Products were presented, among other things, from furniture design, art and small items for everyday life of which many were functional
“Stone Infinite“ (Infinite Stone) is what Xiamen Stone Fair (May 18 – 21, 2021) calls its exhibition, which was held for the 3rd time this year. The aim is to show ideas for the use of natural stone and thereby generate inspiration and subsequently new ideas for use among visitors.
On about 2000 m² exhibition area there were 5 thematic presentations, where more than 90 products made of or with natural stone were shown.
More than 90 types of stone were used.
Chief curator was Zhu Xiaojie, better known by his call name Xiao Jie. Visual identity design consultant was Lau Siu-Hong, Freeman. Wang Xiangrong was art consultant.
The individual themes of the presentation ranged from art to product design to furniture design and construction. There was a special focus under the title “Artifacts in Stone“: here young designers together with 20 companies showed their prototypes for everyday objects with natural stone.
Free tea or wine was served in a tea-break salon.
The exhibition gave a good overview of the current state of natural stone design in China and the path it has taken: Clearly in the majority were objects that are functional and that can also be sold on the market.
We show here the presentation “Life in Stone“ with examples for stone in everyday life. Other reports (see link below) are dedicated to the “Artifacts in Stone“ (small things made of stone).
In addition, the “Habitat Design Festival” took place for the first time this year with focused on stone in interior architecture (link below).
Other parts of the program were
* the Global Master Architects Forum,
* the World Stone Congress,
* the presentation of new product “Launch Out @XSF”.
Designer: GARY ZENG / Produced by: YINGLIANG 5TH MASTER CLASS Bamboo has always been admired for its integrity and poetic shape. The designer took inspiration from bamboo and blend culture and nature into the design artwork. With humble design language and craftsmanship, they deconstruct and reform the stone to present: a drop of green that brings the flavor of Spring, a taste of tranquility in bamboo grove at home, a journey of the everlasting eastern poetry.
SEE&SAW. Artist: HUANG HAILAN / Designers: YE JIANHAI & TANG HUAZHU. ”In the face of the light / Seeing a touch of blue / Growing wings by little / Slightly to count every feather /In the end / Ignite myself with solemn / Re-Open / In the eternity of time and space / Have you ever seen it again?” Through the integrated solutions from art to space planning, design and display, the space allows everyone to feel art, meet themselves and experience the interest of life.
JINSHENG STONE. DESIGNER: RETURN. Founded in 1994, Quanzhou Dongjishun Jinsheng Stone Co., Ltd. is a comprehensive engineering stone supplier professional in stone mining, stone processing and sales, plate wholesale, luxury real estate decoration and import-export agency. In this exhibition space, Jinsheng took “home design among stones” as the theme, creating a warm and vital atmosphere with gray and white stone materials as well as flexible partitions and green plants as the ornament. They hope to lead the viewers to think about natural materials and the prospect of urban forest.
Franchi Umberto Marmi. Designer: BISELLI EUGENIO. Franchi Umberto Marmi is founded in 1971, Carrara, Italy. Through 50 years development, Franchi Group has become the biggest Calacatta/ Statuario quarry owner and supplier in Italy and in the world. In October, 2020, Franchi Umberto Marmi successfully listed on Milan Stock Exchange, as the first Italian stone company.This time, Franchi brought two design products, the sofa “Ritagli” and the lamp “Lumier”. The base of the sofa is a whole marble structure. The sofa set contains two basic forms of different sizes and can be customized in shape and finishes. Besides, the sofa is extremely light and can be installed in outdoor environments. The lamp is inspired by the baroque world and fairy tales. It is available in two shapes and sizes which are complementary because of empty and full. Made of unusual materials such as marble and crystal, the lamp can be installed everywhere thanks to its lightness.
WU JIANG TANG. Designer: ZHANG WENSHAN. WU JIANG TANG is devoted to the study of “zen“ space, expounding life with art and edifying life with culture. The four major products under the brand, utensils of tea ceremony, incense art, scene and art products, which are advocating elegant, simple, natural and noble life style.
MEDMAR x DONGSHENG x KUILONG. Designer: LI LIJUN. Medmar from Turkey teamed up with Dongsheng and Kuilong in China to create a theme of “Stone Ocean” with Xinshiji, Nuowa, Lanbinhui as the main materials. The design is inspired by the ocean that nurtures everything. The table behind is made of layers of stone. The detail processing incorporates the combination of whales and mountains, symbolizing “sea and land” blending together and complementing each other. The core of the design advocates a community where everything is life.
STONESMITH. Designers: WU SHANGZE & DING CHENGYU & NUH. Stonesmith, as a conveyor of stone aesthetics, is dedicated to exploring infinite possibility of stone. They established a unique operation method – Stone Operation based on the understanding of stone.
+ Stone Plus: Material combination and contrast.
– Stone Minus: Return to natural texture.
× Stone Multiple: Breaking boundaries of field
÷ Stone Divide: Deconstructing process of production.
THE INKLESS. Designer: WANG SONGWEN. As a professional team serving the market with excellent quality and great public praise, Xiamen Inkless Painting Industrial Co., LTD has rich experience in the design, development, manufacture and process of stone products. In 2017, they launched “The Inkless”, the original brand of Chinese painting stones. “The Inkless” follows the notion of “abiding by the rules of nature, taking acceptance and rejection seriously”. Through smart design and exquisite craft, “The Inkless” elegantly shows the beauty of the mountains and water as well as the grandeur of sky and earth, which are all originated from the Chinese painting stones. Their products mainly focus on the areas of incense utensils, tea ceremony, blooming season, painting arts and the study.
BU ER MEI XUE. Designers: CHEN GENGLONG & CHEN JIE & XIAO JIE. The brand of Bu Er Zhai was founded in 2012. The brand seeks to break through the traditional carving concept on the basis of inheriting the traditional carving techniques, and advocates adhering to the contemporary Chinese culture in design. Perfect combination of stone carving and human inner world, endow stone carving with new thinking and soul, sublimate it from life and express the aesthetic of oriental philosophy.
UMGG. Designer: ZHOU CHENGHAI. Universal Marble & Granite Group Ltd. (UMGG) was founded in 1986. It is one of the largest comprehensive architectural and decorative stone enterprises with approximately 2,000 employees in Mainland China. UMGG’s site is spread over a 1.2 million sq. mt. area which are three natural stone manufacturers in Dongguan, Fujian and Tianjin, and one large high-end quartz compound stone company in Changping, Dongguan. Its business covers: mining, stone processing, decoration design, engineering construction and stone industral park. For more than 30 years, UMGG has been supplied stone material for more than 3,000 well-known projects worldwide. In 2019, China Resources Cement Holdings Limited took a stake in UMGG. It’s a new chapter in the era of leaping development of UMGG.
MAXIS. Designer: RICHARD. As a new brand of luxury stone mosaic under “Next Stone”, MAXIS aims to better create and realize the collocation beauty of infinite graphics by stone, give designers more choices, and express the aesthetics of life through mathematical and geometric arrangement. The name of the work that MAXIS presented is “Heart of the Triangle” in which three internal angles intersect to form a heart, which is soft and hard, and provides forward power for life. Triangle is the most stable structure in the world, and the one that best represents “Family” is also a triangle. This design work hopes to represent family and life and be full of joy.
KINGS-WING STONE (XIAMEN) CO., LTD. Designer: HOU XINGSHAN. Kings-Wing Stone (Xiamen) Co., LTD, was established in 2008, starting with investment in quarries, including quarries mining, blocks selling, stone processing and wholesale, bidding for projects, and the import and export business. With the advanced management experience and equipment, Kings-Wing Stone focuses on the global market and regularly communicates with the leading companies at home and abroad. With years of experiment and the continuously enriched products, the sales market of Kings-Wing Stone has reached all over the world and supplied products for world-known architectures.
GUANAI CREATIVE DESIGN. Designer: ZHANG HUADA. Xiamen Guanai Creative Design Co., Ltd. is located in Xiamen, dedicated to professional landscaping projects, planning and design, and other artistic creative designs including artistic sculptures. Its factory is located in Chongwu Town, Hui’an County – as a beautiful seaside town, providing high-quality products for customers at home and abroad.
WANG RONGHAI SCULPTURE ART STUDIO. Designer: WANG RONGHAI. Wang Ronghai is ambitious in art. When you look at his works, you will suddenly think of the famous sentence of British poet Sassoon: “a tiger in the heart, sniff the rose”. A seemingly rough man often has unexpected and delicate ideas, which makes people far away from the poetic realm. He always looks at a picked stone for three or five days and regards it as a friend coming from afar. He pats his shoulders and shoulders and fights with his fists and feet. When he gets to know the temperament of the stone, where to go and where to stay, where to be bold and where to be meticulous, everything is just like a discussion with the stone, no increase or decrease, just right. In Rong Hai’s works, there are poems and distant places.
WUKELA x OPAL. Designer: XIAO JIE.It is WUKELA’s vision to let natural stone enter thousands of households. Enabling design innovation, products upgrading, and product value-added is the goal and mission of WUKELA. Thinness: It takes WUKELA five years of research to make traditional thick stone to 5mm and even break through the limit of 0.5mm. Wukela ultra-thin marble can be curved, and it is flexible and not easily broken. Wukela has always been adhering to the wisdom of craftsmanship during the lase seven years, breaking through the limits, and finally making natural stone thin, light, tough, curved, flexible and not easily broken. Based on high-quality and mass production, Wukela ultra thin stone is highly recognized by the international market and is widely used in the furniture and decoration fields. Science and technology bring brand-new innovations to stone industry.
See also:
(01.10.2021, USA: 10.01.2021)
