From an algorithm to a seat, and then from an entity to a digital asset. From virtual to physical and then to virtual, it seems like returning to the original point, but in fact, Zhang Zhoujie has explored a new paradigm belonging to digital furniture, solving the dilemma of digital assets - the problem of value allocation between physical and virtual. The iteration of 15 chairs condensed Zhang Zhoujie's twelve years of exploration, and the entire process was presented at the Spring of Design exhibition site.

As the world's first design award selected by professional media and one of the most influential design awards, each country's list selected by EDIDA Design Awards will focus on its own design power.

“Zhang Zhoujie, pioneer practitioner and digital artist of Chinese digital furniture design. His works are characterized by distinct independence, experimentation and futility, exploring the evolution and manufacture of digital forms.”

On December 17, 2022, Zhang Zhoujie was invited by the Design Innovation Institute Shanghai (DIIS) to create a new large-scale dynamic digital visual device called "DS # Transition". With the completion of the renovation project of the original Henry Lester Institute of Technology and the opening of the new research institute, the digital device with a height of about 6 meters flickers between the historical building and the Magnolia Plaza nearly a hundred years ago as a new landmark, achieving the continuous ups and downs of yesterday's history and today's and future centuries.

MeshRare, an experimental project mainly created by Zhang Zhoujie, will be presented at the 9th Shanghai West Bank Art and Design Expo, the 10th ART021 Shanghai 21st Contemporary Art Expo, Cheng · Art Museum's "Digital Existentialism 2022" and COLLEKT Art&Design Fair in November 2022. During the exhibition, four new series of digital chairs, DN Night, AC Illusion, OD Roaming and AP Prototype, will be displayed respectively.

This is the first important offline event since the brand launched its online after-sales service on November 6th, showcasing the physical products, digital production processes, and co-creation recruitment plan of computing power empowerment to the public in the context of web3.0.

On November 6, 2022, with the debut of the world-famous media "Wallpaper *", the experimental project "MeshRare", which was mainly created by independent designer and digital artist Zhang Zhoujie, was officially launched, and the limited-edition digital artist tools of this project were opened to the public for the first time.

MeshRare is an experimental project developed from EndlessForm in the context of Web 3.0, where the form and the matter of the chairs adapt, mutate, or undergo natural selection in an endlessly generated cluster. MeshRare emphasizes the spreading of technical individuals among the masses, where objects gain individuality and distinct characteristics in the process of self-expression. Based on the bio-derivative cycle of each chair, it pursues the vitality of inherent uniqueness in an associated milieu.

This is an endless movement about chairs, and a belief in computational power. MeshRare breaks the boundaries between reality and imagination, bridging the gap between the unreal and the real through the observation, research, and application of digital technology.

Fortune's list of China's best designs in 2022 recognizes outstanding designs that address a complex problem, have business prospects, or have a lasting impact on social development based on real human needs.

“Endless digital furniture customized and manufactured according to individual needs, from industrial mass manufacturing to digital precision creation, not only to show personal taste, but also to avoid waste of resources.

The brand's signature Sensor Chair is equipped with 66 sensors that read body posture curves and, based on the data, instantly generate a wealth of seat shapes.”

Since the completion of Zhang Zhoujie's first "Mobius" series of works, the highly precise craftsmanship and smooth curvature based on digital technology have become one of his important representatives of giant digital devices. Today, "Mobius 5.0" was completed in Wujiang, Suzhou, becoming the most eye-catching and iconic work of Suzhou Bay in Wujiang. It is also another breakthrough for artists in terms of form, core, and technology.

Adhering to IDEAT's philosophy of "the essence of contemporary life". Ever since its inception, the Idealist Future Awards have been designed to inspire architecture, design, technology, trends, artistic and cultural projects and new inspirations for life.

"Zhang Zhoujie as the founder of Aiiiiii Art Center, which is the first domestic art organization to actively support the promotion and incubation of AI-related works at home and abroad. In 2022 with a number of artists, scientists and research institutions, he brought artificial intelligence, a new field of breakthrough."

In the work "Hennessy Interstellar Express" created by Zhang Zhoujie, a not distant future is envisioned: in 2105, humans became a trans planetary species, and Earth was no longer the only planet to inhabit. People in the interstellar journey leap over the magnificent cosmic planets in front of them, but there are also day and night changes that seem eternal and unchanging. Humans still need to relax and celebrate, and the trajectory of social operation allows consumption and entertainment to coexist, while alcohol continues to enjoy the excitement of life.

This striking seven menter high sculpture is digitally created from the iconic movement of the gallop, with a geometric cut-out appearance of the 'horse' and programmed lighting to create the work's shifting light and shadow.

 “Joywalk” is the first public project work of Zhang Zhoujie's Digital Laboratory that does not insert into the space environment in the form of public sculpture, or as a perception and space experience device presented in the form of “quasi-architectural installation”.

This is the largest piece of work ever created in the laboratory, a total of 1920 sheets of 'curved stainless steel'. The radians and curves are made by devlopable surface' technology combined with computer modelling language.

Hurun Report believes that design is life,Which changes society and creates the future. Zhang Zhoujie's digital art design possesses a keen sense of capturing the general environment and a trend of new design, which precisely demonstrates the power of contemporary Chinese design elites and the infinite potential and future possibilities of Chinese design globally.

With nearly a decade of experience and achievements in digital creation, Zhang Zhoujie brings concepts to reality,discovering the design power of computers and making creative changes to production techniques. Through digital technology and computer algorithms, he explores business models and supply systems that belong to a digital brand by working in both the art and design fields.

The Ten Outstanding Young Designers of China aims to” support the growth of design talent and promote the development of the design industry”. Zhang Zhoujie's achievements and contributions in the field of digital design are supported and recognised by society as an outstanding young innovator in Chinese design.The development of the digital design industry is witnessing unprecedented opportunities.

As the main initiator of Aiiiii Art Center.Zhang Zhoujie launched this earliest AI-focused art institution in China after two years of preparation, to promote the development and advancement of AI art and explore the unknown boundaries and possibilities of AI creativity.

To learn more, please click on the link: http://www.aiiiii.com

Officially moved into the Heating Station Digital Art Community in September this year, with a venue area of 1600 square meters. Zhang Zhoujie Digital Lab and Endless Form are set up in a separate glass building,with different working divisions according to different floors. where digital art is integrated from design to production.

Address: No. 800 Chunxi Road, Minhang District, Shanghai, China

The” convivial - Art and Design in the Digital Age', opened at Today Art Museum, aiming to explore the relationship between art, design and life in the context of the digital age,” for Zhang Zhoujie and various artists.

Zhang Zhoujie's Digital Lab was invited by NIKE to create a digital aesthetic sculpture for athlete Su Bingtian as a tribute to his outstanding performance and sportsmanship at the Tokyo Olympics. Inspired by Su's post-race shouting pose, Zhang Zhoujie's digital creation captures the moment when the athlete breaks through the limits of his body, recreating the full emotion and tenacity of his athletic spirit.

The most important attribute of this digital installation is that it acts as a window into the 'beauty of algorithm This work is the embodiment of a set of algorithms, with sensors built into the work reading data from the external environment and 'visualising' this information to produce a giant installation of dynamic paintings.

As one of the new generation of pioneering Chinese digital artists, Zhang Zhoujie builds bridges between modern industry and traditional craftsmanship. At a time when intelligent technology is bound to rewrite the world of the future, art and aesthetics from intelligence have extereme potential, and this sculpture is an attempt to discover the pulse of Eastern culture with new technology.

Through this work, artist Zhang Zhoujie hopes to evoke a sense of nature, make the viewer rethink the relationship between human and nature, and evoke memories of cranes. This wing-shaped mechanical interactive sculpture has been in progress for over two years. Based on its local nature, Zhang Zhoujie has initiated a new form of art experimentation and interaction with modern technology by fully integrating the form and meaning of the crane with the mechanical principles of the installation. The artist's poetic perception and discovery of nature is embodied in the work through a computer algorithm, a medium that represents technology and the future.
 

Using digital design to create physical art when the world is your muse, inspiration can strike at any moment. Using digital design tools, Zhang Zhoujie’s computer is not just a tool, but a collaborator. Working in an environment fueled by curiosity and exploration, Zhang creates art on screen before translating it into a physical medium. And the results are astounding.

The exhibition focuses on a series of pioneering conceptualisations by the independent designer and digital artist Zhang Zhoujie, exploring the purely logical thinking of artificial intelligence design and computers. The seventeen works on display are drawn from two landmark series in the artist's decade-long digital design journey: Triangulation Series and Minimal Logic.

As a pioneering furniture brand with a new definition of the relationship between furniture and the user, Endless Form® has always been dedicated to making humans and computers work together, eliminating the intervention of designers and making the user the real decision-maker of the furniture.

Digital Lab was invited by ARTech to create an art installation for the W Hotel, Bund, Shanghai. Zhang Zhoujie recreated the typical logo of the "W", inspired by the art of origami, to create a light installation with a special "multi-dimensional" structure.

Zhang Zhoujie, brings his new works with the attribute of "table" after exhibiting a series of high-profile public sculptures, dynamic art devices, seats, fruit plates, and other functional artworks. Based on his rich experience in digital design, Zhang sums up the common forms of existing tables, and finally summarised in four kinds of ‘logic’ of table leg structures that can meet users’ needs and perform well after the manufacturing process, and they are: symmetry, column, four feet structure and symmetrical column. "Logic" is the core of digital design as well as the clue of computer calculation, as faith guides people's actions. In this series, Zhang concluded a new standard of digital design: logic should have "applicability", for there can be countless kinds of logic, but how to apply them to the real world is the real challenge. Among all the works of this solo exhibition, the largest table --“OBJECT #MT-V1”, is composed of 10 independent tables. A single table can be used by one to four people, but several or all tables can be put together to accommodate a bigger group. The flow of digital numbers solidifies in the metal table, which contributes to a more flexible communication space nowadays.

Zhang Zhoujie was invited by DESIGNew and collaborated with Gu Jia Furniture to create a customized digital concept furniture "Mesh Sofa # 01" using the "sofa" as the prototype for the first time. He completed the process from conceptual design to experimental testing and made his debut at the furniture exhibition "DESIGNew [Extreme]". This is another groundbreaking attempt based on design and living in the digital concept furniture created by Zhang Zhoujie.

Since 2018, Zhang Zhoujie has made many groundbreaking attempts from "Sensor Chair" to digital design seats, and his achievements have received a lot of attention in exhibitions such as Design Miami/Basel and Design Shanghai (2018/2019).

Zhang Zhoujie was invited by Intel to participate in the launch event "Creative Design PC, Unleash a Thousand Talents" in Beijing. He shared his latest art and design projects.

Based on the research of Mesh 2016 and Mesh 2017, the Lab created a 5-meter long sculpture with more than one thousands triangulations. The running stream floating in the air, with the spot lights, it sparkles innumerable reflections on the celling, creates a breathtaking atmosphere.

Digital Ring, a computer generated circle, made from more than 800 mirror polished stainless steel triangulations, together with an ancient stone for the columns of traditional Chinese architecture style, creates a comparison of East and West, ancient and modern, human and computer.

The "Mobius 2.0" took three months to produce and installed, and it presents a complex, multi-bar relationship kink structure that is different to version 1.0. With so many kinks in the structure of version 2.0, the biggest technical difficulty was how to design the pattern of each twist, considering that it needs strong technical support and expertise.

Zhang Zhoujie was invited to create a sword graphic for WUJI collection for Adidas in December 2017, while the studio was busy preparing “Minimal Logic” Solo Exhibition in Beijing White Box Art Centre. Zhoujie used the same programme to generate some sword graphics, Adidas team added Chinese ink painting elements co-creating the final image, and launched in 2019.

“Manifesto Cabinet” (2019), a 16-feet interactive sound and visual display installation, at the entrance of Design Shanghai exhibition hall.  As a pioneering digital artist, Zhoujie has been exploring ways humans can interact with computer. The Manifesto Cabinet is programmed (or say, humanize) to have its own characters and certain way of digesting information. Audience can send their thoughts in text message to Manifesto Cabinet via scanning QR code, the Cabinet will process the information and read it out in its own tone.

“A digitalized life attitude”, as Zhang Zhoujie calls, remains the center of his design concept. Products launched Design Shanghai 2019 include 1 barstool, 2 new chairs and 1 table from the MC collection. He further explores the structure constructed from lines and surfaces, “optimize the structure, simplify the style, and eventually only the frame or even just a single line”, says Zhoujie.

This exhibition offers the experience of both familiar and unknown to the audience, a constant iteration through real and virtual as found in "Drama Theory".  The light, the back of the chair, a shadow cast by the monolith – the dark side of reality in constant motion made visible. Through this visualization, this exhibition aids the audience to mentally reconstruct processes of computation and formation of matter. It is the exhibition that is both a result and an origin of reverse thinking. What Zhang offers to the audience are materials, space, aesthetics, and concepts that take shape of man-made artifacts. （Selected from   Preface written by Li Zhenhua)

Zhang Zhoujie was invited as keynote speaker at TEDxNingbo, shared his latest art and design projects.

Zhang Zhoujie was invited by Modern Media, the curator of Lost & Found Museum, to create an installation for Shanghai Public Security Bureau Traffic Police Brigade. The pop-up museum promises to give interactive experiences that will ensure audience not dare to "drink and drive”. The installation is 60-meter long, made of mirror polished stainless steel, and with lights and mirrors, the reflects and shadows indicate tyre tracks. The golden items implies the occupations you may lost after DUI.

Zhang Zhoujie was invited as guest speaker by British Council at Study UK, Discover you of Best of British exhibition. Zhoujie shared his experience of studying in Central Saint Martins, during his mater studies that he found his design philosophy and personal direction, and how he blends Chinese traditional art perspectives, western design methodology, digital engineering and handmade craftsmanship into a single project. 

Zhang Zhoujie was invited by PechaKucha during Beijing Design Week as keynote speaker, talked about “ the power of computer creativity “.

Whitebox Art Center is pleased to announce the Whitebox Young Artists Project curated by acclaimed designer Song Tao, “Minimal Logic – Zhang Zhoujie Solo Exhibition”. This exhibition presents Zhang Zhoujie’s new explorations in the field of digital and media art. Having accumulated experiences over the last four to five years, artist Zhang Zhoujietakes the point and line from computer technology as his medium, to trace the transformations of a point in a sphere, cube and space. Starting with the work “Status#PIC1” series, to the installation, “Status#PIS-S” at the main lobby of the Whitebox Art Center, this work derived from “Status#PIS3-3” is not difficult for the viewers to conceive the logical trajectory Zhang Zhoujie has designed, that those seemingly clean and unrelated points, lines, cubes conjure into myriads of shapes and forms, and their inseparable relationships herald the possibility and continuity in the development of things. Considering the theme of the exhibition, “Minimal Logic”, is also the artist’s way of appropriating the “point” to convey a logical relationship to a digital dimension.

What if a digital sculpture came to us not in the future but now ？What if an interactive installation was displayed, not in the virtual, but reality? Unique digital fabrication techniques enable the creation of incredibly precise curvatures and surface angles. 3500 independently programmable LEDs each with 100,000 data channels empowers the sculpture to have innumerable lighting effects. Using sound data sensors, it interacts with the environment. The sound of raining, the sound of traffic, the sound of music.  It initiates a new era of sculpture. This is a digital sculpture

09 June, 2018, Basel, Switzerland - For Design Miami/ Basel 2018 Design at Large, Gallery ALL  presents Formation in Action: The Sensor Chair and Design Auto-Genesis, by Zhang Zhoujie Digital Lab. It is the first ever presentation of Zhang Zhoujie Digital Lab’s complete Endless Form project in its entirety, featuring fifty variations of its chair designs, together with the tactile-sensitive Sensor Chair and live visualizations of the self-generating chair designs as they are in formation via user interaction. The exhibition will be on view from 11 May - 17 May, 2018 at Hall 1 Süd of the Messe Basel.

This pioneering project incorporates artificial intelligence into the design process. How can design break the limitations of culture - the subjective experiences of the designer and the reactions of different people - to be as diverse as nature? How will artificial intelligence change our lives in future? Endless Form provides an answer to these questions. For more than eight years the Zhang Zhoujie Digital Lab has been exploring how AI can map the real world and how to create individualized furniture based on its interactions with humans. This led to the development of the Sensor Chair, a unique piece of custom equipment which collects individual data for each person who sits on the chair. Zhang then developed software to use those data points to generate chairs in various forms that uniquely fit an individual’s body. Each chair is thus the result of collaboration between people and computers. According to Zhang, “Human emotions, instincts, and needs are complementary to artificial intelligence.”

At first glance, these chairs look like they came from another world, with their futuristic perspectives and surprising angles. Though each is unique, as if a freely grown object, all are constructed of the same material and structural logic to create a unified whole. Fifty individual chairs and the hardware sensor chair, which visitors can interact with, are included in the exhibition.

Formation in Action: The Sensor Chair and Design Auto-Genesis
Gallery ALL presents Zhang Zhoujie Digital Lab
Design at Large, Design Miami/ Basel 2018

In the entrance of the reception hall, guests are welcomed by a lyrical light display. Created by Zhang Zhoujie Digital Lab, this LED light instillation showcases the the synthesis of digital control and user interaction. The four instillations flow unpredictably, occasionally locking into a synchronised line, or suddenly turning away from each other like the hands of a clock. As visitors pass by, the instillation springs to life, enlivening the greenery along the wall with surprising and rhythmic movements. This work infuses the beauty of the organic and digital technology.

Sprouting out from the garden pond, a LED light instillation shimmers and sways with life like reeds against the wind. This is also created by Zhang Zhoujie Digital lab, and evokes a harmonious scene between new technology and nature. This instillation is composed with numerous luminous strips emerging from the water. The movements which mimic the gentle swaying of reeds in a river are created by internal motors, allowing rhythmic motions, undulating with light and shadows. The animated nature of the instillation suggests the poetic and romantic affect of new technology.

2050 conference, hosted by Hangzhou Yunqi Science and Technology Innovation Foundation, brings the world’s youths together for science and technology.

Zhang Zhoujie was invited as guest speaker at Design Matters, a discussion event which focuses on designs and innovations, shared his understanding that objects in the digital world can grow and morph much like things found in nature, and he is dedicated to discovering and exploring the methods within these transformations. His work focuses on logic, variety, and unpredictability, which is based on his understanding of nature. “It’s not about designing something,” he says. “It’s about finding something.”

The World Innovation & Entrepreneurship EXPO (WIEE) is founded on the concept of socialism with Chinese characteristics. With the support from the Ministry of Science and Technology and Shanghai Municipal Government, and within the framework of Pujiang Innovation Forum, Tongji University has initiated, and will host, WIEE to further actualize the national strategies of promoting the development by innovation, revive the country by science and education, and strengthen the country by talents, accelerate the municipal construction of a globally influencing science and innovation center, promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievement, build a cooperation platform, transform the economic society, and reform the systems and mechanisms in Shanghai. Zhang Zhoujie, as invited speaker guest, shared his art/design philosophy.

For Design Shanghai 2018, Zhang Zhoujie Digital Lab, a pioneering digital art studio, will present a new design brand Endless Form^®, presenting a series of revolutionary and disruptive digital furniture products. The concept of Endless Form also provides the theme of the exhibition, together with eye-catching wall installations, desks, tables, coffee tables, and other furniture. Each piece of furniture is unique and has a futuristic perspective – the designer is not a person, but rather a computer.

Mesh 2017 is an extension of the research carried out in 2016. Compared with the previous moderate state, this new collection explores the difference of the intersection of two water ripples, creating a dynamic relationship, presenting an intense and dramatic change in height, which requires much more detailed fabrication. Looking down the matte stainless steel installation, two triangle Mesh create an illusion of a forming square, that overall looks like the texture of geomorphy, which is another kind of view of geometry.

From ripples to waves, Mesh digital language is good at simulating the state of a stream, and can present the vivid flow of waves. The focus of this research is on the flow of water between two points. The computer automatically generates various points of high and low, and finally creates a vivid water fall installation, hanging in space, providing different angles, allowing the viewer to feel the complicated three dimensional details formed from Mesh.

Computers have begun to infiltrate the formation of all things. Zhang Zhoujie Digital Lab focuses on “Mesh”, a primary graphic language, exploring the various transformation processes of dot, line, and surface. This exhibition extracts and purifies the various states of Mesh into a series of installations and functional objects, revealing the possibilities of this digital language, from virtual to reality.

Zhoujie Zhang Digital Lab and architect Kunkun Chen collaboratively conceived a digitally simulated river installation for the Yangchenghu Land Art Installation Festival, which opened in September of 2016. The piece incorporated landscape metrics to create a waterway installation that blends in flawlessly with the natural environment.

With the coming 2016 Europe Cup, Zhoujie Zhang Digital Lab was invited by Nikelab x 158 to create a radius structure digital football goal, modeled after the standard five-a-side football goal.

May, 2016, Zhoujie Zhang Digital Lab collaborated with Yihaus and The Unreasonable, part of international creative agency Anomaly, to exhibit the conceptualization to realization of digital design products.

At Design Shanghai, which opened in March, 2016, Zhoujie Zhang and Gallery ALL together exhibited a new collection titled, “Mesh Series.” Five brand new pieces and two audio interactive multimedia pieces were exhibited.

At Shanghai West Bund Art and Design Biennial in 2016, Zhoujie Zhang Digital Lab presented the Digital Vessel collection based on the “Digital Factory 1.0” theme, and integrated an interactive experience for users to custom digital design fruit plates.

During the 2015 Beijing Design Week, Zhoujie Zhang Digital Lab presented Digital X hand-drawn stainless steel collection in the “INDIGO – Designed to Delight” exhibition. Renowned curator Ben Hughes curated the exhibition.

‘Two curves in Vibration’ debuted in “INDIGO – Designed to Delight” exhibition at the 2015 Beijing Design Week. The installation, created in acrylics, is both futuristic and soft, giving the attendees a brand new experience with digital sculptures.

Zhoujie Zhang’s brass collection collaborated with Gallery ALL debuted at Design Miami/Basel in June, 2015.

Zhoujie Zhang was named one of Maison & Objet’s “Rising ASIA Talents” late 2014, and subsequently presented his Triangulation collection at M&O in Singapore, March, 2015.

Zhoujie Zhang Digital Lab created a digital sculptural installation for real estate developer Vanke at Vanke’s Hongqiao Center. The parabola symbolizes the location’s importance as a center and hub.

Zhoujie Zhang digitally scanned an angel figure created by artist Zhang Cong and transformed it into a metallic, laser-cut angel sculpture that stands at 10 meters tall.

May, 2014, Gallery ALL exhibited Zhoujie Zhang Digital Lab’s famous collection – Triangulation, the stainless steel, digitally designed furniture collection. The exhibition also featured brass renditions of the design for the first time.

Zhoujie Zhang Digital Lab was commissioned to create two 6-7 meter tall Digital Tree sculptures in Shanghai’s famed Korea town, known for its cuisine and retail offerings. The sculptures explored entirely new possibilities the incorporation of digitally created landscaping.

After 3 years of development, ‘Digital Tornado’ OBJECT # SQN7-T will finally be launched. It originated from a design experiment in 2010.
Click here for more information.

How do digital outputs link to daily life? This is the first try of consumer-facing digital products. The integration of digital output and traditional craftsmanship has given the product new meanings which differentiate it from other industrial products.
Click here for more information.

Chair #6141 is only one in thousands of variations; it intrinsically shares the same DNA with all the pieces. The series is an evolution of the new digital crafting age.

'I think we are in digital age already, and we are coming to the crest of digital objects. I believe that objects in digital world will grow as nature does, in an organic way, but we just need to discover why and how that happens.' said Zhoujie.

At Zhoujie's very first solo exhibition of his entire collection, about ten thousand visitors came to the exhibition in one night.

First time to exhibit Zhoujie’s whole collections and about ten thousand visitors came to the exhibition in one night.

New work launched in Design of Designers, Shanghai, 2012.
Click here for more information.

Zhoujie was highly recommended by the committee as an emerging designer. He was featured as the cover story not the annual catalogue to represent new Chinese contemporary design.

Stand A44, SaloneSatellite 2012, Milan.

On D3 Design Talents Show, Cologne, Germany.

The first successful unveiling of Digital Lab was at 100% Design London.

After numerous chairs have been made, new objects are still being developed.

Many thanks to my fellow CSM Graduate, Andrew Furner, for flying to Shanghai for further project development.

After many rounds of testing and prototypes, Object #SQN1-F2A became first workable model and is collected by a noted Chinese Architect.

First prototype was released at the MA Industrial Design degree show at Central Saint Martins, 2010.