M77 × Andrew Martin "Listen to Their Words" Design Forum · Chengdu

On October 13, the "Listen to Their Words" forum — commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Andrew Martin International Interior Design Award, initiated by Andrew Martin with strategic cooperation from M77 — drew to a close in Chengdu.
"Listen to Their Words" mirrors the expression and exchange between kindred spirits in design. "Listen with an open heart, and it will often exceed your expectations" opens a "premiere-talk" stage reserved for leaders of living aesthetics — from the birth of themes through debate, to sharing at the thematic forum, gathering multidimensional ideas and viewpoints, and distilling project talks with entirely new content.

Lu Congzhou
Founder of Andrew Martin Cultural Communication; Chief Representative of the Andrew Martin International Interior Design Award in China
Chengdu: once you come, you never want to leave; even when absent, the heart stays. "Listening to their words" means inviting the designers selected for the Andrew Martin International Interior Design Award to talk about how they think and how they work, sharing their experience and reflections with sincerity. Andrew Martin has always put content first, and the roundtable forum takes each theme deeper, chews it through. Design has no boundaries by nature — only with a global view can one stay unbound, untangled, more relaxed and more expansive. May we set sail together and head out into the world.

Guan Tianqi
Founder & Chief Designer of Rainbow Stone (Beijing) Space Design; Founder & Chief Designer of Space Evolution (Beijing) Architectural Design; selected designer of the Andrew Martin International Interior Design Award
Looking to the Past to See the Future
Design must shift from looking outward to seeking inward, questioning the essence through historical lineage. Naturalism in the East settles on "the Dao follows nature": nature is what is so of itself, accomplished without force. Its core is connection, truth, breath and humility — connecting the human with nature on both physical and psychological levels, favoring materials that are not over-processed, letting space become a breathing organism, and letting design embed itself humbly into nature. Eastern aesthetics goes beyond Song-dynasty symbols and motifs; it opens toward vivid resonance of life-breath, meaning born beyond the image, and the fasting of the mind, sitting in forgetfulness— from the formed to the formless, from the outer to the inner, from the object to the mind. The Eastern naturalism that emerges transcends fixed labels, letting reason and feeling interweave to shape ease, healing, serenity and joy — making space a field that settles the heart and mind, not a container for function.
The method moves from having to not-having: respond to the site, settle the spirit, select materials, create atmosphere, then withdraw — erasing the traces of design, letting the marks of time and imperfection become an aesthetic manifesto. It differs from wabi-sabi in that it does not artificially age, from minimalism in that it is not cold, and from New Chinese style in that it is no collage of symbols — instead it starts from the site, returns to the spirit of place and locality, and lets the cultural gene express itself naturally. In practice: let ordinary things together reveal the extraordinary, rather than filling everything with extraordinary things; refuse excessive virtuosity, the piling up of styles, the neglect of users' true feelings, and the betrayal of the site's character. In the end, adapt to local conditions and guide with the grain — serving the realm of "nothing" through the means of "something". Design, ultimately, is a practice of goodness.

Xie Ke
Founder of Shangyiyang Design; selected designer of the Andrew Martin International Interior Design Award
The Hospitality of Nature
Nature's reward lies not in grand narratives but in the restoration of everyday perception. The studio was converted from a residence: dining hall, gym, yoga room, terrace and garden sit side by side, while the materials room studies true materials, traditional craft and traces of the hand. Dali offers another kind of nourishment: the Bai people and early new settlers opened guesthouses, cafés and small bistros — interesting without any designer's intervention, because by staying present for the long term and thinking about needs, the small spaces kept adjusting and growing. Design is not the result; it is only the beginning. Beauty grows together with the heart; only with the right state of mind can it be perceived. Nature's reward is precisely letting people see again the clouds, the materials, the marks of the hand and time.
Brought into practice, this reward becomes locality, light intervention, handcraft and time. In Qingshan Village, seven years of entirely hand-built stone stacking, respecting local life — slowness itself prevented mistakes — and the project stays connected with resident artists, black pottery, bronze ware, ironwork and local crafts. For the old courtyard in Hot Spring Village, a group photo was taken before construction began, preserving the memory of three generations; design must take part in operation, blend into the locality and cherish the present — never judging from the internet alone, but going to the site and being continuously revised by time and use. Only then can a space be left almost untouched — needing only repair and upkeep — while the place continues to grow on its own. Give back to a place with light intervention, true materials, handcraft and time, and the place gives back to design with stability, composure and vitality — each completing the other.

Zhang Can
True persuasion is not a hasty battle fought at the client's site; it is completing the preparation, logic and closed loop internally first. Doubts need not wait for the client to raise them — grind them away within yourself first. The more fully you grind in, the higher the efficiency, the lower the wear on the gears, and the better the result. Life itself is a practice of self-grinding: inward, grind your mindset, desires and rhythm; outward, grind your professionalism, emotional intelligence and wisdom. The deeper you go in a vertical field, the more substance you accumulate, and the better you can answer doubt. So grind yourself first, then grind the work; go deep vertically first, then talk about results.

Xie Ke
In the early years, the design market in Chongqing and the Southwest was underdeveloped — materials and craftsmanship were mediocre. I was fortunate to start with private residences, because clients back then were not very utilitarian and expressed themselves most sincerely. It was from them that I learned to listen — able to listen to a client for two hours, finding the connection first and only then talking about design; this itself is grinding in. Grinding in does not necessarily begin with work — like courting, like a couple, moving from not knowing, to knowing, to slowly coming together, it takes time, patience and great care. My factory experience also taught me: the finer and more precise the meshing of gears, the more standard the result — but if the heart is not calm, two days of previous work can be scrapped in one second. However fast the racing car, the driver must keep the heart calm to judge and control, always seeking balance.

Guan Tianqi
Grinding in holds the wisdom of farming: "grind" (磨) is the millstone; "fit" (合) is one mouth per person, voices in unison. When grinding and fitting meet, a physical action grows into an emotional verb. In design, grinding in is the dynamic meshing with the client and all parties; on the emotional level, it is the cultivation of one's nature. Young people are anxious about awards, anxious to be seen — but if, in the grinding-in, one elevates one's nature and recovers the original intention, then even failure, reviewed and re-solved, is progress. In this era everyone longs to be seen, yet there is no need to squeeze in. With so many people wanting to be seen, why not quietly do your own design and calmly watch others? Finding your position in the grinding-in, finding your own way of working, designing, relating and being at ease with yourself, a person slowly ascends.

Mao Jijun
Grinding in is not consumption; it is a deliberately arranged wear: like millstones meshing, the soya beans are crushed and fused by each other's force, and finally new pulp flows out. The same applies to design — the premise being that both sides share a common subconscious, each willing to decompose its own force so that the gears bite into one another. Grinding in with professional managers keeps the wear manageable; but with a supreme leader, if the force runs one way only, grinding in leaves nothing but wear — you may already be ash, and he has not advanced a single step. "Whatever you say, I will do" without a shared direction is not grinding in but futile abrasion — the gears refuse to turn, and in the end only grind each other away, never grinding out a result.

Gao Ming
Grinding in, in the end, is a double discipline: between me and myself, and between me and the outside. I am at once a founder, a factory director and a participant in design; I act as both client and contractor. Inwardly, I must first play against and compromise with myself, grinding the heart once over; outwardly, I must find balance among client, designer and supply chain. The chairman may come directly to change the concept — which way the mill turns, whether the beans go clockwise or counterclockwise, is all negotiation. Yet "fit" (合) is never 100% perfection; it is only a small, stage-by-stage fit. So for any project, don't rush to grind others; grind yourself first: think clearly about how to grind in with the design masters and the property owners, and lower your expectations. As long as two or three parties are willing to begin grinding in, it moves in a good direction. Grind yourself first, and only then can you grind out a good result.

Lu Congzhou
The Andrew Martin International Interior Design Award has walked 30 years, and I have been bringing it to China for 20. Do you think I am in a hurry? At first I was — wanting to make things big, wanting everyone to know; only later did I understand that haste makes waste . So I calmed my heart: hold every summit well, do every award ceremony well, and leave the rest to time. Time will give you the answer. The small achievement Andrew Martin has made in China, in the end, is also a fruit of grinding in — not ground out in haste, but ground out slowly.

Gao Ming
Chairman of the Aimu Qiqi Group; Founder of the M77 brand
Today, allow me to take a little more time to speak about M77's past, present and future. I started in renovation — doing design, procurement and project management; later I brought doors, wall panels, cabinets and movable furniture into the factory, taking the industrialized route, with products supporting hotel engineering projects. In 2014, I decided to turn toward residential products and branding — and so M77 came to be. M77 is not just a brand; it is a high-end custom system serving the work of every designer. If designers are the painters, then we at M77 are the painter's paper and pigment — respecting materials, revering design. In the future, we will continue to do service and delivery well, holding reverence in our hearts: reverence for the industry, for our clients, and for every single work.

Jiang Long
Brand Principal of M77 Chengdu
M77 is a wonderful brand, full of warmth. Since its founding, many years have passed, during which many projects have been landed and many deliveries completed. It is a great honor to gather with everyone here tonight. I thank Andrew Martin for building such a fine platform, and I thank every teacher and friend in attendance. In the future, M77 will keep working hard to make products, design and service even better, and we hope to join hands with more outstanding designers to bring more good projects to life.

At this Chengdu stop of "Listen to Their Words", we not only heard the most authentic voices of designers, but also reaffirmed M77's role as a servant of the high-end custom system — with materials as the language and craftsmanship as the support, being the most reliable partner behind designers in bringing work to life. M77 looks forward to walking alongside more designers, turning every good idea into tangible reality. Design knows no boundaries — M77 is glad to journey onward with you.