July 8 – The 28th China (Guangzhou) International Building Decoration Fair officially opened at the Canton Fair Complex. Positioned as a premiere launch platform for leading enterprises, the exhibition gathered nearly 2,000 exhibitors across three major sectors: interior spaces, doors, windows & outdoor systems, and intelligent material manufacturing. It ranks among the largest and most influential annual events for the integrated home and building decoration industry.
VillaePaint, a domestic premium artistic coating brand, showcased its immersive themed pavilion *Realm of Nature* at Booth D102A, Hall 1.2, Area A. Centered on Chinese aesthetics, local raw materials and oriental color palettes as core design concepts, the brand officially debuted its new Dunhuang Azurite Mineral Art Mural collection, emerging as a highlight of the coating exhibition zone thanks to its museum-level cultural and artistic value.
At the exhibition site, Liu Haifeng, Chairman of Guangdong Geshi Decoration Culture Development Co., Ltd. and Founder of VillaePaint, granted an exclusive interview to Huic Coatings Network, offering in-depth insights into the R&D philosophy behind the new products, the brand’s differentiated development strategy, and the future trends of the industry.
Liu Haifeng, Chairman of Guangdong Geshi Decoration Culture Development Co., Ltd., Founder of VillaePaint
Revitalizing Cultural Heritage: Turning Grotto Murals into Heirloom Private Collections
Upon entering the VillaePaint pavilion, visitors are immediately drawn to the giant natural-scene mural at the center. The star exhibit of this show—the Dunhuang Azurite Flying Apsaras Fragment Mineral Art Mural collection—has sparked extensive discussion across the industry. Reporters from Huic Coatings Network learned on site that a 3-square-meter museum-grade mural from this collection is priced at RMB 288,000 per piece. Created jointly by VillaePaint and a team of master artists including Zhang Bo, Wu Qingtao and Li Xiaoji, each mural takes a full month of hand-painting to complete.
In Liu Haifeng’s view, the launch of the Dunhuang Azurite collection fundamentally elevates the application depth and aesthetic standard of Chinese artistic coatings to an unprecedented level. “Developing this collection required us to overcome two core technical hurdles,” Liu told reporters from Huic Coatings Network.
First, the replication of ancient material formulas. The team conducted in-depth research on time-honored raw material recipes used in Dunhuang art spanning thousands of years. Leveraging modern manufacturing processes, they reproduced the complete material system of ancient murals at a 1:1 ratio, adopting traditional lime plaster, pure natural minerals and native clay as core raw materials.
Second, the restoration of classical painting techniques. The team fully reconstructed the millennia-old craftsmanship behind Dunhuang murals, which serves as the cornerstone enabling authentic cultural reproduction in this collection.
From a value perspective, these artistic murals integrate five layers of rarity: raw materials, craftsmanship, cultural connotation, substrate material and collectibility.
Raw Materials: Natural mineral pigments identical to those used in Mogao Grotto murals, including azurite, malachite and ochre, are ground and blended into coatings. Their strong oxidation resistance prevents fading, delivering authentic cultural heritage value unattainable by ordinary printing inks.
Craftsmanship: Every piece undergoes fully manual layered distressing and multi-layer texture coating, deliberately recreating the peeling, cracking and mottled textures formed over centuries on grotto murals. Each mural requires a one-month production cycle and cannot be mass-produced on assembly lines, making every texture pattern one-of-a-kind.
Cultural Connotation: The collection draws inspiration from Tang Dynasty Flying Apsaras murals in Dunhuang grottoes, representing artistic reproductions of world-class intangible cultural heritage. It transforms immovable grotto relics into portable artworks for private collection and interior display.
Substrate Material: Built on the brand’s premium lime-based artistic coatings, the murals solidify into durable wall surfaces with excellent moisture-proof and damage-resistant performance, designed to be passed down through generations—an advantage over fragile carriers such as rice paper and canvas.
Collectibility: The collection is released in limited editions, with each artwork equipped with an exclusive collection serial number and museum certificate, positioned as heirloom art pieces for high-end luxury residences.
“Our original intention for launching the Dunhuang Azurite collection is to guide the entire industry to shift its mindset,” Liu Haifeng stated frankly. The artistic coating industry should not merely focus on selling coating raw materials; instead, it must explore diversified, high-standard application solutions, elevating coatings from simple renovation materials to carriers of culture and art.
Differentiated Competition Built on Aesthetic Identity: Breaking Free from Cost-cutting Races
Unlike most artistic coating brands in the market that prioritize cost performance and center their competitiveness on cost control, VillaePaint follows a clear differentiated strategy: building an unbreakable brand moat through supreme aesthetic quality.
As a founder with a fine arts background and over two decades of industry experience, Liu Haifeng holds extremely high standards for the aesthetic presentation of products. “Our team devotes itself wholeheartedly to aesthetic R&D and practical application,” he shared during the interview. The extensive purple clay red palette featured throughout the pavilion, boasting pure, soft hues and striking visual texture, stands as an intuitive showcase of the brand’s aesthetic capabilities. After multiple rounds of R&D and adjustments, the brand’s products have established distinct advantages in color purity, delicate coating texture and overall visual effect, earning wide recognition among interior designers.
This consistent pursuit of artistic tonality also underpinned the overall design logic of the exhibition pavilion. Rather than designing a conventional product sales booth, VillaePaint built a scenographic art exhibition space themed *Realm of Nature*, with every detail from pavilion construction to set design aligned with its artistic positioning. Liu Haifeng explained that the pavilion design conveys three core brand messages to the industry and market:
First, clarifying the future direction of the sector: competition in the artistic coating industry will no longer revolve around material sales, but superior end-to-end application capacity, brand temperament and brand value.
Second, reinforcing brand positioning: VillaePaint has always focused on the high-end artistic coating track, establishing itself as the preferred brand for premium wall decoration.
Third, creating an open exchange platform. The pavilion welcomes peers and business partners from home and abroad, serving as a hub for industry idea exchange and business matching to foster a communication ecosystem for high-end artistic coatings.
Since its founding, VillaePaint has maintained a precise positioning of “art coatings exclusively for villas”, adhering to development principles of high standards, superior aesthetics and refined craftsmanship to benchmark top international artistic coating brands. The launch of the Dunhuang Azurite collection marks a pivotal leap for the brand—shifting its development focus from benchmarking international brands to original cultural creation rooted in Chinese heritage.
Long-termism: Staying Committed to the Premium Track Amid Market Pressures
When discussing the development trends of the high-end wall decoration market in 2026, Liu Haifeng did not shy away from the current headwinds facing the industry. He acknowledged that the entire home renovation sector is under mounting pressure amid the broader economic climate, and 2026 poses abundant challenges for all building materials practitioners. Even so, he remains optimistic about the industry’s long-term prospects.
Liu Haifeng believes home renovation falls within essential consumer needs alongside food, clothing and transport, meaning the sector will never disappear. The core solution amid market adjustments lies in continuous product iteration and upgrading. “At equivalent price points, delivering products with stronger aesthetic appeal and superior quality, and building competitive edges through premium texture and genuine value for money is the key to breaking through industry bottlenecks,” he remarked. Industry practitioners ought to uphold long-term value principles instead of hastily switching sectors amid short-term market difficulties, as homogenized competition and operational pressure prevail across all industries.