I am Qijun Nie (Quentin), the founder and lead designer of Functional Form Block Allies (FFBA), a design consultancy firm offering a wide range of product design solutions. I co-founded FFBA with Mr. Menghai Xia, also known as Luke, an exceptional designer and FFBA’s lead design partner.

The firm specializes in industrial design, interactive design, and service design, and even extends its expertise to fashion design, focusing primarily on accessories. FFBA serves as a comprehensive solution provider across diverse industries, including medical devices, consumer products, and business solutions.

My work reflects a user-centered philosophy, blending functionality with form to address real-world needs. As a former fashion house owner, I bring a unique perspective to design practice, balancing academic rigor and expertise. This year, FFBA has won several prestigious design awards, further demonstrating its commitment to meaningful, innovative design. Connect with me on LinkedIn to explore my journey.

Design has never been about just making beautiful things to me, and I've been fascinated by the innovations behind the first iPhone since I was a kid. Being curious about everything and questioning everything is probably the right mindset for a designer, which is why I chose to become one.

I am the founder and lead designer of Functional Form Block Allies (FFBA), a design consultancy firm co-founded with my amazing design partner, Mr. Menghai Xia, also known as Luke. FFBA provides a wide range of design solutions, including industrial design, interactive design, service design, and fashion design, focusing on accessories.

Our expertise spans industries such as medical devices, consumer products, and business solutions, allowing us to address diverse client needs.

At FFBA, my role involves leading projects and ensuring that our designs align with our core philosophy of blending functionality with form to create thoughtful and impactful solutions. As a team, we aim to produce designs that respect and enhance human experiences, staying true to our user-centered and systematic approach.

Our work has been recognized globally, and this year, we were honored with multiple prestigious design awards, reflecting the value and innovation we bring to the industry.

Beyond delivering design solutions, FFBA also strives to nurture the next generation of designers. Through educational initiatives, we connect students and young professionals with real-world industry insights, helping them understand processes and challenges while encouraging fresh perspectives that inspire new ways of thinking.

This dual focus on professional work and education makes FFBA not just a design consultancy but also a collaborative platform for creativity, innovation, and growth.

To me, design is the bridge between creativity and functionality, where ideas are transformed into meaningful solutions that enhance people’s lives. It’s not just about aesthetics or form; it’s about understanding human needs, challenging constraints, and creating experiences that resonate deeply. In essence, design is about empathy, innovation, and the pursuit of harmony between people, products, and the environments we inhabit.

I’m particularly drawn to experience-driven design that focuses on seamless, end-to-end solutions for users. I love how service design maps out complex systems, breaks down pain points, and reimagines interactions to create a more intuitive and satisfying journey.

It’s fascinating to design not just for individual moments but for holistic experiences that connect people with services in meaningful and sustainable ways. The collaborative and multidisciplinary nature of service design excites me because it allows us to innovate while considering diverse perspectives and needs.

A design that truly considers practical problems while delivering a good experience and aesthetic value. Most importantly, it’s not just about consumerism. After all, I’m still a consumer even as a designer, so a good design should make users feel that their life is better today and worth looking forward to in the future.

The combination of my industrial design background and fashion work experience leads to my design style that not only focuses on the user experience but also includes the pursuit of aesthetics. I combine human-centricity in industrial design with user empathy and foresight, trend and sustainability in fashion.

In my design process, I draw inspiration from the philosophy of creating with love, much like Jony Ive’s approach at LoveFrom. I see clients and users not as mere consumers but as individuals I deeply care about and want to support. Each project begins with a genuine curiosity about who they are, what they value, and how design can enrich their lives.

This perspective shifts my focus from simply crafting products to creating meaningful, thoughtful solutions that resonate emotionally. For me, design is an act of love—a love for details, a love for problem-solving, and, most importantly, a love for the people we design for.

I believe cultural heritage plays an important role in shaping the design process. As someone from China, I am deeply influenced by the region's rich tradition of craft, storytelling, and meticulous attention to detail. Chinese family values and moral standards drive me to create honest, thoughtful, and service-oriented designs.

Winning the 2024 MUSE Design Awards is a profound honor for both me and Functional Form Block Allies (FFBA). It’s a testament to the dedication and creativity of our team, whose work spans industries such as medical devices, consumer products, and fashion accessories.

For us, this recognition is not just a celebration of success but a validation of our core mission: to create designs that blend functionality and form while truly improving people’s lives.

This year, some of our award-winning projects were presented under their project team names instead of FFBA. This was a deliberate decision to highlight the contributions of our younger designers and allow them to shine individually.

At FFBA, we strongly believe in nurturing new talent and giving them a platform to grow and be recognized. By doing so, we aim to create a collaborative environment that empowers the next generation of designers while showcasing the breadth of our work.

This award inspires us to keep innovating, refining our processes, and pushing the boundaries of design. It also reinforces our confidence when presenting to clients, showing that our values and designs resonate globally.

Ultimately, this achievement motivates us to continue contributing to the industry, not only by delivering impactful designs but also by fostering talent and ensuring that design remains a force for positive change.

We’re honored to have a bunch of projects recognized in the 2024 MUSE Design Awards. Each of these designs was entered because we believe they strongly reflect our commitment to creating more humane, thoughtful, and convenient products. These projects aim to bridge connections between people in ways that may not have been possible before, balancing the needs of service providers and receivers.

While our winning works span different categories, they all share a core mission: to create designs that genuinely care about and enhance people’s lives, embodying the values that drive us at Functional Form Block Allies.

Winning a MUSE Design Award has been incredibly validating for our practice. It’s given us broader recognition and strengthened our confidence when presenting to clients, showing that our ideas and values resonate on a global scale. This achievement demonstrates that design success goes beyond profitability—it’s about making a positive impact on people’s lives.

We’re grateful for this recognition and inspired to continue creating meaningful, people-centered designs. On a personal level, the award has inspired me to keep learning and evolving as a designer. It’s a reminder to stay curious, take risks, and continuously refine my craft.

Love , care and humanity!

China’s design industry is uniquely diverse, driven by a blend of regional cultures, mindsets, and vast market needs. It’s not a single, unified perspective but a dynamic mix of traditions and modern influences, offering endless research and design opportunities. The country’s unparalleled manufacturing capacity makes it possible to turn almost any design concept into reality, enabling rapid prototyping and production at scale.

Additionally, with such a large population, there are many open-minded individuals ready to share insights and collaborate. While China’s complex environment brings unique challenges, it also fosters innovation, pushing designers to rethink and refine their approach continually. This complexity, combined with manufacturing power and cultural richness, makes China a truly exciting place to work in design.

In the next 5 to 10 years, I see the design industry becoming more diverse, automated, and intelligent. The process will be streamlined, making improvements easier and faster. As our tools continue to evolve, designers will spend less time on labor-intensive production and more time connecting with real people to gain insight into their needs.

This shift will allow designers to focus on creating more human and thoughtful designs that resonate on a personal level. I also believe that the designer of the future will not be defined by a specific role but rather as a diverse creative worker.

The MUSE Design Awards website itself is an excellent resource, offering a vast database of inspiring work. For developing specific skills, online platforms can teach you everything from drawing to software to understanding manufacturing processes. However, as I often tell my students, the best resources are all around you in real life.

Engage with people, observe, and learn from real interactions. Understanding human needs and experiences firsthand is invaluable, as design ultimately serves people. So, immerse yourself in real life—it’s the richest resource a designer can have.

I'm a pretty good cook!

My professor Ben Ge, taught me more than just design skills and an attitude towards life. Several years after his death, I am still inspired by his serious, persistent, and passionate attitude towards things.

My success? I'm not sure. But I know to embrace the real world—to feel, to experience, to connect with other people and the world. To wonder, to question, to criticize things that seem so common—maybe they shouldn't be.

Yes, I’d like to highlight the collaborative spirit of our organization, Functional Form Block Allies (FFBA). While we are a relatively new entity, our work as a team spans several years, built through professional practice and friendship.

Alongside my co-founder and lead design partner, Mr. Menghai Xia (Luke), and our exceptional design partner and consultant, Mr. Weijing Zhao (Jony), we have had the privilege of mentoring and working with some incredible younger designers.

This time, I’d especially like to recognize Luxi Yu (Lucy), who has been instrumental in our research and design processes. Despite her young age, Lucy brings a fresh, vivid perspective that connects deeply with the next generation of consumers and markets.

I’d also like to thank Siyu Zang, a designer and researcher currently earning her master’s degree at the Royal College of Art in the UK. Siyu has made vital contributions to our research projects and medical product innovations, adding depth and insight to our work.

Looking ahead, we are excited to take our award-winning projects further, collaborating with clients and partners to bring these designs to life in global markets.

We also remain dedicated to supporting and mentoring the next generation of designers, helping them shine on the world stage. For us, design is a vital act of innovation, and by working together with both experienced and emerging talents, we hope to make a positive impact and contribute to a better future.