拥有生命的蓝钻陶瓷：劳芬2015年新品发布会专访

　　【MV】Because the product pipeline is always very long, we have a strategy for the next 4 years usually, and the pipeline was a little bit full. But we wanted to work together, and we found one project. It was clear that we want to do it, we went through the process quickly and it was very very fast with Toan. He is amazing to work with, because a lot of intelligent in the process and in the product. And it was even a complicated product. It was a urinal. But it proofed that the capacity and opportunity to work together and from that it was clear that we want to go into a long term relationship. Not only love in the first sight but to profit from each other’s knowledge because especially ceramics you need to know really a lot. And it would be a pity to learn it for one project and then not explore further. While the second project it’s clear about exploring further, much more, because we have the new material the SaphirKeramik which we don’t know yet where the limits are where the boundaries are. The whole idea of this project was to work with Toan to explore new limits new boundaries with this new material SaphirKeramik.

　　【MV】因为我们的产品研发一直是非常长期的，我们有对未来四年的战略计划，而我们的产品线已经有些负荷过满。但是我们很想一起共事，所以我们找到了这么一个双方都很看好的项目，我们和Toan非常快的走完了相关流程。他是一个非常令人赞叹的合作伙伴，为我们的流程和产品都带来了很多智慧。而且这次合作还是设计一款很复杂的产品，是一款小便器。通过这个项目双方证明了可以一起工作的能力和难得的机遇，当时我们就很坚信我们彼此希望达成长期的合作了。不仅是短暂的“看对眼”，而是可以长期从双方的学识智慧中得益。因为对于陶瓷这种特殊材料来说，人们需要学习很多知识。而如果只是为了一个项目学习了一些特性而没有继续深究下去就太可惜了。所以我们第二个合作的项目基调就是为了深入研究。这次我们有了个新型陶瓷材料“蓝钻陶瓷”，这个陶瓷如此之新，我们自己都不知道它的局限和边界在哪里。所以这个项目的主旨就是和Toan一起去探寻新型材料蓝钻陶瓷的新边界，并打破新的局限。

　　【J】What about Mr. Nguyen, what’s your feeling about this collaboration?

　　【J】对于Nguyen先生来说呢?这次合作感觉如何?

　　【TN】I would say great because we started very quickly as Marc said. The first project I was involved was not typical because it was a urinal so it was a contract product but at the same time I think it was really interesting because it’s a product that-maybe there’s not so much attention in designing, because it’s for a lot of contract projects. It was a challenge I wanted to do something that could be interesting, newer and user-friendly. It was my approach. And we did this project very quickly. The first idea I think was fine and Laufen proceed it so we went very directly to the process of industrialisation, prototyping and so on, and I think the result was pretty good. And it got us a Red Dot Award. I think the product started from a very typical contract product to also there was a lot of highlights in the product and I think it was welcome by both, by the professionals and by the press as well. So obviously it was very exiting for me also to do another project to touch all field in the bathroom. So SaphirKeramik was a great opportunity to do this, because the material was new. Fortunately there was not so much of opportunities like this. You have a new project started with a new material, you don’t know exactly the limit, so there is a challenge and this is what’s excited for me the most, not so much to make a new shape for washbasin. It was a new approach we approach the project with also the process. I tried really to enter into the process and understand what’s clever to do in SaphirKeramik, and not try to do something which is born for resin or other material. The idea of the project, it’s really born for SaphirKeramik, reach its specificity, which is sharp, tight, resistant, it’s very thin. But at the same time still ceramic. So you have-as Marc said before-you really have to understand how ceramic works because ceramic is not like doing an injection mold in plastic where you have a shape and you just need to understand how to make the mold and that’s it. But ceramic, the material is almost alive, there’s a huge process of molding, drying, glazing, firing. Until it’s not completed, all these process are not finished, you will never know what you will get.

　　【TN】我会说这是一次很棒的体验，因为如Marc所说非常迅速的就开始合作了。我所参与的第一个项目不是一个寻常的项目，因为这是一个小便器，所以虽然这是一个合同产品，但同时我觉得是一个很有趣的产品，因为这是一个不大引起设计界关注的产品，因为一般来说都是作为厂商合同产品来设计的。这个项目对于我来说是个挑战，我希望能做些有趣的、新的，以及试用体验很友好的设计。我们非常快的完成了这个项目，我第一次演示的方案劳芬就通过了，所以我们直接进入了生产环节、做样品等等，我认为最终这个设计的效果也是不错的。它为我们带来了一个红点奖。我认为这个产品从一个很常见的合同产品，最终成为了一个具有很多亮点的产品，受到了专业人士以及媒体的赞赏。所以显而易见的，我很高兴能再次参与又一个项目，来接触卫浴产品的其他领域。我是幸运的，因为这样的机会不多。你能有一个全新的材料且据此启动一个全新的项目，你不知道会有哪些限制，这样是非常具有挑战性的，这对我来说比设计一个洗脸盆的新造型要有趣得多了。因为有了新材料，我们的生产工艺也有很大改变，我尝试着真的沉浸在制造过程中并且理解对蓝钻陶瓷这种材料来说，什么是该做的，什么是更符合传统树脂基陶瓷材料而不应该用在这个新材料上的。于是我的设计就真正的专门为蓝钻陶瓷而生，符合它的材料特性，利落，紧凑，高强度，并且非常轻薄，但同时它还是一款陶瓷产品。所以就如Marc所说的，你真的需要很了解陶瓷的独特个性，因为陶瓷工艺不像塑料注塑工艺那样，你只需要有个形状，并且知道如何做出符合这个形状的模具就可以了。对陶瓷来说，这种材料几乎就像具有生命一样，需要很繁琐的工艺来铸模，干燥，上釉，煅烧。在这些步骤没有完成之前，你根本不知道你能得出一个什么样的产品。

（左图为Toan Nguyen先生为劳芬设计的第一款产品Antero小便池，右图为最新的INO系列洗脸盆及劳芬水龙头）