Matteo: Hey Hc!
Hongchao: Hello Matteo!
M: How Benwu was born and what does it mean?
H: Benwu is out of Chinese Zen phrase 本无 means nothing originally, we always believe that design is a metamorphosis from nothingness and meaningless to sophisticated object and experience. Benwu Studio was a collaboration that started back in 2012 when we founded the company in New York. We were just some young designers that wanted to test the water and get kinda lucky.
M: What is Chinese design, can you define it?
H: It's hard to generalize Chinese design but yes there is a lot of design that is done in China of a different approach. China is the size of Europe it's hard to tell who is the mainstream who is the niche.