When French Design Meets Chinese Manufacturing

In 2011, Yang Jing and two partners founded Bonjour Shanghai, an advertising company based in Paris, to provide design services for the French affiliations of Chinese companies. Fast forward to 2014, Yang was at it again; teaming up with several friends he initiated Bonjour Brand, a forum for the exchange of ideas on brand design between Chinese and French designers. Bonjour Brand serves as a bridge for different ideas and makes French designs + made-in-China possible.

- YANG JING

IN 2000, when I first arrived in Paris, there were limited French products seen on the Chinese market and vice versa. Fourteen years later, when I started Bonjour Brand, French products had deeply penetrated the Chinese high-end market. As an organizer, volunteer or visitor, I’ve participated in many initiatives to promote Chinese culture in France.

These include activities involving calligraphy, painting, Chinese opera facial makeup, embroidery, and paper-cutting, all of which are excellent art forms from China. However, despite these cultural promotion attempts, when you ask a French person what comes to mind when they think of China, the answer is invariably the Great Wall, made-in-China products, kung fu and pandas.

However, this is not the case with Chinese urbanites. Several years ago, “coffee” was still an exotic word signifying a lifestyle out of reach of many, while today, words like espresso, macchiato, latte, and cappuccino roll offthe tongues of Chinese city dwellers and are firm favorite beverages found in numerous local coffee shops.

Similar things happen almost every day with other international brands in China. Even my four-year-old son, when standing in front of a Disney counter, can name every toy, their origins and their friends. In his eyes, they are not commodities, but cultural icons.

Culturally, products from Japan show the world how the Japanese make full use of their limited natural resources; products from Germany reveal the German’s rigorous work ethic; products from France embody the French’s pursuit of quality; while those from America show the American’s efficient way of life. As Chinese, we are eager to introduce the unique culture of China to other countries, and we should be aware that along with money transactions, something deeper about culture is also exchanged.