TONGQING QIAN｜钱苘茼

minimaïst创始人、设计师

钱苘茼旅居巴黎多年，除了每次要去探访的空间，她也会从建筑，艺术，设计，时尚等多角度出发，去探访巴黎那些全新的时髦地点。

2016年初创作minimaïst冰岛系列花器；2017年创作的巨浪系列作品获得AD安邸&设计上海“中国设计新星”首奖；2018设计北京期间为三里屯太古里设计节创作了“北京花园”装置。艺术，色彩和植物一直是她的设计灵感和核心意象。

Having lived in Paris for many years, Qian Qiongtong not only visits the spaces she has long wanted to explore, but also approaches the city from multiple perspectives, including architecture, art, design, and fashion, seeking out Paris’s newest and most stylish destinations.

In early 2016, she created the Iceland series of vases for minimaïst. In 2017, her Giant Wave series won the First Prize of the “Chinese Design Stars” award, jointly presented by AD China and Design Shanghai. In 2018, during Design Beijing, she created the Beijing Garden installation for the Taikoo Li Sanlitun Design Festival.

Art, colour, and plants have always been central sources of inspiration and key visual motifs in her design practice.

从过往作品中不难察觉, 钱苘茼很善于用色彩、花卉去阐述她的观点与理念极具艺术天赋的她从小就很有时尚主见, 受父亲的影响对花花草草很感兴趣, 也逐渐明白在某个阶段做适合自己的事情即使中间有过挫折与艰难也会坚定内心朝着一个方向大步流星地前进. 从对植物和自然的热爱到2016年创立品牌minimaïst一切显得顺其自然, 而后推出的一系列作品也更加见证了她对艺术的追崇与痴迷

From her previous works, it is clear that Qian Qiongtong has a refined ability to articulate her ideas and perspectives through colour and flowers. Artistically gifted from an early age, she developed a strong sense of fashion and personal style while still young. Influenced by her father, she became fascinated by plants and flowers, gradually coming to understand that at each stage of life, one should pursue what feels right for oneself. Even when faced with setbacks and difficulties, she has remained firm in her convictions, moving forward with clarity and determination.

From her love of plants and nature to the founding of her brand minimaïst in 2016, everything seems to have unfolded naturally. The series of works she has since launched further testify to her deep admiration for, and fascination with, art.

冰岛系列的诞生来自于她的冰岛之旅，那里的气候变化无常，但所汲取的创作灵感却是源源不断的，每一寸冰岛土地的上都保留着最自然、最原始的色彩与神态，当秋色混合着初雪，宛如一幅别致静谧的油画，令人心生向往。

钱苘茼不放过任何细微的变化，大胆用釉色呈现出大自然变幻莫测的瑰丽景象。将冰岛自然的颜色融入到整个“冰岛”系列中。同时她还看中器型的平衡、磨砂手感与釉色的完美匹配度。“手工上釉最难，釉色不是浓了就是淡了，要么有手印要么又有坑。但做陶就是这样绝望又惊喜。”从瓷泥到出窑，每一个花器都经过10道以上的工序，用1310摄氏度的传统高温陶瓷技术手工制作而成。这才有了“冰岛”系列：湖蓝是雪山冰川，深蓝是冬日湖泊，山坡上的树林是深绿的，火山岩地上的苔藓是草绿的。

The Iceland Series was inspired by her journey to Iceland. Although the climate there is ever-changing, the creative inspiration it offers is endless. Every inch of the Icelandic landscape retains its most natural and primal colours and character. When the hues of autumn blend with the season’s first snow, the scene resembles a uniquely tranquil oil painting, evoking a deep sense of longing.

Qian Qiongtong pays close attention to every subtle shift in nature, boldly using glazes to capture its unpredictable and magnificent transformations. She integrates the colours of Icelandic landscapes into the entire Iceland series, while also placing great importance on the balance of form, the matte tactile quality, and the perfect harmony between the vessel shape and the glaze.

“Hand-glazing is the hardest part,” she says. “The glaze is either too heavy or too light; sometimes there are fingerprints, sometimes small pits. But that is what ceramics is like—full of both despair and surprise.”

From porcelain clay to the final firing, each vase undergoes more than ten separate processes and is handcrafted using traditional high-temperature ceramic techniques fired at 1310°C. This is how the Iceland series came into being: lake blue evokes snowy mountains and glaciers; deep blue recalls winter lakes; the forests on the hillsides are rendered in dark green; and the moss on volcanic rock appears in grassy green.

而当被问到为什么minimaïst第一个系列要做花瓶？钱苘茼说：“其实答案很简单，我想创作的是让人生活的场景，可以锦上添花的细节和情绪。花瓶这种东西，它可能是你家居中最多余的物件，甚至是无需存在的物件，但它的存在，却可以成为一些人生活中的小确幸。我甚至能够想象使用者的场景感，一场聚会，一个礼物，一个人的时间，无论怎么想象，这些场景都是爱。”

When asked why the first minimaïst series focused on vases, Qian Qiongtong replied:

“The answer is actually very simple. What I wanted to create were scenes for living—details and emotions that could add something extra to everyday life. A vase may be the most unnecessary object in a home, perhaps even something that does not need to exist at all. Yet precisely because it exists, it can become a small moment of happiness in someone’s life.

I can even imagine the scenes in which it might be used: a gathering, a gift, a moment spent alone. However one imagines these situations, they are all about love.”

“中国设计新星”不仅是一个奖项，更是平台，你能获得来自业界前辈、各品牌的各方意见与机会，参与到与设计有关不同形式的活动中。

— 2017年中国最佳设计新星 · 钱苘

巨浪的诞生现在看来更像带有些许“魔幻”色彩。2016年底，钱苘茼报名“2017中国设计新星”评选。想到东西方文化和设计的碰撞，她仅用3周，以绞胎工艺制成“巨浪”系列，完美诠释了当年“中国新视野”的主题，最终斩获大奖。听说创意点还是她在济州岛海边露营时大半夜想出来的

“Chinese Design Stars” is not only an award, but also a platform. It gives you access to insights and opportunities from established figures in the industry and from various brands, while allowing you to take part in diverse design-related activities.

— Qian Qiongtong, 2017 Chinese Design Star Winner

The birth of the Giant Wave series now seems to carry a touch of the “magical.” At the end of 2016, Qian Qiongtong entered the 2017 Chinese Design Stars competition. Inspired by the collision between Eastern and Western culture and design, she spent only three weeks creating the Giant Wave series using the agateware technique, perfectly interpreting that year’s theme, “New Chinese Vision,” and ultimately winning the top prize. It is said that the original idea came to her in the middle of the night while camping by the sea on Jeju Island.

“巨浪”系列经过手工揉色，不同色泥混合所形成的的色彩，以波浪形图案呈现在作品上。情绪流动、奔涌，似海中巨浪。正如同钱苘茼所说：“爱始于微，却会燎原，这一年，感谢你的花瓶始终开着鲜花。

The Giant Wave series is created through a hand-kneading colour process, in which differently coloured clays are blended together to produce flowing tones that appear on the surface in wave-like patterns. The result suggests surging emotion and movement, like great waves in the sea. As Qian Qiongtong puts it:

“Love begins as something small, yet it can spread like wildfire. This year, thank you for always keeping flowers in your vase.”

钱苘茼的系列作品总能给我们一种错觉,每一件作品都是真实的、可触摸的, 但当我们认真且深度了解它背后的故事会发现藏不住的温柔正肆意地从器口“探出头”,现实与幻想就在这形态百异的器皿中“小火慢炖”的酝酿着情绪. 一不小心，就被撞个满怀. 当然，钱苘茼的作品不止针对于花器, 在其他创意/创作方面，她也有着过人的天赋.譬如今年专为“海的轮廓”艺术展打造的过渡空间.

Qian Qiongtong’s series often create a certain illusion: each work feels real and tangible, yet when we look more closely and understand the stories behind them, an unmistakable tenderness seems to quietly “peek out” from the mouth of the vessel.

Reality and fantasy slowly simmer within these vessels of varied forms, allowing emotions to gradually take shape. Before we know it, we find ourselves completely embraced by them.

Of course, Qian’s practice is not limited to vases. She also demonstrates remarkable talent in other forms of creativity and artistic production—for example, the transitional space she created this year especially for the exhibition The Silhouette of the Sea.