访谈设计师：Frédéric Gooris

引言：

因为爱情，即使路上有再多波澜，一切也都会是幸福的模样；

因为爱情，即使有再多险阻，有你的陪伴，我们依然还是年轻时的模样；

因为爱情，在那个地方，有了我们的设计，有了我们的家园，也许这就是爱情最好的模样……

简介：

Frédéric Gooris，一位具有创造性思维同时富有创业精神的比利时工业设计师，2004年，在米兰创办了Studio Gooris设计公司，2010年，在金融危机期间冒险迁司香港，这大胆的举动或是受他冒险与创业精神所驱使，但更多的，也许是因为拥有那一股爱情的力量，因为他身后站着的那一位陪伴着他走过风风雨雨的香港女孩——他一生中的爱人……

Bamboo - Baby Bouncer

因为爱情，即使路上有再多波澜，一切也都会是幸福的模样——

Narkii:

在金融危机时期，您为什么会选择香港作为您公司新的驻扎地？

In the midst of the financial crisis,why did you choose Hong Kong rather than other cities as your company’s settlement?

Frédéric Gooris：

我是因为爱而作出的选择！ 1999年，我在多莫斯设计学院遇见了一位美丽的香港女孩paulina，她后来成为了我的商业和生活伴侣。 2008年我们住在意大利，那时金融危机爆发，我们被要求加入Paulina父亲的家族生意。 作为两个在意大利生活的外国人，生活变得孤独且艰难，而在香港，我们至少会有一个家庭和一个家族网可以依靠，所以我们决定迈出这跳跃性的一步并开始做准备，比如寻找一个家、一个可以让孩子上学的学校等。就在2010年圣诞节前夕，我们离开了意大利去往香港。由于米兰是全球设计之都，而中国当时因廉价冒牌货盛行而声名狼藉，迁移公司无疑是一个危险的举动。

I did it for love! At the Domus Academy in 1999, I met this beautiful Hong Kong girl paulina, who became my partner in business and life. In 2008, we were living in Italy when the financial crisis kicked in. We were asked to join Paulina’s father’s family business. As two foreigners in Italy, life became a lonely uphill struggle. At least in Hong Kong we would have a family and a network to fall back on, so we decided to take the jump and started preparations like finding a home, a school for the kids, etc. And just before Christmas 2010, we left Italy for Hong Kong. With Milan as one of the global capitals of design and China notorious for cheap knock-offs, it was a risky move for the company.

Kompas - Eyewear

Narkii:

在您迁移公司之前，您对中国市场的印象是什么呢？

Before you moved your company to China, what was your impression of the Chinese market?

Frédéric Gooris：

自2004年以来，我在米兰就一直有跟中国企业合作。事实上，当时中国企业只是刚步入“设计”，因为那仅仅是公司所有者的个人利益。 尽管双方都有最好的意图，但也不是件容易的事：在沟通翻译时有些东西往往会丢失，这对缩小双方的距离没有什么帮助。这些长期的合作并不是很成功。

I had been working with Chinese companies from Milan since 2004. Truth is that back then, Chinese companies were only getting into “design” because it was a personal interest of the owner. Despite best intentions from both sides, it was not easy: things got lost in translation and the distance was not helping. These long distance collaborations were not very successful.

Savon Du Chef - Stainless Steel Soap

Narkii:

就您在香港发展这段期间来看，您认为，与全球设计之都米兰相比，香港有什么不同之处，它所在的优势是什么？

During your development in Hong Kong, what’s the differences do you think between Hong Kong and Milan---one of the global capitals of design? And what’s the advantages of this city?

Frédéric Gooris：

米兰确确实实是全球设计之都，但它也是一个象牙塔，一个设计师为其他设计师设计酷炫产品的地方。为了真正做到与众不同，我们需要离开我们的舒适圈，直接与中国，即世界工厂接触。如今，许多中国企业已经成熟并意识到要有创造价值的战略需求。在这个新接触设计但充满潜力的工厂背景下，我们帮助那些有大胆想法的人并希望通过设计让世界变得更美好。

Milan is indeed a global capital of the world of design, but it is also an ivory tower, a place where designers make cool design for other designers. To truly make a difference, we needed to leave our comfort zone and engage directly with China, aka the factory of the world. Nowadays, many Chinese companies are mature and recognize the strategic need to create value. In this context of factories new to design, but bursting with potential, we help people who have big ideas and want to make the world a better place through design.

Minou - Bag Hook

因为爱情，即使有再多险阻，有你的陪伴，我们依然不会有沧桑——

Narkii:

从2010年至今您公司在中国发展了共8年的时间，您认为您的设计在中国得到了怎样的发展？

Your company has been developing in China for 8 years since 2010, how do you think your design has evolved?

Frédéric Gooris：

设计师总是会受他周围环境所影响，而中国一直在讯速变化着。我们的设计方法也在随之适应和改变。中国过去主要因仿制品和品质低劣而闻名，但今天对于要提升制造业而言就变成是一件非常严肃的事情，主要的焦点也已从“数量”迅速转向“价值”，以最终创造成功品牌。 设计现在被视为可生存的战略资产。举一个例子，Pop-Up Booster和Escape Smart Luggage是分别为香港新创公司Bombol和Rollogo而设计生产的。在推出后不久，一些成熟的全球品牌邀请两家公司寻求潜在的合作机会。尽管大多数中国工厂都是设计新手，但它们展现出了巨大的潜力。从现在开始，我们希望帮助这些公司创造真正有意义的产品和品牌。

A designer is always influenced by his surroundings, and China has been changing rapidly. Our design approach has followed suit. China used to be mostly known for copies and poor quality, but today it is dead serious about upgrading its manufacturing industry. The focus is rapidly shifting from “volume” to “value” to ultimately create brands. With success! Design is now viewed as a strategic asset to survive. To give an example, the Pop-Up Booster and Escape Smart Luggage were created for Hong Kong start-ups Bombol and Rollogo respectively. Shortly after the launches, established global brands invited both companies to explore potential collaboration. Despite most Chinese factories being new to design, they show huge potential. From here on forward, we want to help these companies create truly meaningful products & brands.  

Escape - Smart Luggage   2018红点奖  A' Design Award

Narkii:

依您多年的设计经验，请您谈谈您对设计的理解。

According to your designing experiments for so many years, could you please tell us something about your understanding toward design?

Frédéric Gooris：

我们倾向于认为世界不会改变，进化就会停止。事实是，我们只是在一个已经持续了数百万年进化当中迈出过的一小步。优秀的设计可以满足我们不断变化着的需求，使我们能够迈出下一步。简而言之，好的设计能够使我们发展成为一个社会。作为设计师，我们必须保持饥渴与好奇，特别是当成功来敲门时。

We tend to think that the world will not change, that evolution stops with us. Truth is that we are just an infinitely tiny step in an evolution that has been going on for millions of years. Good design provides answers to our ever-changing needs, enabling us to take the next step. Put very simply, good design enables us to evolve as a society. As designers we must stay hungry and curious, especially when success knocks on your door.

Pop-Up - Booster   2018iF奖  2018红点奖

Narkii:

我们知道您除了是一个设计师，还是一个赋有创造性思维与创造精神的企业家，那么您是如何定位自己的呢？您认为您现在在设计行业内是个成功人士吗？

We know that besides being a designer, you are also a driven entrepreneur with creative mind, and how do you position yourself? Do you think you are a successful man in the area of design now?

Frédéric Gooris：

我的一个强烈的愿望是我不仅要设计东西，还要让它们成为现实！几乎所有想要做自己事情的设计师都免不了会在做生意的现实当中幡然醒悟。这是一个割喉的竞技场，我已经从中得到了我的公平份额！但是现在我住在香港，一个有着许多成功企业家（我的意思是非常成功！）的地方，但因为我每天都在不断学习，所以会更容易得到。

STUDIO GOORIS Office

有一个神话是把名利、设计、金钱这三巨头当成是最终目标。事实是，如果你想要名利和金钱，那设计可能就是你最后一个应该入手选择的。但我确实认为自己是成功的，因为我早上可以穿上我的牛仔裤和T恤，然后去工作室做我喜欢做的事情。尽管要花费的时间很长，但我仍然有充足的时间陪伴我的家人。

I have a burning desire in me not just to design things, but to make them happen! Almost every designer that wants to do his or her own thing is in for a rude awakening when the reality of doing business kicks in. It’s a cut throat arena. I’ve had my fair share of that! But now that I live in Hong Kong, a place filled with successful entrepreneurs (I mean really successful!) it’s a bit easier as I keep learning from them every day.

There is this myth of the triumvirate fame-design-money as the ultimate goal. Truth is if you want fame and money, design is probably one of the last places where you should start. But I do consider myself successful in the sense that I can just put on my jeans and t-shirt in the morning and go to the studio to do what I love to do. Despite the long hours I still have plenty of time for my family.

AlessiLux - UFO 

Narkii:

请您为我们解释一下“我们不重新设计，我们是在重塑”这句话。

Could you please explain the meaning of “we don’t re-design, we reinvent”?

Frédéric Gooris：

我们的工作范围涉及到多个行业领域，从消费品、时尚配饰、化妆品、照明、音响、旅游和体育用品，到个人护理，航空和婴儿产品。我们的客户从成熟的全球品牌到有胆识的新创企业，包括Alessi，中国南方航空，Seiko，澳洲航空，Bombol和Rollogo，这个范围非常广泛，同时也是一个非常有意识性的选择，因为它对创新起到了有如异花授粉的帮助作用：我们在一个领域中学到的东西我们将应用到另一个领域。专业的设计师倾向于将小进步视为是在他们领域里的一项重大成就，也许是的。但事实是，用户通常不会注意到这些微小的变化，这就是为什么我们从消费者的角度出发，梦想创造出理想的新产品。我们一旦阐明了我们的愿景，我们将其细分到每个步骤，然后再扫除每个障碍，这也要归功于我们当时广泛的跨行业经验，直到我们实现了我们的愿景。

现在，中国就是要成为这样一种地方，对发明下一个全新事物有很大的渴望，因此企业将设计师视为创新的催化剂，而不是营销工具。

Our works span a wide range of industries from consumer products, fashion accessories, cosmetics, lighting, audio, travel & sports goods, personal care, aviation and baby products. Our clients vary from established global brands to daring start-ups alike, including Alessi, China Southern Airlines, Seiko, Qantas, Bombol and Rollogo. This very broad range is a very conscious choice as it favors cross-pollination which is crucial to innovation: what we learn in one field we apply in another. Designers that are specialized tend to see a small improvement as a major achievement in their field, and maybe it is. But the truth is that the customer often doesn’t notice these small changes. That is why we start from the point of view of the consumer and dream up the ideal new product. Once we have articulated our vision, we break it down into steps and then we’ll break down each of the barriers along the way thanks to our broad cross-industry experience, one at the time, until we realize our vision.

Right now, China is the place to be. There is a lot of hunger to invent the next new thing, so companies see designers as the catalysts for innovation, rather than marketing tools.

AlessiLux - Ricordo

Narkii:

在您公司三大核心优势之一“讲故事”中，您有提到你们为每个产品构建了一个强大的故事，您的意思是您的每一件设计产品背后都有一个特殊的故事吗？

You mentioned that “We build a strong story into every product.” in one of the core strengths---storytelling, do you mean that every product you design has a special story behind it?

Frédéric Gooris：

确实是这样的。许多人将设计与造型款式混为一谈。造型款式意味着你必须让事物变得美丽才能成功销售，这是错误的。许多产品都失败了是因为它们没有一个可以吸引目标受众清晰而引人注目的故事。故事是为了让用户感受到产品是专为他们设计的，尽管这些产品是大规模生产的。而且，故事越普遍，潜在的用户数量就越大，赋有逻辑性的结果就是，该产品的商业成功率将越高。造型款式则是这个过程的最后一部分，它利用正确的视觉和触觉语言让产品向用户讲述这个故事。

Absolutely yes. Many people confuse Design with Styling. Styling means you must make things beautiful to sell them successfully. This is incorrect. So many products fail because they don’t have a clear and compelling story that engages their target audience. The story is what makes customers feel that that a product has been designed just for them, despite being mass-produced. And the more universal the story is, the larger the pool of potential customers will be, and as a logical result, the more commercially successful the product will be. Styling is the last part of the process which is using the correct visual and tactile language to let the product tell the story to its customer.

L'orologio - Watch

Narkii:

您是如何看待“商业化设计”的？您希望您的设计与您的公司能够为人们带来什么？

How do you respond to “commercial production design”? What things do you hope your design and your company can bring to people?

Frédéric Gooris：

最让我感兴趣的产品就是我们每天都使用的产品。如果我们可以重新发明它们并且为使用它们的用户多增加一点快乐，那么大量用户所获得的快乐累积起来就是无穷的，而你也会相应地获得许多其他的快乐。努力让这个世界变得更加美好，这就是我每天早上起床的意义所在。

The products that interest me most are the ones we all use every day. If we can re-invent them and they add just a tiny bit more happiness to the people that use them, then multiply that little bit of happiness by the large audience and you get a lot of combined happiness. Trying to make the world a better place for all, that is what I get up for in the morning.

Narkii:

请简要评价一下您的团队并说一下您对您公司将来的期望。

Please give a brief evaluation of your team and tell us your expectations for the future of your company.

Virgula Divina - Bottle Opener

Frédéric Gooris：

当一个像香港这样的地方给你这么多机会时，那重要的就是要懂得回馈。香港的设计工作室数量少，使得许多年轻设计师不能得到培训机会。因此，我们聘请有求知欲的本地人才，邀请渴望学习的国际实习生加入我们，共同创造一个真正充满活力的国际团队，为每个人的个人和职业发展做出贡献。

我们正往创业方向大步前进，你也可以称它为“商业设计”。我们通过设计假想或理想的产品来对待市场中的机遇，并与该领域的专家一起探讨是否有更好的商业模式。这会预先增添许多工作量，但它为我们提供了非常明确的目标和指导方针用于创造颠覆性产品，而不仅仅是看该如何简单地改进现有产品或使其看起来更好。

我们公司Bombol是这类中的第一个项目，而且下一个品牌已经在筹备中。这非常令人兴奋，因为它让我们脱离了设计师的舒适圈，为我们的团队带来了丰富的经验，而它对于日常设计咨询工作也非常有价值。

When a place like Hong Kong gives you so much opportunity, it is important to give back. The low amount of design studios in Hong Kong deprives many young designers of training opportunities. Therefore, we hire curious, local talent. Adding hungry international interns in the mix creates a truly dynamic international team that contributes to everybody’s personal and professional growth.

We are moving more into the entrepreneurial direction, “Business Design” if that is how you can call it. We look at opportunities in the market by dreaming up hypothetical ideal products and figure out if there are better business models together with experts in the field. It is more work up front, but it gives us very clear goals and guidelines for the creation of disruptive products, rather than looking how to simply improve existing products or make them look better.

Our company Bombol is the first project of its kind, and the next brand is already in the pipeline. It is very exciting because it pulls us out of our designer comfort zone and it enriches our team with so much experience that is very valuable for the daily design consultancy jobs as well.

AlessiLux - LED Bulbs

因为爱情，在那个地方，有我们的家园，也许这就是爱情最好的模样……

Narkii:

您喜欢香港这座城市吗？

Do you like Hong Kong?

Frédéric Gooris：

我不喜欢它，我爱它！香港确实是个与众不同的地方。一个处于世界工厂门口的大动态国际大都市，但却坐落于有森林、海滩和大海的亚热带自然环境中。在这个世界上你还能找到其他这种具有独特组合的地方吗！？

I don’t like it, I love it! Hong Kong is a truly unique place. A hyper dynamic cosmopolis settled at the doorstep of the factory of the world, yet nested in a subtropical natural environment with forest, beaches and sea. Where else in the world do you find this unique combination!?

Narkii:

放眼未来，您认为中国设计市场的发展前景如何？您会选择一直留在香港吗？

With an eye toward the future, how do you look at the development prospect of the Chinese designing market? Will you choose stay in Hong Kong all the time?

SKY - Adult Toys

Frédéric Gooris：

（中国市场）对设计的真正兴趣才刚开始绽放，它还处于起步阶段，在普通大众理解到好的设计能给日常生活带来利益之前，它还需要一段时间。但行业领导者已经看到设计可以为他们的业务带来附加值，而剩下的那些人虽然行进缓慢但肯定也会效仿。

这意味着年轻设计师将不得不开辟道路并创造自己的空间。这与西方世界不同，在西方世界，设计已经取得了一定地位，那里的设计师们不必为要在经济体系中占有一席之地而战。 但是，尽管前方充满挑战，我依然看到中国设计行业的未来之路充满着光明。现在世界上没有比香港、中国更具有设计潜力的地方了。

是的，我会一直留在香港。这里现在已经成了一个真正的家。

The genuine interest in design is just starting to bloom. It’s in its infancy. And it will take quite some time before the general public will grasp the benefits of good design on everyday life. But the industry leaders are seeing the added value design can bring to their businesses, and the rest is slowly but certainly following suit.

This means that young designers will have to blaze the trails and create their own space, unlike in the Western world where design has its acquired place. Designers there don’t have to fight for their place in the economic system. But despite the battle ahead, I see the future for the design industry very bright in China. There is no place with more potential for design right now in the world than here in Hong Kong and China.

Yes I will stay in Hong Kong. This is truly home now.

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