Meet Chencong Zhang | Interior Designer & Spatial Experience Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chencong Zhang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chencong, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Wanting to create spaces that bring a sense of belonging is why I started my path pursuing interior design.

As an interior designer, I see spaces as where people can find a piece of themselves there- from a familiar color, a tactile touch, or even a chair just sitting there.

Since I was 11, I could only visit my parents once a year. Things got worse during the pandemic, I haven’t seen my family for over 4.5 years and I still haven’t seen them today. I guess during all the days and nights I’m away from them, every little piece of me is longing for something that could bring me the comfort, familiarity, and security my family would have given me. Finally, this hunger leads me to the path of interior design, where I could design spaces that people feel they belong to and would call destinations.

I didn’t recognize this hunger from the beginning though, I majored in civil engineering as an undergraduate, following the trend sweeping through China back then. However, after the second year, I didn’t see myself at my best and decided to take a gap year. I exposed myself to modern arts, designs, and other creative things. I couldn’t tell exactly how I went to the creative side that year but I could tell there was this urge inside me to pursue things that I can connect with, that I can reflect my emotional feelings on, and further, I can make an impact on others’ feelings through it. After returning to school, I started taking art and design classes, talked to my friends about the switch I was planning on and reached out to opportunities that could bring me closer to what I wanted to do.

Finally, in 2015, I got the opportunity to work on the interior design for a 7000 sq ft office in shanghai. Given the loose idea of creating a comfortable working environment that’s easy for communication, and treasuring the spacious outdoor terrace, we clung to the idea of bringing outside in, making it quite seamless between inside and outside, and creating an open office layout. I enjoyed playing with colors and materials. When I presented the material boards and photoshop renderings, they won everyone’s heart, and that’s something I’ve never tasted when studying civil engineering.

I and my other two friends also got commissioned to design and install a ceiling installation in the office. I still remember the late nights we were exploring the forms and compositions, and the cold day we headed to the factory that was in the middle of nowhere. The piece itself was made out of stone and wood, and it was quite an experience to hang it onto the ceiling!

In 2016, I went to RISD and my ‘official’ path pursuing interior design finally started. During the two years spent there, I learned how to convert old spaces and give them new lives, heard many many successful cases that opened my eyes, and met professors and friends with the same dream! In 2018, I was lucky enough to visit Morocco together with the Architecture and Ceramics department. We were immersed in an Islamic world that was full of rich colors and intersections of patterns. We spent days in Le Centre de Formation et de Qualification dans les Métiers de l’ Artisanat (CFQMA) in Fès, a place where you could learn to create traditional patterns and hand craftsmanship. After we were back, we created our own pieces to reflect our thinking on cross-cultural learning and exchange across languages, socio-economic realities, and geographies, and exhibited them in the museum so everyone could see the sparks of the collision among different cultures.

Today, the little girl who feels insecure still lives inside of me, but I am able to build her own castle to rest in there, I also grow into an interior designer that could help others build their castles- some are just cozy, some are fancier with star decorations, some are even for them to open up and invite friends in.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
It’s not an accident that most of the buildings and rooms look a lot alike. It takes time, money and some magic to create special things. The key to creating special things? Storytelling! It is the magic that would make the spaces feel different and one can see it’s tailored to the users’ needs. I LOVE storytelling and I’m pretty good at it.

Storytelling in interior design is much about bringing personality to the space and creating a journey for the guests. I enjoy doing this so much. During this process, we would do a large amount of research on the property itself as well as look for inspiration. Sometimes I’m amazed by myself how much more I could extend from all the research work, I love to use my imagination and ability to dream. I love looking for different possibilities and explorations. On a hotel rooftop that I lead designed in Miami, starting from the leafy neighborhood, subtropical marine climate as well as paying tribute to the neighborhood history, we brought lush landscape, colorful Bahamian murals and fun patterns. It is quite a journey to build out things from your drawings, but one day when I was going through all the reviews for that rooftop online, I saw people loving the bold and unique design, enjoying themselves very much there- that is definitely one of the best moments I have as an interior designer.

I’m not sure if this is 100% true, but I think being a sensitive person helps me become a good storyteller of spaces. It gives me the ability to feel, and in return, to let other people feel. My years in RISD also enriched my experience by spending time with artists from different backgrounds. I have friends in digital art, glass making, furniture design, textile… Exposure to all these different media is very helpful in showing a space’s personality.

But as I mentioned, storytelling is not the easiest thing to do when trying to design a creative and special space. It takes time to compose, it takes money to build, and making design elements durable is also challenging yet very important. In the case of creating a special storytelling space, the ability of problem solving is extremely important. I gained this ability literally through sweat and tears. It was not easy at all at the beginning, but gradually, I learned to be open-minded and look for alternative solutions. I was very lucky that I got the opportunity to lead the construction administration of a 200-key, $50 million hotel renovation project, and that whole experience taught me a lot. I would need to work with different consultants to make sure our designs worked together, I also worked closely with the general contractor (almost phone calls every day!) to answer their questions and provide solutions, clients would also have different insights when come into construction so I also need to corporate their request in there. When drawings come to reality, there will always be all kinds of problems and misalignments, so as a designer, I need to know what can be compromised and look for alternatives for those that can not be in order to deliver a high-quality project.

I also see myself as a designer that can very much listen to others’ needs. I realized that, after school, designing is not only about myself but about using what I know to help others to make their dreams come true. There are conflicts for sure, that as a designer and as a client, we see things differently. But I tell myself that artists express their feelings, while designers help improve people’s lives. As a designer, I always picture myself in their shoes, I also study where their shoe storage can go (this is a bad joke). I study what they would need, offer them different options and let them choose. Being respectful of others’ needs makes one a good designer.

After all, I’m very grateful for where I am right now. I want to say that cliche saying- follow your heart and you will become the person you actually are.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
NYC has so many museums that one doesn’t want to miss! Among them, Whitney museum is probably my favorite, as they have a large collection of Modern art. They have permanent exhibitions as well as rotating exhibitions. Their permanent collection is quite awesome, including Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock and his wife Lee Krasner, Mark Rothko… I would also try to join a tour as it is usually quite vivid and easy to follow.

Coney Island is also one of my favorites. I feel disconnected from the world I live in every time I go there. I feel no extra words are needed for the beach and the amusement parks. I highly recommend going to see a freak show- a circus sideshow by the seashore, line up includes contortionists, sword swallowers, fire eaters and escape artists. The building itself is exquisite as well, it’s colorful and full of pops from the old time.

Go visit some speakeasy bars as well! PDT (please don’t tell) is a genre classic that first opened in 2007, Essex and beauty masks itself as a jewelry store, Peachy’s is a singular destination for a full, fun, photogenic night out…

Take some boat rides as well! There is $4 ride just for commute, also hundreds of dollars worth of fancy brunch/ dinner rides, as well as more exciting speedy rides… No matter which one you take, the amazing skyline that is made of historical buildings and new skyscrapers are there for you to see.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents are my rocks, they support me unconditionally. They may not fully understand what I am doing, but they respect and support it.

The studios I worked for have taught me much, especially Goodrich, where I spent over three years. They provided a bridge between the imaginary world and reality, so I could come over and make things come true.

I like to thank my friends who share the same dream I grew up with. We share ideas, dreams as well as troubles.

Last but not least, I want to dedicate my shoutout to my guinea pigs, who are always there sitting beside me, playing cute and waiting for my feed. I don’t have much worries when I turn around and take a look at them.

Website: https://issuu.com/chencong.zhang

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chencong-zhang-925724137/

Image Credits
– Womens Weekend Film Challenge – Mayfair House Hotel