小饿蘑的日记

It's so bad that douban cant show any format and all of the pictures i integrated into the article. Anyway, this is my biggest project of this semester--writing a profile about a thing, a people, or a community that in any means, is related to business. 

My subject is iMART in China, and i didn't really do a lot of interviews...except chit-chatting with some designers out there. so, those who know how much details im actually making up here, shhhhhhHHHH!!!! lol

Well, again, i know for sure that almost no one will finish reading it, even the person closest to me!(yah!YOU! im talking about u MQ!). But I do think this is the only topic i've written this semester that I was really originally internally interested in. (though in the near future, i dont wanna go to any iMARTs any more!!) 

There're even more really critical details I've collected for this profile but not shown in it. I have to give them up coz I don't wanna make the subject too complicated. Selecting information to include in is really a tough thing...i feel sorry for those great pieces that I have to exclude.

There's a famous saying in the journalism industry that "I don't have time to write short!". That's exactly what I've experienced. The word count just went up so quickly while my point was moving so slowly. Well, at least I know the direction to which I should keep improving myself on. 

Enjoy the story, if possible:)









iMART in China:
Making a living with creativity, a sweat dream or a cruel reality?

BY ELLEN WANG

On a brisk October afternoon, with a lighted cigarette in her hand, Queenie Ma was taking a short break, sitting on the steps in a spacious square outside the Shenzhen Book City. Being held there was the iMART, a monthly creativity bazaar made up of small temporary booths. As the name implies, everything sold there is supposed to be creative.

Watching nonstop waves of people coming for the iMART inside there through a glass door, Queenie’s face showed a bit of tiredness. “I just want to stay away from the crowd for a while,” she said, having dealt with people come and go for most of the day. 

As the sales personnel and one of the designers of the indigenous brand “Oid”, named with the similar pronunciation of “All I Did”, which sells various kinds of originally designed accessories such as bag series and t-shirts, Queenie shows up in almost every creativity bazaar in every weekend at different locations of the city. “For me, weekend means extra-busy working days.”

Dating back to three years ago, Queenie would never imagine that someday, a thing called iMART, which according to the official organizer implies “I am art”, would become such an important part in her life. “It has been a great support to the survival of our indigenous brand and our business,” she said. “We need iMART. Our brand needs iMART.” 

Obviously, Queenie is not the only person who have their lifestyle drastically refreshed by this kind of creativity bazaars. In the recent years, more and more young people, especially fresh college graduates, are turning themselves into this revolutionary form of business, selling whatever their original designs are, and making it their whole life.

For the artisans who have dreams but not much money, the emergence of iMART phenomenon provides them with a popular platform to get their creations before potential customers. The success of the concept is evidenced by the fact that there are now iMART events held regularly in many major Chinese cities. Some artists say that, beyond the direct sales, it has introduced them to lucrative corporate clients who contact them later. Others, however, say sales are slow and iMART is probably not worth the effort. On a broader basis, some wonder if iMART is becoming a victim of its own success: The quality of the designs, they say, seems to be going down as the crowds go larger. The concern is that iMART is less about innovation and more about catering to the masses.



The coming into being of iMART

Originated from July 2006 in Guangzhou, iMART was brought into being in China as the new way of creative communication for young citizens, launched by CITY PICTORIAL, a nationally well-loved magazine promoting originality spirits and aiming at truthful reflection of the young generation’s lifestyles in metropolis. 

“Reading iMART literally, you will see it spells as ‘I am Art’,” explained April Lv, the Media Affairs Director of CITY PICTORIAL magazine, the initiator of iMART. “That’s exactly what we want to convey through iMART, the spirit that life is artistic and everyone is potentially an artist.”

“We disarrange the capital letters purposely,” said Lv, when asked about the unique spelling of iMART. “Art is always out of regularity, isn’t it?” she smiled. According to Lv, iMART has become a registered label owned by CITY PICTORIAL, the creator of this brilliant name.

Seeking to fulfill the young citizen’s wish of an open and plural innovation ecosystem, the search of a show space and the need of a trade saloon, iMART has been developing quickly through the past three years. In the mainland China, events of iMART are frequently happening in 13 large- and medium-sized cities, including Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiamen, etc. 

Serving as a large-scale parade and gathering for indigenous innovation and original designs, iMART is attracting local art and design elites to join in. “It doesn’t only make a chance for the youth to show their independent innovation, but also made this ‘mart’ a business miracle,” said Lv, the organizer’s media affairs director, adding that there’re already hundreds of iMART events successfully organized, with thousands of young creators and hundreds of thousands of citizen “marketers” involved in.



Status quo of the creative people in iMART

While the iMART organizer is making a deem for all innovation classes with its slogan that “Make a way out, and your innovation will pay back.”, the reality is always much tougher. Whether the innovation can really pay back, and how far can it pay back, vary a lot among different creators.

Queenie, with her indigenous brand Oid, is one of the outperformers among all the sellers in iMART. Set up in August 2003 by four young graphic designers in Guangzhou who just quitted their jobs together from a designing firm, Oid has existed for six years, definitely an elder in indigenous brands. With their slogan of “Things remix here”, focused on designing accessories for the young, the Oid team potitions themselves as a brand “Stylish but Unique”. “To be honest, it all started with an impulsion. The only thing on our mind back then was simple: we want to design what we really want to design. Instead of being constrained, we were looking for a free and unlimited lifestyle. And no one thought about cost and revenue at all!” said Queenie.

With their first Oid store opened in Guangzhou, Oid survived through all these years. Not only did they open one more store in Shenzhen, they also started online business on Taobao, the most famous online shopping website in China. “There’re currently six people altogether in this team. We design, we produce, we promote, and we sell. This brand is everything of our life,” said Queenie, who is responsible of Oid’s Shenzhen business.

Oid store in Shenzhen

Apparently, Queenie is not satisfied with what Oid has achieved today. “We’re earning profits, but far from enough.” With product prices ranging from RMB35 to RMB238, Queenie said a weekend’s revenue in iMART was 3000 to 4000 Yuan on average, doubling the revenue of two days’ regular store business. 

“The best thing about iMART is that it’s costless,” said Queenie. It’s true. Instead of paying any rental fees, the only condition to win a little booth in the bazaar is to pass the organizer’s selection process, which, according to Queenie, is not difficult at all. 

Despite the extra earnings, Queenie believed that iMART was just an approach, instead of a purpose. “What we want from iMART most is the brand awareness and exposure,” she said.

However, brands as mature and experienced as Oid are just a minority type in the iMART. One big group of the designers in iMART are still students in school, usually  specializing in design-related majors, and their products are all made by hands.

Chloe Li, a high school girl whose biggest interest is to do handworks, was sitting in her booth alone with most of her hand-made stuffs unsold. “I haven’t sold any of it in two days,” Chloe said disappointedly, pointing to a row of rabbits sewed with cloth. Besides cloth rabbits, she also sold other girly dolls and accessories, all hand-made by herself. “It’s my first time to join an iMART. I spent several days without any sleep to get all these articles done.” 

Chloe with her hand-made stuffs in iMART
 

Without any business ideas, Chloe said she would like to do it as a career in the future, simply out of her own interest. “I love doing it, and my parents support me for that,” she said optimistically.

Unlike a single player like Chloe, most creators in iMART work in a team. Gigi Liang and Phoebe Wong’s booth was attracting quite a number of little children, begging their parents to buy them a doll made from socks. The two close friends, both graduated from Shenzhen University majoring in literature and used to work in a sock factory for months, formed their original brand “Wayaya” one year ago. 

“At the very first, it was just for fun that we sewed dolls with socks and filled them with cotton. As we came up with more designs and patterns, we started to sell it online, and the reaction is quite satisfactory,” said Gigi. “Right now iMART is our main sales channel. We attend almost all kinds of creativity bazaars in the city, about six to eight times in a month.”

“In the weekdays, we sew dolls day and night. In the weekends, we sell dolls day and night,” told Phoebe, adding that they were considering finding new members to join them. “It’s quite exhausting sometimes, since we just have two people. And sewing a doll needs about 15 minutes.” The dolls sold by Wayaya are priced from RMB15 to RMB 80, depending on different sizes and materials.

Phoebe with her sock dolls

“We want to run a physical store. Money is not the biggest problem, while finding a good spot is really difficult,” said Gigi. While she was speaking, a little girl around ten just successfully persuaded her mom to get her a sock bear, costing 65 Yuan.

Life is even harder for some. “I can hardly feed myself now,” said Elaine Zheng, a twenty-something girl in iMART selling badges all designed and produced by herself. Having quitted her job from a design company several months ago, Elaine is a full-time self-employed designer, with all her income coming from online shop on taobao and iMART in weekends. 

“It’s much harder than I expected. I used to do it in my leisure time and it was fun. Things are totally different when this becomes the core of my life. I’m all by myself now, earning little and feeling insecure about my life,” she said, adding that she would probably find another job in a short time.

While people like Elaine are counting their whole life on iMART, some are much more relaxed in it without money pressure. Light Bulb, a commonweal non-profit brand based in Guangzhou aiming at promoting environmental awareness through artistic means, was formed in 2006 by a number of professional cultural and arts practitioners who pay close attention to public good issues. The design works of Light Bulb covers a wide range, including bags series, platform toys, and limited souvenirs derived from art exhibitions, etc.

With their matured designs and professional production and sales teams distributed around the country, Light Bulb is investing all of its income to charities. “All of us have our own full-time jobs, we’re just doing it as volunteers,” said David Liao, a sales helper of Light Bulb in charge of iMART in Shenzhen. “To some extent, Light Bulb serves as a way for us to find ourselves and realize our social values.”




Significance of iMART

A common problem faced by almost all artists in iMART is that how to reach a balance in pricing their works in an acceptable way both to them, and to the consumers.

“The question I’ve answered most times today is ‘how much is it?’,” said Queenie, the sales representative of Oid. “And most people just walked away after I told the price,” she made a face and added: “There’re nothing we can do about it. We’re not a big brand, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are cheap.”

“I know people are always looking for cheap stuff when they come to this kind of bazaar,” Queenie continued. “Unfortunately, we aren’t. The designs we sell are everything that we live on.”

It’s almost universal that an artist just always fall in love with the art he has created. “I value my design. I believe I’m worth the price,” said Allen Lam, a graphical designer working in Hong Kong and occasionally joined the iMART in Shenzhen. 

With his original designs printed on white t-shirts, Allen set the price of RMB100 for one, making a margin of about 30 Yuan with the cost of 70HKD for a plain t-shirt. “I barely break even, counting in transportation and living costs,” said him, when asked about the earning situation for one weekend in iMART.

Yet, for some artists in iMART, the retailing sales revenue is just minor, what they are looking for are the opportunities that some investors out there having a crush on their works, which can help bringing their designs into mass production.

“I have received designing jobs from some big factories for several times,” said Keith Chan, another graphical designer owning a design workshop in the Central of Hong Kong. Originally, Keith was invited by some friends in mainland to join the iMART in Shenzhen, selling recycle bags with his creative designs for about RMB120. With his products well received in iMART, some companies has contacted him personally for designing orders. 

Recycle bags designed by Keith

“Compared with what I’ve earned in iMART, the compensation from that kind of private jobs are really thrilling,” Keith said with a pleased smile. “I really appreciate the platform provided by iMART. For me, it means showing off my designs, and making extra money. I don’t really care whether people buy my recycle bags, I know some of them will consider it as expensive. But knowing that there are people who really appreciate my designs is the thing I care about most.”



Awkward position of iMART: Achieving “MART” at the price of “i”?

For the majority of the artists in iMART, showing off their designs and knowing more friends seem to be a bigger reward right now. How to successfully turn their creativity into real business is still a huge question mark for most of them.

According to Bi Xuefeng, the chairman of Shenzhen Graphic Design Association, iMART is the expression of civilian creative culture, the combination of creativity, products and real life. “In China, what we lack is not creativity or brilliant designs, but the ability of branding and industrialization. To build up popular original brands and commercialize the creative artworks should be the next focus of iMART.”

However, some designers have different opinions regarding it. “How is it possible for an artist to be an artist, when one spends most of his time on business and thinking of how to make more money?” questioned Max WANG, a designer with his three years’ original brand Inde-X. As a new comer in the iMART in Shenzhen, Max said he was quite disappointed with the atmosphere here. “The designs here are mediocre. I haven’t seen anything that makes me excited.”

“If this trend of commercializing goes on, iMART will be losing its unique feature. The artistic creativity of designers will be overwhelmed by attending iMART more frequently for more monetary rewards,” Max worried. “In that case, the concept of creative bazaar would be nothing more than a sales field of miscellaneous goods.”

The mediocrity-converging designs are also noticed by citizens. “I used to go to the iMART in Shenzhen Book City every one or two weekends. It’s a good place to have fun with in weekends. It always inspired me a lot and I got many of my accessories from there,” said Cecilia Yang, a year 2 university student majoring in design. “But currently I just find that there’re more and more booths there selling things which are not really their original ideas. The designs are more or less the same. It saddens me a lot when I feel the creative spirits are fading away for some original brands that I’m familiar with.”

“It’s too frequent,” said Mr. and Mrs. Liao, a young couple who used to be the habitues of iMART. “At first, it was really refreshing to see so many original designs and artistic young people. However, as the frequency of iMART is increasing while the artists are not coming up with new designs at the same speed, we find it less attractive. People can easily have aesthetic fatigue.”

Whether iMART is still qualified to be called iMART when the creativity is vanishing, has been a hot discussion recently. More and more people are reflecting on the essence of iMART. Huang, Haiming, a professor of art and design department of Shenzhen University, is standing on the art side of this dilemma. “There have to be some people participating in iMART with the motivation of artistic communication, instead of business and money,” said Huang.

On the other side of the story, it’s also hard to keep the design elites in iMART if the marketability is too weak to make sustainable business possible. 

“I don’t agree that having monetary goals is bad. Artists are not charitarians, earning money with designs is our way of living. The most important thing is, we still insist on indigenous designs without being affected by the mainstream trends. But if commercialization is what the society asks for, we do it,” said Quennie, almost finished her third cigarettes. 

“And yes, it’s the reality. You may call it cruel, but living with it is the only way out,” she added, extinguished her cigarette, stood up from the steps and smacked slightly on her hip to get rid of the dust. She was ready to return to the crowds in there.