間中處于什么樣的角色?
W:大概是2013年,在馬丘比丘, 我第一次跳出了地板本身去思考一些東西, 關于宇宙、自 然、地板在家宅空間內的角色以及與人的一些關系。 地板是空間的第一層肌膚, 這其中尤其以人類的“家宅”最為明顯, 當合適的地板出現在家里, 那種家的感覺應該是超越幾何學空間概念的, 它會帶有某種特殊情緒。當一棵樹完成自然使命的時候,它轉換角色, 成為人類與自然間的介質, 它將自然安置在“人”的場域里, 讓自然來到家(空間)里一起居住。當然, 這個場域, 可以是寓所, 也可以是工作室、美術館、商鋪,任何空間。
為什么會做“感物”這個品牌?
W:前面談到樹的角色轉換問題, 而“感物”就是想參與由樹到木的這個角色轉換過程。當一棵樹完成自然使命,它何去何從? 這個時候, 樹是被動的一方, 而“感物”做的就是如何去舒服地呈現木物化的那個狀態。我從事了10余年地板行業, 應該說非常熟悉這個行業的歷史與脈絡, 國際上大大小小的展會參加無數, 卻很少遇到一個能表達當代中國的地板品牌,2007年的DOMOTEX——德國漢諾威展會給我埋下了做自己內心地板品牌的種子, 但那時時機尚不成熟, 無論是個人的經驗積累還是客觀大環境, 所以我一直在等待這個時機。2015年, 我感覺差不多了, 就啟動了感物這個計劃。
“感物”的品牌理念是什么?
W: 無間之間, 象外之象。
無間之間:人與地板是無間的狀態(無間,即親密無間);無間也是一種距離, 即為零距離;無間之間, 是地板“形而下”的使用層面。
象外之象:象外, 即因物境而產生的意境之美, 地板“形而上”的精神層面。
“感物 Ugan concept” 地板分類挺特別的, 可以具體談談嗎?
W:這個分類是基于“感物”的品牌基因出發的,“感物”是植根于東方的地板品牌, 所以很自然地在各方面都會從東方美學的原點去思考切入。古老漢字的造字法極具東方韻味,木是地板原料, 基于“木”這個象形字,我們從中發現了由“木”而生的另外四個指示字, 都是“木“與“一”的結合, 只是這個“一”的位置不同而轉變成不同意思。漢字造字很好玩, 而且有很特別的符號性, 就算一個不懂中文的外籍人士看了, 他也能毫無障礙地記住這個符號。
地板的什么特質吸引著你?
W:我與地板, 應該屬于日久生情, 高校畢業入行, 當時談不上喜歡, 僅僅就是一個工作而已, 就那么一步步摸索著到現在, 仔細想想, 更準確地說應該是喜歡“木”的幾個特質。
1.木之物哀:我個人有比較強烈的“物哀”情結, 尤其是經過時光剝蝕的物件, 而木是其中的一種代表性材質。東方文明, 尤其是中國和日本, 從建筑角度來看, 與西方明顯區別是西方主要以石為原料, 而木建筑始終是東方的主體。木是一種易逝之物,會在時間的風化中再度融入自然, 這種消逝的過程美學, 安靜而充滿力量。
2.木之年輪:樹的生命與其說是從向外伸出開始, 不如說是從旋轉開始。我們都知道, 樹有年輪, 樹的生命沖動從旋轉開始, 一圈一圈, 一年一年, 不緊不慢, 始終圍繞著最初的那個圓心。木之年輪,封存的是時間與空間的秩序, 它成為人類探索宇宙奧秘的檔案, 通過年輪可以知道光照、土壤、濕度、太陽黑子、方位、火山噴發等訊息。年輪是樹木記錄時間的方式, 如果將之看作是宇宙時間之流示現的話, 那么木頭的裂縫則可認為是時間之楔釘入的缺口, 也就是打破年輪,從有限進入無限的一種途徑。而樹木的疤痕, 帶著時間的標簽, 這混合著人類使用的痕跡記憶點, 也即是人使用過程中產生的記憶烙印。
談一談“感物”的設計理念?
W:順勢而為地去呈現木之美
首先,“感物 Ugan concept”設計其重心是材料本身,也就是材料先于設計或者說設計為材料服務,設計表達的不是設計師本身,而是材料。我認為好的設計師或設計團隊,首先得能聽懂材料的語言,然后再按照材料的吩咐順勢去表達出來,其實這也就是感物過程的顯影。
