Michel Bertrand, a French designer who has been working in Shenzhen for five years, said Chinese culture has given him a lot of inspiration for his work.
Bertrand came to Shenzhen in October 2012 to work as an art director for a design company specializing in interior design for mainly five-star hotels across China.
“Designing is rather challenging. We always want to make something new, something unique, something original,” he said.
“I was greatly interested by the traditional Chinese culture and the local art. For example, I studied a lot about the ethnic cultures of Li and Miao in Hainan to design for our hotels. In Hainan Province I designed for the Hardrock Hotel, which was completely Western, and I tried to mix the cultures. I created the concepts, gave general ideas about the theme of the interior design of the hotel, its offices and restaurants,” he recalled.
He left the firm to try something different two years ago. Currently he works at an international school as a music and fine arts teacher.
“I am inspired a lot by China. My style is different from what I was thinking before. Shenzhen is an amazing city. With so many creative people, it is alive, evolving and unique. It has so many beautiful places, nice art exhibitions and concerts all the time,” he said.
He added that he loves Shenzhen and loves to be with Chinese people. “It’s a natural feeling. It’s interesting that every time I go back home in France I have to adapt to it and when I come back here, I feel quite at home. I can’t explain it.” Bertrand came from Dieppe in Normandy, which is famous for being where impressionist master Claude Monet painted the seaside in a village called Varengeville.
Bertrand finds it interesting that the number of Chinese students learning French is growing.
