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Topic 2 of Interview on the 2024 Xiamen Habitat Design and Life Festival: Dialogue with Eva Li, General Manager of Xiamen Stonelink Imp. & Exp. Co., Ltd., and renowned designer Kinney Chan - on how to use the "softness" of stone to present idle beauty of space   Interview with renowned designer Kinney Chan: How did you use stone as the main material in this fair to present the beauty of design and space? Can you briefly share the highlights and details of this design?   Kinney Chan:  As mentioned earlier, our design this time focuses on weaving, which utilizes current stone carving techniques to carve stone into a woven form. When we go to see the development of decoration in Europe, there are actually many cases of stone and stone carving. However, due to cost and material reasons, this carving technique is rarely used anymore. Of course, there are still European styles, but can we use a modern technique to present them? So the entire space, from the first visual perspective, will give people a warmer and softer feeling, breaking the cold and stiff feeling people have towards stone. As for the main design highlight of this time, I think it is specious but not true. That is to say, when you see something that appears similar on the surface, but in reality, it is not. This artistic technique is not widely used in the daily use of decoration materials, as people usually turn stone into art pieces and place it in their homes as decoration, which is a form of soft decoration. But this time, we presented it directly in the hardcover design, which is itself a work of art, an installation, but also exists in the space. With the assistance of lighting, heating pipes, etc., we aim to change people's initial impression of stone.   Interview with Eva Li, General Manager of Xiamen Stonelink Imp. & Exp. Co., Ltd.: We stone people often talk about the soft side of stone and try to express ourselves. But it has to be said that Kinney Chan's interpretation of "softness" this time is truly romantic and concrete, also very convincing. I don't know how you felt when you saw the plan?   Eva Li:  For Kinney's interpretation of "softness" this time, I believe he has truly achieved both romance and concreteness. He cleverly combines stone carving techniques with spatial details of arcs to present the stone in a woven form, as if melting the hardness and coldness of the stone into the art of weaving. Combined with the warm and clean color of Babylon Grey marble, the entire space is made warm and soft. Kinney concretized the abstract concept of "softness", allowing people to not only feel the beauty of stone, but also to re-examine the diversity and possibilities of stone. Kinney's design philosophy and techniques undoubtedly bring new thinking and inspiration to the field of stone design. I look forward to seeing the final presentation of this design proposal, and I believe it will bring everyone a brand new visual and tactile exper...

Topic 1 of Interview on the 2024 Xiamen Habitat Design and Life Festival: Dialogue with Eva Li, General Manager of Xiamen Stonelink Imp. & Exp. Co., Ltd., and renowned designer Kinney Chan - On the theme of the Festival - "To Activate"   Interview with renowned designer Kinney Chan: The theme of this year's Xiamen Habitat Design and Life Festival is "To Activate". What were your thoughts when you received this proposition? What is the correlation between your current design theme "Weaving" and this year's theme "To Activate"?   Kinney Chan:  When I see the words "To Activate", the first thing that comes to my mind is people's views on certain fixed things. Therefore, my understanding of "To Activate" is not only about activating stone, but also about breaking people's conventional thinking about things. In traditional applications, stone is mostly used for furniture and wall cladding, or is it left to give people a very cold and hard feeling. So, in this design, we break people's perception of stone by using the element of sweaters and weaving patterns.   Interview with Eva Li, General Manager of Xiamen Stonelink Imp. & Exp. Co., Ltd.: This year is Stonelink's first time participating in the Xiamen Habitat Design and Life Festival. Why do you want to participate in this project? What was your feeling when you received the curatorial theme of "To Activate"? What are your expectations?   Eva Li: As representatives of stone brands, we are well aware of the important position of stone in architecture and home design. But we also realize that stone is often regarded as a cold and hard material in traditional concepts. Therefore, we are very eager to explore more possibilities of stone with designers through the Xiamen Habitat Design and Life Festival, breaking people's inherent impression of stone. When we received the curatorial theme of "To Activate", we deeply felt that this theme is very in line with our brand philosophy. We hope to showcase the diversity and innovation of stone through this theme, allowing people to see that stone is not only a building material, but also a design element with artistic value and humanistic care. We look forward to sharing our philosophy and products with more people. This theme effectively encourages designers to challenge traditional thinking and find new ways to activate stone. We look forward to seeing more designers apply innovative concepts and techniques to combine stone with other materials and create stunning design works. We also hope that through this event, we can promote the development of the stone industry and let more people understand the diversity and beauty of stone.

Renaissance architecture, as the mainstream architectural style in Europe from the 15th to the 19th century, shines with the brilliance of human wisdom and art. This style sometimes incorporates the characteristics of Baroque and Classical architecture, but its roots are deeply rooted in Florence, Italy. The design of cast stone window surrounds is an indispensable part of Renaissance architecture, adding endless charm to the building with its unique design and exquisite craftsmanship.   Under the theoretical guidance of Renaissance architecture, the design of stone window surrounds abandoned the Gothic architectural style that symbolized divine supremacy, and instead pursued the architectural forms of ancient Rome, especially elements such as classical column proportions, semi-circular arches, and architectural forms centered on domes. These elements are perfectly reflected in the design of stone window surrounds, making every detail full of classical charm and historical significance.   The design of stone window surrounds not only emphasizes the external beauty of form, but also emphasizes the internal structural beauty. Designers cleverly use the natural texture and color of stone to perfectly integrate window surrounds with the overall building, making the building visually more harmonious and unified. At the same time, the firmness and durability of the stone also ensure the service life of the window surrounds, allowing the building to maintain its unique charm in the baptism of time.   Under the influence of Renaissance architectural style, stone window surrounds design has become a unique art form. It is not only a part of architecture, but also the pursuit and expression of classical aesthetics and humanistic spirit by architects. Whether it's luxurious palaces, solemn churches, or cozy residential buildings, stone window surrounds add a unique charm and charm to the architecture, allowing people to feel the cultural atmosphere and artistic charm of the Renaissance period.

03. Facade strategy: the high-end feel of low-priced stone   How to have a unique temperament for an international five-star hotel is a challenge for designers. Although the cost is low, through careful design, it can still meet the requirements of low-key luxury. In the entire project, the small pillars of the triangle are the most important language. In addition to "turning the surface into line" to handle the color difference of cheap stone, what is more important is the small pillars of the triangle, giving the entire building a sense of delicacy and unique temperament. The triangular surface adds a sense of hierarchy to the facade and is rich in shadow relationships in the sunlight.   In addition to the three edges of the standard unit, the window frame is also treated as two edges, and the entire building has a unified vocabulary and consistent approach, making construction control relatively easy (it is difficult to find large curtain wall construction companies for low-cost curtain walls). The slender and powerful stone at the window frame is the greatest reflection of the delicacy of this project. The slender two sided stone window frame and the three sided slender columns form a unified and varied rhythm.   Fine stone pieces, if assembled at a conventional 45 degree angle, will have many notches and expose the interface directly to the outside. In node design, two pieces of stone are spliced using a 90 degree half bite joint, utilizing the hardness of the granite itself to form a small groove, rather than blindly pursuing difficult to achieve "sharpness".

01. Selection of Stone   Firstly, the designer and the client agreed on the goal of retaining the stone curtain wall and changing the original open curtain wall method to use glue at a cost of 125 USD$. However, other areas cannot save much money and can only consider the stone itself. In the end, for 17 USD$ per square meter, only the red and greatly different colored G681 red granite can be selected. The pink color of this stone does not meet the requirements of this project, but making a lychee finish can approach gray granite and effectively reduce color difference.   02. Facade strategy: low price stone processing method   When facing stones with large color differences and poor texture, the design should be tailored. Firstly, try to avoid using large stone surfaces and use "lines" in the design. This not only conforms to the characteristics of hotel standard windows, but also expresses the material of the stone while avoiding color differences. It avoids the weakness of low-priced stone through a sense of lines. Secondly, in areas where large surface stones are unavoidable, "grooves" and "lines" are used to treat them, and different surface treated stones are used to form a sense of hierarchy. In the division of stones, techniques such as "staggered joints" and "horizontal and vertical joints, corresponding to different surface stones" are used, and a smooth line is "pointed" every few layers.

As is well known, China has abundant stone resources, and there are many varieties of granite stone, whether it is ordinary black and white gray or colorful yellow green red, all of which can be seen in the stone market. And it is widely used in various engineering sites. In recent years, various self built villas have become popular, and many have chosen domestic yellow and red granite for the exterior walls.   In some high-end hotel and office building projects, with sufficient budgets, expensive imported granite is mostly used for curtain wall stones. Some imported granite varieties from countries such as Brazil and India do have unique and beautiful colors and textures. But can't cheap domestic granite achieve good curtain wall effects? Today we will share the stone curtain wall design of a star rated hotel. What do you think of the effect of using domestically produced G681 red granite?   This is a very successful, low-cost, and high completion project - Chengdu Xiehe Hilton Hotel. At the time of project approval, it was part of the comprehensive development of the entire area. At that time, the overall plan was to provide a residential area of about 400,000 square meters with a five-star hotel, a Grade A office building, and a commercial street.   As an international five-star hotel, the initial cost of the facade was not low. But after the completion of the first phase of development, Party A did not obtain any subsequent land, so this hotel must be cost conscious. The unilateral budget for the exterior wall is only 125 USD$. At this time, either we need to change the exterior wall material or find a solution to the problem.