NINEIDEA：二十年产品设计，足以让一条河改变河道。而我，曾坚信自己是那个可以为河流改道的人。如今站在时间的中游，回望源头，看到的不是自己塑造了物的形状，而是物，以及塑造物的过程，反向塑造了我全部的认知。最初的岁月，设计于我，是一种“赋予”。我将理念、功能、美学，像恩赐一般赋予给沉默的材料。我是主体，物是客体。世界是一张白纸，而我手握画笔。这是一种充满青春荷尔蒙的创造者幻觉，傲慢，却也是所有旅程必需的起点。
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渐渐地，这种“赋予”的边界开始模糊。我触碰到物的“抵抗”。木材有它的纹理与脾性，金属有它的记忆与张力，塑料有它的流动与倔强。它们并非被动地接受我的意志，而是以一种沉默而坚定的方式，与我对话，甚至争辩。设计，从单向的赋予，变成了双向的协商。我学会了聆听物质无声的语言，在创造之前，先学会服从——服从于材料的内在逻辑，服从于物理法则的必然。这是对自然律的第一次敬畏。
随之坍塌的，是“完美”的图腾。我曾追求的完美，是一个静态的、终极的、不容置疑的终点。但生活是流动的，人是变化的。一个在实验室数据上完美的曲线，未必能容纳一个疲惫身躯的微微蜷缩；一个在渲染图里无瑕的光泽，未必能经得起岁月温柔的磨损。我意识到，设计真正的对象，不是“物”本身，而是“物与人共度的时光”。时光是变量，那么，为时光服务的物，也必须是动态的、开放的、有生命的。于是，我的追求从“塑造完美”转向“培育可能”，从打造一个坚硬的“结果”，转向预设一个充满生机的“起点”。
这引向了最深的领悟：关于“我”的消解。设计师的“自我”是一种危险的财富。它催生风格，也筑起围墙。当“我”总想在设计上留下鲜明的个人印记时，这件器物便可能成为使用者生活中的一个“异物”，一个不断提醒他“这是设计师作品”的喧嚣存在。
二十年的修行，是学习如何一步步后退，直到从作品中彻底隐退。最好的设计，是让使用者感觉不到“设计师”的存在。它如此熨帖地融入生活，仿佛天生就该在那里，如同门把手、窗沿、脚下的石板。它不呐喊，不彰显，只是静静地、谦卑地履行它的使命。在这种“无我”的境地中，器物才获得了真正的主权，成为了使用者生命叙事里一个安静而自然的角色。
于是，这条河流的方向调转了。不是我设计了一款牙刷，而是“清洁”的本质，通过我的手，显形为一把牙刷。不是我创造了一个容器，而是“容纳”的概念，借由我的劳作，找到了它的形态。
设计，不再是我对世界做了什么，而是世界通过我，显现了它自身无数可能性中的一种。我从中走过，从造物主，到对话者，再到最终的仆人——服务于材料，服务于功能，更服务于那漫长、琐碎而庄严的人间烟火。
这是一条反向流淌的河，它的源头，不在我出发的山巅，而在我将要抵达的、那片名为“生活”的沉默海洋。
Reverse flowing river: Reflections on 20 years of product design
NINEIDEA: Twenty years of product design is enough for a river to change its course. And I used to firmly believe that I was the one who could change the course of the river. Now standing in the middle of time, looking back at the source, what I see is not the shape of the object that I have shaped myself, but the object and the process of shaping it, which in turn has shaped all of my cognition.
The initial years, designed for me, were a kind of ’empowerment’. I bestow ideas, functions, and aesthetics upon silent materials like gifts. I am the subject, and the object is the object. The world is a blank sheet of paper, and I hold a paintbrush in my hand. This is a creator’s illusion filled with youthful hormones, arrogant but also a necessary starting point for all journeys.
Gradually, the boundaries of this’ bestowal ‘began to blur. I touch the ‘resistance’ of things. Wood has its texture and temperament, metal has its memory and tension, and plastic has its fluidity and stubbornness. They do not passively accept my will, but instead converse and even argue with me in a silent yet firm manner. Design has evolved from one-way empowerment to two-way negotiation. I have learned to listen to the silent language of matter, and before creating, I have learned to obey – to obey the internal logic of materials, to obey the inevitability of physical laws. This is the first reverence for the laws of nature.
The totem of ‘perfection’ collapsed along with it. The perfection I once pursued was a static, ultimate, and unquestionable endpoint. But life is fluid, people are changing. A perfect curve on laboratory data may not be able to accommodate a slight curl up of a tired body; A flawless luster in a rendered image may not withstand the gentle wear and tear of time. I realized that the true object of design is not the ‘thing’ itself, but the ‘time spent between things and people’.
Time is a variable, so the things that serve time must also be dynamic, open, and alive. So, my pursuit shifted from “shaping perfection” to “cultivating possibilities”, from creating a hard “result”, to setting a vibrant “starting point”.
This leads to the deepest realization: about the dissolution of ‘me’. The designer’s’ self ‘is a dangerous asset. It inspires style and also builds walls. When “I” always want to leave a distinct personal mark on the design, this object may become a “foreign object” in the user’s life, a noisy existence that constantly reminds him that “this is a designer’s work”.
Twenty years of practice is learning how to step back step by step until you completely retire from your work. The best design is to make users feel the absence of a ‘designer’. It blends seamlessly into life, as if it was born there, like door handles, window sills, and stone slabs underfoot. It does not shout or display, but quietly and humbly fulfills its mission. In this state of ‘selflessness’, objects gain true sovereignty and become a quiet and natural character in the user’s life narrative.
So, the direction of this river changed. It’s not that I designed a toothbrush, but the essence of ‘cleanliness’, manifested through my hands as a toothbrush. It’s not that I created a container, but rather the concept of ‘containment’, and through my labor, I found its form.
Design is no longer about what I do to the world, but about the world revealing one of its countless possibilities through me. I have walked through it, from the creator, to the interlocutor, and finally to the servant – serving the material, serving the function, and even serving the long, trivial, and solemn human fireworks.
This is a river flowing in the opposite direction, its source is not at the mountaintop where I set off, but at the silent ocean called ‘Life’ that I am about to reach.
