A profession that makes designers look professional.

You may have a question mark on your face when you see FF&E. If you haven't heard of it, you may say that FF&E is "soft". If you don't belong to the first two, it's one of the 20% besides the 80% in the title. (The "80%" here is not an exact statistic, but a description of how few people know about FF&E.) No matter how much you know about FF&E,Through the following questions, we will have a certain understanding or re-examination of this major.
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Why we learn FF&E?

FF&E is the core of an interior design company's professionalism and internationalization. Many domestic design cafes have not heard of "FF&E", but they can still do a good job, because their personal comprehensive quality and ability to control the project are very high, and those internationally renowned firms can still ensure the design quality in the case of continuous expansion.It is precisely because there is a set of scientific and effective design system and methods in support.
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For individual designers, FF&E's design logic and expression are also a knife to enhance their professional image.

1. What is FF&E?

1.1 Definition of FF&E

​FF&E is the abbreviation of Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment, which is a specialty developed from hotel interior design. Those internationally renowned design firms adopt the design system of close cooperation between FF&E and space design.

For example, HBA, the originator of hotel design, Wilson Assiociates, Gensler, Yabu Pushelberg, Singapore SCDA, Jaya International, LTW Matin Brudnizki Design Studio in UK, CCD in China, etc.

​1.2 Design scope of FF&E

The design scope of FF&E includes not only Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment (generally including movable furniture, decorative lamps, curtains, carpets, artworks, greenery, sanitary ware, hardware, switch panels, etc.), but also hard decorative materials of indoor space. In short, the colors and materials that our eyes and bodies can touch,And everything that can be moved is covered by FF&E. These contents directly affect people's five senses and aesthetic taste.
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Because it is very close to what we often call "soft decoration", many people mistakenly believe that FF&E is soft decoration. "Soft decoration" does not include sanitary ware, hardware, switch panels, and hard decorative materials should be the responsibility of hard decoration designers or design companies.

1.3 Professional refinement and division of labor for interior design

As people's demand for quality of life is getting higher and higher, the demand for interior design is also getting higher and higher, not only to pursue function and comfort, but also to upgrade the demand for artistry and personality. Specialty refinement and cooperation among specialties are the key to control the overall effect.

Lighting design is mostly completed in cooperation with professional lighting design companies. In the design company adopting FFE design system, space designers and FFE designers work together to complete the design and implementation of a project.

1.4 Design process

According to the international convention, interior design is mainly divided into five stages:

Conceptual design-preliminary scheme design-detailed design-construction-installation and rectification

FF&E began to intervene and play a decisive role in the first stage of conceptual design. Under the leadership of the design creator, FF&E was responsible for the research and refinement of cultural clues, the screening of conceptual pictures and the arrangement of moodboard and copywriting, and the space design was responsible for the layout. Finally, a clear logic, visual art and outline of the future design effect of the whole space are completed.This design concept is the soul of the design and the guiding direction and strategy of the whole design. Once an agreement is reached with Party A, it will be carried out to the end. It is very important and also reflects the work of design creativity and design expression skills.

The quality of a design concept is not based on how many beautiful pictures there are. Compare the moodboard with the later renderings. If they are very consistent, it means that your mood board is very accurate.

The second stage of preliminary design, that is, the performance of the main space effect map, at this time, what the wall of heaven and earth looks like, what materials and furniture are used, what works of art are displayed, and what the proportion of their relationship with the space is, should be reflected in the effect map, and displayed together with the real material exhibition board.

The meaning of the renderings is to simulate the real scene of the design, so the more accurate the details of the design in the renderings, the more in-depth the thinking in the design. In the later stage of landing, there will be less risk and trouble. Once the renderings are confirmed, Party A will not have any major comments on the landing effect. Renderings are an important tool for reducing design risk.

However, the soft decoration design of the separation of soft and hard decoration is not expressed by the effect map, but by the picture splicing, which can only see the shape relationship of furniture but can not predict the proportion relationship of these contents in the space, and some furniture is beautiful in the puzzle and not necessarily suitable in the space.These risks are all controlled by soft-fitting designers in the process of landing, which is a bet on the experience and ability of designers for both Party a and design companies.

In the deepening design stage, the work of FFE can better reflect the professionalism and meticulousness of the design. All design contents should be described in detail and accurately in the material book. Holding a set of qualified material book, even if the designer himself does not control the main implementation according to the instructions, the effect will not be too bad. The production process of material book is the process of design deepening, and the design drawings of customized products.Material, what kind of wood, open paint or closed, how much light, what type of fabric to choose, friction coefficient, width, fire rating, carpet wool or silk, manual or woven, what process, the proportion of patterns, wool color number, in short, the problems involved in the production and landing process will be considered in depth and explained in detail at this stage.Of course, this will take some time to complete, so some projects that rush time are very difficult to do. However, if these days can make the effect better controlled, it may be a time-saving approach, which requires the agreement of Party a and the designer.
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The construction stage and the installation stage will not be described in detail. Follow up until the project is landed is the real completion of the task.

1.5 Essence of FF&E Design System

​On the surface, FF&E is a set of interior design professional detailed collaboration work mode. From the design method of FF&E, it is actually a design logic based on Research. Where is the source of design inspiration? It is generally believed in the West that there are two kinds: one is scientific research, through which some clues are found and then developed into design elements and forms of expression, and the other is fantasy.People often say that the genius designer and poetic design mostly come from the designer's personal imagination. FF&E itself is a part of interior design, and who will do it is not the key point, but how to do it. From the design concept to the final implementation, FF&E's design logic is very clear and rigorous. Even if a single person is working on a small project, the design process and methodology are universal.

2. What is the history of FF&E?

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2.1 Where did it come from?

Because FF&E is a major developed from the field of hotel design, there are no professional courses set up by colleges and universities at present, and it is difficult to find relevant books, so it is difficult to find out its exact starting time and founder, so we can only look for clues from the earliest hotel design companies.

HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates was the first hotel interior design firm established in the United States in 1965 and the first foreign design firm to enter the Chinese market. In 1978, HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates was invited by Fok Ying Tung to design the White Swan Hotel (Guangzhou), the first five-star hotel in China. It set up a branch in Hong Kong, China, and then developed into an international hotel design empire in London, England.It has developed 21 offices around the world, and is still one of the authorities in the hotel design industry.

Gensler, the second internationally renowned firm, was also founded in the United States in 1965, and Wilson Associates was founded in 1975. Although there is no way to prove that FFE came from HBA, as the authority of hotel design, HBA has adopted FFE design system for at least more than 30 years.It has been proved to be a mature, professional and efficient design system and a mode of division of labor and cooperation in the practice of many internationally renowned firms for many years. There are certain professional requirements for the ability of designers and design teams.

​Due to the lack of professional training, FFE designers generally learn and grow in practice within the company, and the comprehensive ability requirements of FFE designers are no less than those of ordinary interior designers or even more professional. Basically, we should understand materials, design furniture, carpet patterns, understand space, and be good at grasping the soul of design.It also requires strong logic and careful thinking. A mature FFE designer should have at least three to five years of experience. This is a very scarce talent in the field of hotel design.

2.2 Why?

Why is it subdivided from the field of luxury hotel design? Why is this segmentation and collaboration? This goes back to the background of the times.

In the mid and late 19th century, as the wealth of the middle class in industrial countries grew and they wanted to show their wealth and status through the decoration of their private homes, some large furniture manufacturers began to intervene in interior decoration and management, providing home decoration services, which was particularly prosperous from the mid-19th century until 1914. (The interior design profession was impacted after its emergence.)

In the 1950s and 1960s, furniture manufacturers began to promote their soft clothes to the public in order to expand their business and upgrade themselves to the category of art. In order to be able to sign an increasing number of large-scale projects, such as office buildings, hotels and public buildings, the business of furniture dealers has become more and more complex and large.Began to gather construction teams, craftsmen, fabric designers, artists, furniture designers, engineers and so on to join this huge business model.

Design empires such as HBA and Gensler have emerged in the context of the commercial boom that has led to the expansion of the hotel industry.

At the beginning of the 20th century, many publications began to criticize the monopoly of large retail companies on interior design by amateur consultants. Marry Haweis has written a number of articles ridiculing the idea that the aspirational middle class should let retailers dictate the layout and taste of their homes. She advocates that individuals should have a specific style.Customize the interior decoration according to the customer's personal needs and taste preferences.

At this time, customized design has been put forward. As a high-level reception space, all the design of luxury hotels needs to be considered and customized as a whole.

The movement of Decoration as an independent art industry independent of manufacturers and retailers led to the establishment of the British Decoration Association in 1899.

The Decoration of the House was an influential book on the emerging field of interior decoration, published in 1897 by Edith Wharton, a decorative designer at the time, and Ogden Codman, an architect. They criticized the fussy decoration of Victorian style at that time, heavy curtains, over-carved furniture, over-decoration but lost the function of space and rational use.

So a group of designers were influenced by the ideas advocated by this book, and the most important of them, Elsie De Wolfe, was regarded as the founder of the interior design profession. Her design went against the Victorian style, using light tones and comfortable furniture, which could be said to be famous overnight. She has compiled her views on interior design into the book "The House in Good Taste".

From the above historical background, we can see that the balance between decoration and function is the foundation of interior design. Luxury hotels, as high-level public places, involve many functions such as living, catering, leisure, business and so on. They are huge and complex, and the experience and feelings of guests are also the basis for the survival of a hotel. The division of labor and refinement of interior design is the guarantee for the smooth completion of the whole huge project.The content of FFE is just the part that directly affects the guests' sensory experience and cultural perception, so FF&E is very important in hotel interior design, and occupies a pivotal position from the beginning of the design. At the beginning of the conceptual design, FFE should be taken as the key point to combine with the functional planning of the space.
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Make a complete and systematic concept and strategy to guide the soul of the whole project. So that all professional departments can reach an agreement and work together in one direction to complete the landing of a hotel.
This is essentially different from the traditional separation of soft and hard fittings and the lag of soft fittings. Now many first-line design companies will strengthen the coordination of soft and hard decoration, and also realize the importance of soft decoration and design integrity. FF&E, on the other hand, has focused on the "soft" part from the very beginning.

2.3 FF&E Professional Development

With the business expansion and personnel diffusion of those internationally renowned firms, FF&E specialty is also implemented in the high-end interior design industry, not only serving hotel design, high-end residential, catering, Spa, clubs, boutiques and other spaces, especially those projects involving overall customization have high requirements for FF&E design. Professional FF&E designers will be the guarantee of design quality.Many designers from large companies also use FF&E design system to create their own studios. The professionalism of design is recognized and trusted by the owners, and the business continues to expand. However, when expanding the team, they will also encounter trouble. Because of the scarcity of professionals, the basic people they find have to be trained slowly and grow slowly in trial and error.
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In different companies, for different project types and staffing, FF&E is appropriately improved in the implementation, its nature remains unchanged, and the division of labor can be flexibly arranged.

3. What is the position of FF&E in interior design?

With the increasing demand for the quality of interior design details, the psychological needs of aesthetics, personality, identity and brand culture are becoming more and more important.

FF&E, as a part that directly affects human sensory experience, is becoming more and more important. It should be noted here that the importance of FF&E soft decoration does not mean that it takes much effort to decorate, and the space is full of design traces, but from the overall space atmosphere, the emotional interaction between people and space and space attributes, the design will be moving.

Sum Up

FF&E design category itself is a part of interior design, is throughout the design, FF&E professional refinement is the need for the development of interior design, FF&E design method is based on the western design system and design thinking, as for how to divide the work and how to cooperate, it is difficult to have a standard, it can be based on the staffing of the design company.Flexible allocation of various factors such as project type and complexity. However, as a comprehensive interior designer, it needs a certain ability to control the overall effect of the design. FF&E's professional design methods and design expression reflect a certain degree of professionalism, which can help designers communicate effectively with Party a and various departments, so as to promote the smooth development of the project.

With the increasingly fierce competition in the design industry, designers are trying to improve their competitiveness. Most designers are professional players, not geniuses. If you want to have a place in the design industry, you have to work hard, accumulate and grow constantly, and constantly update your knowledge to keep up with the pace of the times. As a profession, if Party a thinks you are very professional,That is the greatest recognition of you.

​As a leading hospitality FF&E supplier in China, Bestar Hotel Furniture Limited is a custom bespoke hotel furniture manufacturer for the hospitality industries offering a vast choice of FF&E package​ to suit all budgets.