Shaozhengtao Cheng was interviewed by the media.

Leisure and elegance under the background of strong culture

ID-china: Your designs always reveal the leisure and elegance of ancient literati. How did you accumulate such a strong traditional culture of China?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: First of all, my family background has a lot to do with the education I received since I was a child. Memories: Outside the window, osmanthus blossoms freely in the golden wind season. Accompanied by the reflection of trees swaying in the afternoon sunshine of Dadu Mountain, a child is drinking a few cups at the window and reading the Selected Works of Hard-cover Song Poems given to him by his father. He has been practicing cursive script during his wandering in his old country thousands of years ago, and the air is mixed with the books in his father's study and the fragrance of exquisite Song Yanmo. When I was a child, I used calligraphy to learn Tang and Song literature, used the spatial artistic conception of Song Ci to learn cursive script, and even introduced the cultural space of China. These experiences seem relaxed and romantic to my father and son, but they are quite serious in their bones. If they don't do well, they will be blamed. Because all those seemingly warm family life interactions are actually full of cultural Tao.

Secondly, my father's profound influence on me. He is an exiled student in the Chinese Department of Nanjing Central University. He was born in a local scholarly family in Anhui. He loves his motherland and must love everything that belongs to China culture. In that era of material scarcity, he tried to let his children appreciate China culture in some way to temper his literati temperament. My father often said that he was a revolutionary soldier who loved China. More often, I think he is more like a serious scholar who inherited China's cultural orthodoxy to some extent. That is a common phenomenon in Taiwan Province Province in the turbulent 1949 society. As their next generation successors in Taiwan Province Province; Whether you like it or not, you have to receive a strict education in classical literature or oriental traditional art to some extent.

My father showed us how to connect China's ancient classics in an extremely subtle way in the modern life of traditional literati and the life full of natural place spirit in the quiet countryside of central Taiwan Province, and ruminate on the thoughts of the Confucian and Taoist elites in China. In this "classic reading", I naturally produced my own modern environmental culture and philosophical experience, and also developed my own aesthetic experience of creating environmental space. When I turned to pure painting when I was older, it was also a smooth connection. Later, I not only became an image design artist, but also spanned space, architecture, landscape and urban design.

ID-china: What different design concepts did you bring or want to convey when you entered the Chinese mainland market in recent years?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: I am engaged in the art of environmental design in contemporary Taiwan Province Province and Chinese mainland. I still retain the world outlook and cultural outlook left by my father 40 or 50 years ago. So I like the kind of architects who can follow the modern world, appreciate their homeland at the same time, and even admire China culture as their creative matrix. This road has really been tried, but it is extremely difficult to do well, so it is rare to take it once. The whole design atmosphere of contemporary Taiwan Province Province seems to be a pursuit of business opportunities; No ideal, no cultural background. At present, architects and space designers in China or Taiwan Province are always attracted by this type of architecture oriented to urban real estate economy to a great extent. Therefore, the new building can never be transformed into the existing local life in Taiwan Province Province, nor can it be born out of the mother culture of China.

From the perspective of aesthetic culture, many cities in Taiwan Province Province are not as charming as Taibei. This urban speculation style, which is mixed with political and business interests but lacks cultural revival, may be the reason why I think a city like Taipei is so unattractive. Of course, a large number of developing cities in Taiwan Province Province and China have tilted towards this development model. This is not the so-called Asian opportunity, but the cultural crisis in China. The leap-forward economy and urban development mode divorced from culture are easy to make short-term profits, but they will certainly damage their long-term economic interests. As cultural elites, we can't ignore it, let alone be like foreign short-term tourists easily; The mixed urban landscape in Taiwan Province Province is regarded as a unique regional aesthetics. If we regard this kind of "speculative chaos" flooding the streets of Taiwan Province Province as a so-called postmodern aesthetics by foreign tourists, it will really insult the sanctity of modernity, postmodernism and aesthetics. The rich levels of society, history and culture with ethnic diversity are just used mercilessly by designers like politicians' empty slogans. In many speculative behaviors of political, commercial and environmental development, they are in the name of modernity and post-modernism, but in essence they have not been translated into the contemporary era at all.

ID-china: In recent years, what different design concepts and ideas have you brought when you entered the mainland?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: Now I think designers must understand with an open mind that a city is an effective residence for the protection and growth of countless real-life individuals in the horizontal space, and it is also a longitudinal clue for the continuation of history and culture; We can't separate them, and we shouldn't just solve the economic problems of builders. Admittedly, those are also a few realistic social problems. If we can look at the benign integration between urban development, cultural development, historical continuation and design aesthetics across fields, then thousands of.

The globalization of the world economic and trade system is accompanied by the digitalization of information life, which is unstoppable in Chinese mainland and Taiwan Province provinces where modernity has not been clearly defined; Tradition is not really modernized, but it has entered digitalization and globalization! Can this enable developing countries like Asia to increase their so-called GDP faster? Or in the coming cultural and economic era, let some people lose their mother culture.

In the future, designers will be the protagonists to show the main cultural and economic strength for each country, nation or region; We will wait and see, the revival of each nation's mother culture will be combined with economic revival.

ID-china: What makes you stick to the traditional culture of China and apply it to the design itself?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: I am immersed in the national culture because I have a strong sense of mission and want to live as truly as possible. The demand for reality is indispensable for architects or designers. I believe that if you want to claim that the painting result is true, you can't create a real painting simply by constantly copying other people's works and drawing a photo. To be realistic, you must immerse yourself in that environment. So is architecture or interior design.

Just because I bury my artistic side in the local scenery doesn't mean that I reject the global influence. I travel around just to keep an open mind, understand the roots of foreign cultures and study their art. I have noticed that as architects or designers, we tend to focus on the east and the west, but seldom pay attention to the design realm between these two cultures. The real problems of globalization should be left to those countries that dominate or label emerging phenomena.

I think it is my responsibility to influence and educate the public. My expectations are very small. I know that I have little influence on the public, but I really feel that as architects and interior designers, we have an obligation to help this society properly handle the issue of internal identity. My job is to influence people's inner and outer hearts through the hardware construction of architecture or design. This kind of mentality makes me less popular with real estate developers in modern large cities, but it is another reason why I want to move out of the city-to go my own way. From this perspective, you can say that I am a pioneering and inspiring pioneer.

ID-china: You travel between the mainland and Taiwan Province Province. What do you think are the differences in the design environment?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: Both Taiwan Province Province and China are facing an identity crisis. In the blink of an eye, we have jumped from an ancient culture to a highly modern culture. On the other hand, the cultural change in Europe is long-term and gradual: from the Renaissance to the modern Europe in the post-cold war modern society, it has developed gradually after several centuries. In Asia, we want to rush into a future for which we are not fully prepared, whether socially or ideologically. As a result, we are caught in a serious crisis of cultural heritage loss. This is a real challenge for architects or interior designers in Taiwan Province province. We must catch up with the pace of the west, but at the same time, we must be careful to protect the foundation of our ancient culture.

ID-china: What can inspire your design or where do most of your design inspiration come from?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: The reason why I moved from the city to the suburbs was a small step after careful consideration. This is to reposition yourself and immerse yourself in an environment where you can get inspiration and self-edification. I don't want to deny or deny the comfort that technology can provide us, nor do I want to exclude modern life. But I do feel a strong desire to integrate the richness of local ancient culture into my works, and the only way to achieve this goal is to immerse myself in an environment that can inspire me to do so. In my design process, one of the most important elements is to appreciate the art of the surrounding environment. I am a painter, and I need to find inspiration from my environment to create my works.

Be your own master

ID-china: Can you share one or two of your ongoing or most touching works with us first?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: (20 13) is an ongoing "difficult project" and an area of cultural tourism real estate project. I am responsible for the planning, architectural design, interior design, landscape design and arts and crafts design of the whole project.

Wudang Mountain is the birthplace of Taoist culture, and both Taoist thought and martial arts culture play an important role. On the eastern route of Wudang Mountain, there are endless tourist attractions. For the development of the western front, we want to create a place where people can escape from the urban jungle, calm their hearts and slow down the pace of life or work.

I feel that some so-called traditional buildings in Chinese mainland always stay in the historical pattern, being too formal and neglecting their proper cultural heritage. Now the biggest blind spot of urban real estate or tourism real estate is that there is no design, but the so-called design symbols are piled up.

For me, how to express my design concept and cultural heritage through architecture? How to achieve ideological harmony with Wudang Mountain, how to integrate China's traditional culture into architectural design, how to completely protect the local natural ecology and historical sites, how to make use of local geographical conditions or how to overcome the problems brought by nature, how to perfectly combine new tourist attractions with the inherent, how to carry forward the concept of Wudang Mountain, and how to build a quiet resort are all issues that I have to consider. These problems should be handled well and presented perfectly.

ID-china: You have many excellent design works, so what do you pay most attention to when designing?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: I pay most attention to the introversion and extroversion of my works. The so-called extroversion refers to the proportion and texture of buildings. Some buildings are novel in shape, but they can't reach the artistic proportion. I think a perfect proportion can turn a work into a work of art, and a good architectural work should be coordinated with the natural ecology and local culture.

I like to draw ink paintings since I was a child, so my interior design space must first have a spatial framework of oriental thinking, and the way literati look at mountains is lofty, far-reaching and flat. How to use this law to create a considerable, livable, travelable and feasible indoor space and show the charm of literati painters in interior design has become particularly important.

ID-china: What do you think is the industry responsibility and even social responsibility of the design predecessors?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: As a designer in China, I think practitioners should understand that he is a senior intellectual, a scholar in China and an influential cultural elite. Only in this way can we indirectly affect the owners and let them realize and take a walk. I think designers should, like Guo, Fan Kuan and Su Shi in ancient times, rise from the decline of the Eight Dynasties and take design works as a new carrier for inheriting cultural heritage. Artistic creation is also a new medium for inheriting culture. So when I design, I will get inspiration from my favorite ink painting. Considering the harmony between man and nature, the exterior of the space has perfect proportion and texture, and the interior space contains the elegance of literati and painters and the escape of hermits, thus reaching the highest level of design.

ID-china: What do you think is the most attractive part of the design industry?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: I can definitely say that this is the energy of creativity and reform. These two are cause and effect, reform ability is cause, and creativity is fruit. The so-called reform ability is not a model or a little change on the basis of the model, but a bold breakthrough to make creative works.

ID-china: Why did you accept our invitation to choose an assistant (cutting-edge design)?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: Interior Design is an international authoritative magazine on interior design, and I trust it very much. The interior design Chinese website is sincere, and the content of the website is fresh, fashionable, high-end and unconventional. It is the seventh time that the Chinese website of interior design has held the activity of selecting assistants by masters, which has been well received by the industry and introduced to me by many designers. In addition, the purpose of selecting assistants by masters is very good, and the traditional recruitment mode has less interaction, dialogue and in-depth understanding. This platform only provides more opportunities for dialogue, understanding and interaction with players, other experts and the jury.

ID-china: What qualities do you think an assistant needs?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: First of all, I am very sensitive to international fashion. On the other hand, he has the knowledge of China culture. If he lacks an understanding of China's traditional culture, his creativity will be thin, there will be no motivation for reform, and design will have no soul. Sensitivity to international fashion is not copying foreign design symbols, but understanding the creative ideas and styles of foreign designers and the creative process of their works. Then apply international fashion to oriental design. In addition, we should be sincere, enthusiastic, positive, responsible and brave in reform and innovation in design and work.

ID-china: How does your company pay attention to and train the younger generation of designers?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: I attach great importance to the tutorial system. I don't regard them as apprentices, but as apprentices, because apprentices can consult with the master. It is the relationship between Aristotle and Plato, with mutual respect. The success of disciples needs the inspiration and guidance of teachers. Aristotle and Plato have a very good theory called dialogue theory. So I am very concerned about the dialogue and speculation with my disciples or students. Only in this way can we have our own thoughts and souls, and there will be reform and innovation.

ID-china: If you are lucky enough to be an assistant in your company, what opportunities and challenges will you encounter?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: He may have changed a lot. I treat my employees not as superiors or subordinates, but as partners, like-minded creators and reformers, and as mentors and apprentices who work together. In work practice, you can learn a lot that you can't learn on campus. In the process of dialogue, I understand the way I want to work and the way I design. Before making each design scheme, discuss the method first. Different projects, different owners, different ways to cut in. I hope the atmosphere of things is to treat every job like a game, which is also the dialectics of thought and behavior. Therefore, completing a job also completes a personality attribute, so that people's thoughts and methods are always active, not static.

ID-china: What are your expectations for choosing an assistant here?

Shaozhengtao Cheng: I hope to find a cultural elite who belongs to the future of China. In addition, I want to say to the contestants: believe in your own ability, believe in your own cultural atmosphere and atmosphere. Even if it is a grain of sand, you should give full play to your greatest energy, so that you can succeed. Be your own master and participate in the selection of master's assistants, not me, but yourself.