In the past ten years, I have written millions of words, received tens of thousands of inquiries, and drawn nearly a thousand sets of design drawings. Not all my merits have been perfected. I have been appreciated and disdained, encouraged and questioned, and ridiculed many times. Now I still cannot see the end, but I am more and more aware of how there is an end. The only thing I can do is to keep moving forward. No one knows where the end point is. All honors or injuries are just scenery that must be passed through on the road to growth.
Ten years ago, the first client I asked to pay a design fee was a civil engineer from Shanxi. That first fee was 2,500 yuan. I remain grateful that life opened a window for me and offered opportunity, tolerance and generosity. Looking at those drawings now, I cannot praise them; honestly, I might not have deserved the fee. Yet during construction the client kindly discussed discrepancies between the drawings and the site, details that needed improvement, and possible solutions. I did my utmost, with gratitude, from beginning to end. Being trusted and recognised felt good.
Based on my original understanding, I just couldn’t understand why I had to pay for a haircut, regardless of whether I was satisfied with it; why I had to pay for breakfast, regardless of whether it tasted good or not; why I had to pay for clothes, regardless of whether they fit or not. And how could this drawing, which I have studied art for so many years and spent so much time and effort on, be free?
Design does not have a value measurement standard. I am more afraid of meeting customers with too high expectations. They bring their longings and expectations, as well as their personalities and cognitive needs. We will not judge others prejudgmentally, but we will try our best to greet them in the best possible condition and according to our abilities.
If our conversations can be integrated, or at least we have like-minded interests and mutual appreciation, we will define this cooperation as "human settlement design". But some customers will talk from God's point of view, so we will politely avoid it. If we really need the money and have to cater to them, we will define the cooperation as "commercial design" from the bottom of our hearts.
There are too many people in this world, and they all have their own personalities. We never know whether what we are doing is right or wrong, reasonable or unreasonable for others.
I am saying this plainly simply to help you find the designer who suits you. I know where I stand, and before we work together I want you to know that we do not make deceptive claims or empty promises.
It is now 3 o'clock in the morning. What prompted me to write this article is business purpose. Making money is an inevitable topic, but how to find a design that suits your taste is very important to you, and it is also very important to us.
Every day, many customers try to understand and make demands. And we will tell them that we are willing to provide you with some valuable early-stage consulting solutions, but this means that we need to spend time. Do you believe us? That's something you should consider.
Some teams make many compromises to survive. We are doing reasonably well now, so we do not agree to produce a design first and accept payment only if the client likes it. Ants have their way of surviving, and cockroaches have their place too. A species that violated nature’s laws would have been eliminated long ago.
Creative work can be difficult to explain, and we all need to learn to empty our own cup before taking in something new. We have served many clients, but you are a new individual. You may have read countless guides and absorbed a flood of information, but much of it is free knowledge from the internet. The information explosion can itself be overwhelming: some claims are alarmist, while others generalise from isolated examples.
The endless opinions of relatives and acquaintances cannot stand in for your own needs at home. The more they interfere, the more ordinary the result can become. Without changes of rhythm, a piece remains background music rather than becoming a great composition. Everyone wants to express an opinion and, to some extent, be the authority. People warn you solemnly from their own renovation experience, but they may have renovated once or twice, whereas I have worked on hundreds of homes. A retired father visits the site and applies standards from thirty years ago to the work. When the result becomes an awkward hybrid, nobody blames their father; they blame the design team, which has little chance to explain.
Including the decoration of my own house, the first thing I did was to clearly tell my father that he could not participate.
20 years ago, we didn’t need interior design because we all cared about food and clothing, not housing and transportation. The living area is only so large, basic living cannot be solved, and the understanding of the world can only be one way. For example, the first thing ancient humans needed was a cave to protect themselves from the wind and rain, and then they wanted to be warm and light a fire. Only after they gained comfort did they learn how comfort can improve physical functions, and only then did they have the first awareness of cave decoration.
China has experienced decades of aesthetic fault. It is difficult for us to evaluate the reasons for reducing people's material needs in the era of planned economy, and uniformly prescribed clothes, shoes, hats, and even water cups and towels. But the pursuit of beauty is just like human beings who always hope to have a better appearance and a healthier body. Without a suitable living environment and sleep, health cannot be achieved. And this kind of living habit is not like food or clothing, which can be adjusted and replaced at will.
When a client is exceptionally busy, we sometimes consider bringing the commission to a close. However busy life becomes, the home still matters. A property in a good school catchment may seem crucial, requiring days and hours of coordination. Work may feel more urgent, with constant travel and tasks. Yet preparing a better home in advance can matter more: it helps relationships grow warmer, supports better habits, shapes children’s everyday environment and makes life easier for older family members. It may define the next ten or twenty years of family life.
We arranged the schedule, laid out the drawings, got ready, and established a project team, but we still haven’t heard back. Although we were slightly hesitant, we also considered it because of our own livelihood.
Furthermore, we also hope that customers who grit their teeth and come to us will think carefully about it, because the more difficult it is for you to decide on something, the more difficult it is to implement it. We can bear the pressure, but we are not willing to bear the burden. For those who overcome many obstacles to place orders, the failure rate is at least half.
Every client has the right to compare, and should do so. We would prefer you to speak with us last, after you have gained a clearer sense of typical prices and capabilities in the market. To speak frankly, even at the risk of sounding presumptuous: we feel more at ease when you have already looked at other designers.
As a residential interior designer, I am sometimes quite conceited. As far as China is concerned, designers like me who have never left residential interior design for more than ten years and who perform high-intensity matching of various needs every day should be as scarce as pandas.
The degree of understanding of life may not be that of a sailor who shouts loudly in the storm, but maybe that of a woodcutter who watches thousands of boats sailing in the river, cooks wine and ponders at night, and speaks gradually softly.
But you can’t say a sailor in a storm is inexperienced, but you can’t say a woodcutter is inexperienced either. Experience can be framed, but experience cannot be hidden.
Reservations for March and May are full and no orders will be accepted. Currently we are only accepting appointments for April.