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It is known from the interview of designers of Esmalglass-Itaca Group of Spain and experts of the ceramics industry that the difference between the Chinese and Spanish ce-ramics design is mainly reflected in mar-ket investigation, combination of Chinese and Western ceramics design and design level. Fan Jinsong, vice president of Ce-ramics (Jewel) Art Design of Art Design College, Foshan University, pointed out that, “The Chinese ceramics design is still in the beginning stage.”
Early-Stage Market Investi?鄄gation Shall be Valued
With the emergence and develop-ment of ink-jet ceramics in China, ce-ramics enterprises have increasingly strict requirements on design. Foreign ceramics designers cannot meet the taste of the Chinese customers without professional market investigation. According to the in-troduction of Jamie, director of the design department of Esmalglass-Itaca in China, the market investigation of their group usually includes searching information from furniture industry, clothes industry and other different industries, attending important exhibitions of ceramics indus-try, and so on. She added that ways of market investigation may be different due to the different needs of customers and markets. “At times, brand-new design plans may be developed and the design of ceramics may be adjusted.”
Fan Jinsong said that because of paying attention to market investigation, foreign ceramics designers can finish the negotiation work in the early stage more easily than Chinese ceramics designers. Jamie said that “As we offer our cus-tomers many kinds of design plans, the design plans can be confirmed by cus-tomers more quickly.”
It is learned that compared with most Chinese designers who just offer designs of products, foreign ceramics de-signers attach more attention to offer de-sign service and provide various solutions for different customers. Generally, the procedure of Esmalglass-Itaca offering design service is: know the needs of cus-tomers-offer a complete set of design plans-obtain confirmation of customers through communication-help customers develop and test products-customers confirm products-help customers put on production.
The Difference Between Cul?鄄tures Influence The Effect Of Design
Due to the difference between Chi-nese and foreign markets of ceramics in various aspects, the demands of cus-tomers on products are also different. Jamie thought that there is no big differ-ence between China and Spain in terms of the popular tile size and design materials. While the two countries both focus on warm colors, Spain is more mature in the application of colors and more daring in the development of products. “Spanish ceramics shows European style and is very bold in expression; however, ceram-ics of strong color contrast may be hard to be received in the market of China some-times. ”
Fan Jinsong stated that owning to the impact of different cultural back-ground, foreign ceramics designers can not fully understand the culture and his-tory of China, so the ceramics designed by them are still tainted with Western style regardless of well-prepared market investigation. Just as Jamie said, “We have been keeping close contact with the headquarters of Spain and will merge the latest information into the development of our products.”
The phenomenon that Chinese and Western culture cannot integrate very well also occurs during the process of Chinese ceramics designers’ borrowing foreign ceramics design cases, making most ceramics lack Chinese cultural ele-ments and characteristics.
Improve Design Level From Various Aspects
Jamie believed that the key to the success of the ceramics design was achieving good response in the market and being accepted widely first of all; be-sides good design level and applaudable performance in research and develop-ment technology, designers also need broad horizon, strong ability to analyze and gasp the market and the capability to demonstrate their products well.
Although designers of China and Spain both have different cultural back-ground and education level, Chinese ce-ramics designers, as stated by Fan Jin-song, have narrower scope of knowledge and lack of innovative thinking. By con-trast, foreign ceramics designers have knowledge of many fields and are clearer about design, color, pattern, technology and application effect of the products. “Some designers fail to consider things from the aspect of the market and cus-tomers and design products according to people’s current consumption habits, resulted in the ceramics unaccepted by ceramics enterprises.”
“In order to reduce the gap between the design of Chinese and foreign ce-ramics, joint efforts are necessary, in-cluding conducting reform of education, promoting the communication and coop-eration between Chinese and foreign ce-ramics designers, and so on”, Fan Jin-song said.
记者通过采访西班牙Esmalglass-I?鄄taca(艾斯玛格拉斯·意达加)集团的瓷砖设计师与行业专业人士得知，目前中西两国瓷砖设计的差异具体表现在市场调研、中西结合、设计水平这三个方面。佛山科学技术学院艺术设计学陶瓷(珠宝)艺术设计学院副院长范劲松指出：“中国目前的瓷砖设计仍处于起步阶段。”
前期市场调研应受重视
随着喷墨瓷砖在中国的出现与发展，陶瓷企业对设计的要求越来越高。外国瓷砖设计师要满足中国消费者的产品偏好，离不开专业的市场调研。据Esmalglass-I?鄄taca中国区的设计部主管Jamie介绍，集团的市场调研内容通常包括到家具行业、服装行业等不同领域的市场搜寻信息、参观陶瓷行业的重要展览会等。她补充，根据各种客户和市场的不同需求，市场调研的方式也有所差异。“有时会相应开发全新的设计方案或者调整瓷砖设计。”
范劲松指出，因注重市场调研，外国瓷砖设计师较中国瓷砖设计师更易与企业完成前期洽谈工作。Jamie称：“我们给予客户多种设计方案，因此较快得到客户认同。”
据了解，相比大部分中国瓷砖设计师只是单纯提供瓷砖设计，外国瓷砖设计师更加注重提供设计服务，并针对不同客户给予相应解决方案。Esmalglass-Itaca提供设计服务的流程一般为：了解客户需求—提供一整套设计方案—经过沟通得到客户确认—帮助客户开发测试产品—客户确认产品—帮助客户投入生产。
文化差异影响设计效果
由于中外陶瓷市场在各方面的差异，消费者的产品需求也不一样。Jamie认为，中西两国所流行的瓷砖规格、素材选择差异不大。色调均以暖色调为主，但西班牙的瓷砖在颜色运用上更加成熟，在产品开发上也更加大胆。“西班牙瓷砖更显欧式风格，表现大胆，颜色对比强烈的瓷砖有时难以被中国市场接收。”
范劲松表示，受文化背景差异的影响，尽管外国瓷砖设计师在中国已做好充分的市场调研，但由于没有充分理解中国的文化与历史，设计出来的瓷砖不乏西方色彩。正如Jamie说：“我们一直与西班牙总部保持紧密联系，并将得到的最新资讯融入我们的产品开发中。”
中西文化无法完美融合的现象同样出现在中国瓷砖设计师引用外国瓷砖设计案例的过程中，导致大多数研制出来的瓷砖缺少中国独特的文化元素与风格。多方面提升设计水平
Jamie认为，瓷砖设计的成功关键首先在于能在市场上产生较好的反响，被市场广泛认可;设计师除了具有精湛的设计水平，在研发工艺上有较好表现之外，还需具备开阔的眼界、较强的分析市场与把握市场的能力，以及更好地表现产品的能力。
同样是文化背景与教育程度的不同，范劲松指出，中国瓷砖设计师知识面较单一，创新思维较缺乏。相比之下，外国瓷砖设计师具备多领域的知识素养，对产品的花色图案、技术工艺、应用效果等都比较清楚。“部分设计师不能从市场与消费者的角度出发，没有按人们当前的消费习惯来设计产品，导致设计出来的瓷砖不被陶瓷企业接纳。”
“要进一步拉进中外瓷砖设计的距离，需要多方面的共同努力，包括进行教育改革、促进中外瓷砖设计师的交流与合作等。”范劲松表示。
