COMMON Magazine Europe - SPRING 2017

2017 SPRING//COMMON
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MEET RAY AND
GANG
THE MINIMALIST DESIGNERS
BEHIND VHBOX
By Azhar Ahmad
First,tell us a little bit about yourself and
your roles in the company.
Gang is from the North province of China,
a perceptual designer graduated in arts,
While Ray is from the South, rational and
graduated in science. We look totally
different but amazingly, we have worked
together for more than 10 years, and start
to run the Yuwen design studio from 2014
to do some design work for other
company. As designers, the main work is
design, such as products, packaging, and
website. At the same time, Gang will do
some work in market and branding, and
Ray will spend some time to find projects
and supply chain.
How did you two started the company?
How did you decide it’s going to be a
minimalist design approach?
After running the studio for a while, we
figured we needed a platform to express
our comprehension on design and
products, or maybe we can even start our
own brand to express our ideas. We know
we have the capacity in design and brand,
but we also wanted to do something for
ourselves. We then catch up with Tommy.
another partner in VH now. He has the
sales channel and aspiration to make a
difference in the Chinese manufacturing
industry. Then, we make use of each
other's skills and started “VH” in 2015.
Minimalist is our character. We don’t
chose this style sedulously, as we just
design whatever we feel, and present what
we feel a product should be.
Do you guys often have clash of idea?
Of course we will have some debate or
clash in designs. We have very different
design logic. Gang is emotional when he
designs, as he will think from the outside to
the inside. He insist a product is not only a
product, but it is more than that. He tries
to make a product that is reasonable and
logical. Ray is more rational, he used to
think from the inside to the outside. He
will firstly think about the function, how to
make the construction and function to be
more reasonable. Although we often have
some different ideas, but we have worked
for more than 10 years so we know each
other well. Besides, We have the same
principle: to make products that are
minimalistic, smart and straight.
Explain to us in brief about the design
process.
Design process should be similar with
other designers. When a project is set up,
we will discuss to find a solution, then draw
a draft construction, set up a module in
computer, and make samples. What’s
different is the way of thinking. More, we
often will leave the selected draft/idea for a
while, perhaps two or three weeks, then
check again if the idea is good enough, and
pay more attention on the relations
between human/environment and
products. Different project takes different
time, depending on the complexity.
Generally, we will provide a plan in a month
and will launch 5-6 new products a year.
What else is in store for VH in the near
future? What about in your personal lives?
This year, we will mainly focus on
consumer electronics, some new products
like wireless car charger kits, a new ultrathin
USB fan, a creative lamp, and a cool
lighter. In personal lives, we want to be
more traditional, compared to other people
in our age. We try to keep a simple life way
and most of our spare time, we will
accompany our family. Gang also recently
became a dad just before the Chinese
lunar year so there's that.
Visit www.vhbox.com
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