China Youth Daily and China Youth Network reporter Jiang Xiaobin.
In October 2023, a frog spoon with a turquoise body, wide eyes, and a big mouth became popular on the Internet. In particular, the "contrasting" collocation of the frog spoon and red bean porridge has been widely circulated on social platforms. Young people were poked by its "ugly cuteness", and they discussed and placed orders.
Stretching out a "My Emperor's Umbrella", the golden modern umbrella was originally unremarkable, but when a "crown" was added to the top of the umbrella, and a bead curtain was surrounded by the umbrella, some netizens left a message saying that a person can also walk out of the pomp of an honor guard.
There are also bouquets of steel wool balls, mallard head covers, frog ...... that "sell cubs".These "ugly things", which are not quite the same as conventional aesthetics, are being sought after by young people. The "** Ugly Things Competition", which can be submitted by any netizen to participate in the competition, has been held for 4 sessions, and the Douban "Ugly Things Protection Association" group has 24With 50,000 members, Xiaohongshu has more than 60 million views on the topics ......of "Ugly Things" and "Ugly Things Competition" alone
So the question is, are "ugly things" really ugly?What do young people want to express when they are keen to share "ugly things"?
This ** film is provided by the interviewee except for the signature.
The frog spoon turned out to be a "realistic" work.
Chen Ergou, the author of the frog spoon, is a native of Yichun, Jiangxi, 4 months away from the post-00s, majoring in ceramic production in college, and came to Jingdezhen, the porcelain capital of China, to become a "Jingpiao" after graduation. His life plan was originally to be a "blogger with personality and who can make porcelain".
When he first arrived in Jingdezhen, Chen Ergou did "market research" and found that in addition to daily-use porcelain, all kinds of cute porcelain gadgets in the local area accounted for about 95%, "When I realized that the 'cute market' seemed to be a bit 'roll', I decided to make some personalized porcelain that young people like."
At the beginning, Chen Ergou made some series of porcelain with childhood memories of the post-95s, such as the zodiac charms in the cartoon "The Adventures of Jackie Chan". It's just that there are a little "applauded or not", there are a lot of likes, and the sales are as mediocre as Chen Ergou's pocket.
In March 2022, Chen Ergou bought some cheap clay with his modest savings and made some ornaments of small frogs, intending to try his luck again, but he didn't expect it to be sold out on the same day. In addition to the surprise, the creative inspiration of "frog" has since become his main theme. Now, in Chen Ergou's ** store, all kinds of goods such as kettles, cups, and tea trays use frogs as the main elements.
Many people evaluate it as "ugly and cute" and looks more "abstract", but Chen Ergou revealed that this is actually a "realistic" work. "When I was creating, I searched the Internet for a real ** of a frog jumping up and opening its mouth to hunt, and I felt very vigorous, so I made the first frog spoon. ”
If the frog series is Chen Ergou's spiritual light, "My Emperor's Umbrella" is the collective wisdom.
Feilian Umbrella Factory is an old umbrella factory in Shaoxing, Zhejiang. Suzhou and Hangzhou are "abundant" in umbrellas, such as the famous "Paradise". In the fierce market competition, the post-85 boss and a group of post-90s employees of Feilian Umbrella Factory, the old factory, began to think about how to "surf" at the speed of the post-00s. Let netizens see that what they are working hard is the "umbrella of my emperor".
Zhang Jianbin, an employee of Feilian Umbrella Factory, recalled: "What we sell in our store is usually 'serious' umbrellas. Once a college student buyer commented that he needed a prop to play an emperor in a campus play. As a result, the team of Feilian Umbrella Factory, which has a super fast "Internet speed", began to hold a meeting to study.
The pomp and circumstance of the ancient emperor's parade, the Huangluo umbrella, the honor guard fan, and the luxurious bead chain ......Can this "honor" be replaced on the umbrella?So, they gathered gold, crowns, bead chains and other elements into the daily parasol, and spent half a month to create this "my emperor's umbrella".
"Ugly things" gave the author the confidence to not forget his original intention.
In German, "aesthetics" means "sensibility", every feeling is equal, and ugliness deserves to be taken as seriously as beauty. The philosopher Russell said that heterogeneity is the source of happiness. The diverse and individual tastes of young people have brought richer aesthetic experience and enlightenment to the world.
Chen Wu, a teacher at the Institute of Development and Educational Psychology at Wuhan University, once told reporters that "'beauty and ugliness' is a concept, not a complete opposite." A thing is often a combination of beauty and ugliness, and everyone's aesthetic judgment depends on which side they see, which is related to various factors such as personal experience, age differences, and cultural differences. Even if something is ugly, if it has characteristics such as funny and cute, it will still be popular with the public.
As soon as it was launched, it exploded, and I knew that this was a drama among young people. A unique and practical design that is more appealing than a cookie-cutter beauty. Zhang Jianbin introduced that the main people who buy this umbrella now are young people, basically 15-30 years old, used for comic exhibitions, stage plays, performances, and even those who buy it to confess, "I guess that scene should be very popular."
After "My Emperor's Umbrella" came out of the circle, the sales of other umbrellas in the ** of Feilian Umbrella Factory also slowly increased. Consumers have found that this old umbrella factory not only knows how to play, but also has guaranteed quality, traffic brings attention, and quality brings repeat customers. The Feilian umbrella factory, which tasted the sweetness, has successively launched fun and easy-to-use life umbrellas such as "double umbrella" and "cabbage umbrella".
The young man who followed the frog spoon radiated his love to other frog porcelain in Chen Ergou's shop. Genuine orders have greatly increased his income, and "it was like a dream to suddenly be loved by so many people."
The frog series is on fire, and Chen Ergou has the confidence to realize his dreams. He designs, produces, operates the store, and sets up a studio by himself, "Hand-made is not industrialized mass production, and to ensure quality, it must be done one by one, not large-scale production." For example, 100 frog spoons can be fired in one kiln, and the yield is about 80%." It's just that the original "blogger" plan has been upgraded to be a real "brand manager".
"Ugly things" are not only spontaneously designed by independent authors and manufacturers, but even the "tall" categories in the impression of museum culture and creativity have also "come down". The most "out of the circle" is the "copper galloping horse" plush toy of the Gansu Provincial Museum. This doll in the shape of the treasure of the museum, the "copper galloping horse", stares at it with wide eyes and bared teeth and laughs. According to ** reports, it has been on the shelves for more than a year and 100,000 pieces have been sold.
The pursuit of freedom, the tolerance of aesthetics.
Everyone has a side that is not beautiful enough, so these classic images, from Zhu Bajie to SpongeBob SquarePants, are not so much "ugly things" as more amiable things. Just like the flower sweater knitted by my mother when I was a child, it may not be very good-looking, but it must be extremely kind and warm to you and me. The nursery rhyme poet Mirei Kaneko wrote a beautiful passage: "I really want to like it, this and that." For example, green onions, tomatoes, and fish, I want to like them all the same. Because all the dishes at home are made by my mother......”
Many "ugly things" have their own sense of humor and a higher "price-to-price ratio" to help young people combat the alienation and burnout caused by the stress of life. Some netizens said: "Spend a little money to buy an ugly thing, and look at it, you can really be happy for a long time." Zhang Jianbin was deeply impressed by the mallard fish hood, he felt that it was similar to "My Emperor's Umbrella", reflecting the mentality of young people pursuing happiness, "What is ugly, what is beautiful, may not be conclusive, but the design that brings joy to people must be good design."
The 2024 4th ** Ugly Things Competition will be launched on December 11, 2023, and will be jointly held with social platforms where young people gather, such as Xiaohongshu and Douban's "Ugly Things Protection Association" group. Any netizen can bring his own "ugly things" at the bottom of the box to participate, and some netizens said, "I have been saving pictures in my favorites for more than half a year, and it's finally time to prove my strength."
In the previous collection, many award-winning works left a deep impression: the mallard head cover became the equipment for young people to "let themselves fly" overnight;The "brain flower hat" mentioned by actor Wu Lei on a variety show was jokingly called "evidence of going out with brains" by netizens;Little frog dolls are now appearing on the streets and alleys of the country, and the little frog balloons that "sell cubs" have become a popular toy ......
Chen Ergou's frog spoon was selected for this year's Ugly Things Competition. "Although everyone ridiculed this spoon for being ugly, but so many people placed orders, I think it is precisely because everyone has discovered the 'cuteness' under its 'ugliness'. Chen Ergou said, "The concept of the Ugly Things Contest is 'to pay tribute to the truth, dare to offend, and not follow the crowd design', and I am indeed both real and not follow the crowd!."”
Douban's "Ugly Things Protection Association" group has a slogan - to discover beauty that is confined to its inherent form. Uniform delicacy and perfection are no longer the only aesthetic standards, and the seemingly rough and ugly "ugly things" actually reflect young people's pursuit of relaxation and freedom, as well as their confidence and tolerance in aesthetics. The opportunity for trial and error is biased in favor of young people, and the basic logic of beauty is always vigorous vitality.
*: China Youth Daily client.