Yolanda: Research & Analysis

PGC phase--Position

After I finished the visiting of local home furnishing brands in the UK market, I start to think about the position of my own brand. Who are my target consumers? What kind of function do I have? What kind of strength do I have to attract people? ……

First of all, I made three questionnaires to help me to understand:
What are the well know brands of home furnishing in the UK?
Where are the great places to open a shop?
How far people in the UK accept China?

Next, I understand the Furniture Market 2007-2008 in China and the UK. Form those data and situations, I understand that it’s hard to hold a home furnishing business without any special strategies and new concepts, especially in the UK market under the high pressures of `credit crunch'. So, me as a foreign competitor, should have some innovative concepts or strategies to make sure I can stand steadily.

China Furniture Market Report, 2007-2008

Household Furniture Market Report 2008

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PGC phase--The UK market

And So To Bed, it's one of my favorites in this local research. It's tasteful and elegant. Especially attricted elder consumers.

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Hammonds, the owner is very kind. He answered me a lot of questions and i also made an appointment with the designers anyway... Hammonds has seven collections for the diffenent tastes of it's consumers. The young collection is the most popular one among them...

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MULTIYORK, it's a sales shop . They earned good business in this year...

I love the concept of "Create MY Sofa", consumer can talk they ideas to the designer face to face and then, they will supply a good strategy for you.

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In these weeks, I've been visited some local shops of home furnishing in the UK. It's also a good opportunity to practice those methods in the real life.

Habitat is the first local home furnishing shop that i have been visited. It is a very old and traditional brand in the Uk...

Here are some photos that i made in the shop.

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PGC phase- different life styles

In these weeks, I started to understand different lifestyles both in the UK and China. For understand the reason why people prefer different kinds of style in different areas, I also did some research about the cultures and customs both in the UK and China…

One of the typical lifestyles in the UK: Return the soul to the peace and quiet rural life. It’s a beautiful afternoon with relax and elegant.

There is another typical lifestyle in the UK: Home is a kind of smell and sound, which are preserved by time. Home is a lowing body language. It’s an attitude to your life.

Diversity is one of the features of Shanghai. It combine both western and eastern culture, it’s a kind of mix. The modern shanghai has the booming economic and fast rhythm life, but it still maintain a side of old shanghai look. People listen to the radio washing in the river… it’s a kind of separation from the whole modern life.

Shanghai Chic-- A fusion of eastern and western styles including both Chinese bright colors and western art deco elements created the famous..

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PGC phase

After making sure the direction of my project, I started with some Chinese traditional furniture in modern life.

For foreigner people: A piece of Chinese furniture can make you dream of far away countries and can be functional at the same time. For Chinese people: They make you far away from the nosy environment, the rhythm of quick returns and the complicated relationships.

I think the people who chose the traditional home style means they want a kind of relax, which can deliver you from being occupied by money and materialism, meanwhile give you more space and energy to connect with you deep soul.

By artfully incorporating wood grain patterns, experimenting with spatial dimensions and innovating new forms of joinery, simple tables chairs came to represent something higher: the harmony and union between man and nature. Chinese furniture is a survey of collectibles.

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For understand the reason why they chose such different shapes and patterns in the traditional furniture, I traced the origin elements of some Chinese style.

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we can see a lage number of chinese elements as the inspirations in the foreigure design works.

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For understan the UK styles and cultures, i start with some old local brands,

LAURA ASHLEY is one of the typical local brands in the UK. They have not only home furnishing business but also fashion, perfume business and so on...