When it comes to the inspiration for their design, Ze Chen and Yuan Hong told us that they are inspired by the Chinese food culture. Research before product design is always complex and struggling, but for sure full of creativity. Yuan Hong, a native of Chongqing, previously wanted to choose the Chongqing hotpot as it is one of the iconic figure of Chinese food nowadays, but he abandoned the initial idea to make the product comply with the company’s branding. Finally, they chose the food steamer, which comes from the Cantonese Dim Sum culture.

At the beginning, they deconstructed real bamboo steamers to study the structure and the craftsmanship. They found out that the bamboo steamer is totally hand-made and it is combined layer by layer. Comparing with wood, bamboo is definitely a green material for furniture making. However, to make a chair or shelf, it will need a very large size of bamboo which is unrealistic. Their supervisor Martijn ten Bhömer also suggested to use other materials like recycled plastic for the mass production of the furniture.

Then they explored some ideas by hand-sketching and got some initial design schemes at an early stage. Later they further developed them by producing some 3D-Printing models after they settled down the satisfied ideas. A series of multifunctional furniture with Chinese traditional steamer features have been produced. Through this way, they are able to keep the bamboo steamer’s shape and spread the Chinese culture to a bigger world.

Coincidently, Ze and Yuan are fascinated with design and art and when they choose the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, they are clear that Product Design and Manufacture programme would be the one. They learned the essential skills of product design, but more importantly, they learned the aesthetic, ergonomic principals, product manufacturing and also management and marketing theories.

“A good product design is not only about the appearance, but also about the sustainability and practicability.”

The teaching staff here in the UNNC have their own expertise and interests. Some are good at automotive design, some are good at product design and some are UI design. Students in the PDM programme are encouraged to develop their own design style and language.

Yuan has an interest in cars since his childhood. After the graduation, he plans to study two master degree about design, one is general industrial design and another area he would explore further is the automotive design. Therefore, he applied the Master’s Programme in Transportation Design and received the conditional offer from his dream university. Yuan believes that the vehicle design in the future will turn to interior design and block design.

Meanwhile, Ze Chen still holds his passion at the furniture design. He likes the idea of using different material in one piece of furniture. Ze will go to the furniture design studio first after the graduation and gaining more experience in practice. He plans to study Industrial Design Master Programme in Lund University, one of the oldest universities of northern Europe in Sweden.

"Enthusiasm is the bridge that leads you to your desired outcome." Ze believes that the most important thing in learning is to have enthusiasm, because with enthusiasm, you will be able to execute your inspiration and take into action. Yuan Hong suggested his fellow students to live life. A lot of inspirations come from life.