Three years ago, on a sunny crispy winter morning, they met in a café and talk about life, future, and dreams. They talked about travel, how it changes one’s vision. They talked about work and how exciting it is to work in Beijing. Hours past and the talk didn’t seem to get any less enthusiastic.
Tao’s first meeting with Kin was fruitful. Two weeks later, he started his wonderful journey with Inkmason. Since then, he has been growing with this dynamic multicultural team of professionals and developing his skills in design industry.
Born as the single child in a typical family in Chengdu Sichuan, Tao was raised to be independent at a very young age. Since primary school, he was able to cook his own meals when his parents were out for work. He also teamed up with his childhood friends to earn extra pocket money by selling self-made key-chains in the neighborhood. As a typical boy growing up in the era, Japanese cartoons and video games were Tao’s addiction.
After high school, Tao decided to move to Xi’an to pursue his B.A. education in Administration and Marketing, where he had the opportunity to meet people from different countries and soon developed his fanatic interest in foreign cultures and his strong desire to see the world. To reach this goal, he started an English summer camp with his American friend in Shenyang city. After 2 months hard work, Tao finally gained enough resources, hopped onto a plane to Europe, and started his 18 days mind-blowing trip. It was an unforgettable journey during which Tao found his fascination with the beauty of Paris, the history of Berlin, and the passion of the Spaniards.
After graduation, Tao came to Beijing – the capital of “opportunity”, in search of his career in office administration and marketing. After several attempts, he finally landed on a European investment company as the GM’s assistant. With his initial understanding of foreign cultures, Tao worked together with legal consultants from around the world. Within only one year, Tao was able to establish three Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprises (WFOEs) in Beijing for his investors, which gained the company’s recognition and was soon promoted to be the Office Manager responsible for Business Development and Financial aspects of the company.
Maybe Tao left his heart in Europe during his first visit, or maybe the European passion grew stronger inside him. In 2009, Tao visited Spain again and totally fell in love with the culture. After he returned to China, he quit his job to study Spanish language full time at the Cervantes Institute for a year. It was challenging yet with a determined mind and a clear goal, Tao finally past the DELE exam with distinguished grade.
One day, Tao came cross an online recruitment. He made an appointment to meet with Kin, the founder of Inkmason. Kin shared his passion in design and the philosophy of Inkmason: “As masons, we excel in our craftsmanship; with ink, we make it a reality!”. Tao learnt that design is not about fancy ideas, trends or decorations, but a humble solution to people’s problems and an attempt to improve people’s daily life.
Working with the team of architects and designers in the past 3 years, Tao has participated in all of the projects big and small, and single-handedly managed a few design and build projects for multinational corporate clients. He has advanced not only his marketing and client handling skills, but also obtained his design and project management experience. To Tao, Inkmason is not only a dream job, but a starting point where he can venture the world together with a team of young talents.
