Noting that their design is often too "weird" and personal to be accepted by a mainstream audience, Wang and Lou claim that FengGuo Box is the only kind of forum that will feature their work.

Defying Expectations and Industry Norms

Wang's refusal to compromise her iconoclastic design work for a reliable paycheck has resulted in her dismissal from several jobs. She will soon quit yet another, this most recent one as a jewelry designer. "I am very stubborn, and often won't listen to my boss when they tell me to make changes... so I change jobs a lot." Standing by her knitted breasts, Lou shows a similar determination to preserve the intent of her art. She says that large companies-- like art galleries-- often have their own signature style, and she claims that she would never change to appease an employer. "My art would lose its meaning if I conformed to other people's ideas," she said, "Maybe my designs will mature with age, but they will never change." FengGuo Box' three simple qualifications for potential artists and designers allows Wang and Lou the space to preserve their ideas and intent, however outlandish.

Like Wang Xun's models of internal organs, FengGuo Box artist couple Luo Ji and Li Chunmei make figurines of characters A Ji and A Mu, mummies that hide their faults behind bandages and embody different aspects of self-inhibition. The couple once featured A Ji and A Mu at an exhibit in 798, Beijing's posh factory-turned-art district, but they were not well-received by what they describe as an exclusive art community there. "It is an art circle. Real people can't get in," Li said. Luo commented further on what he saw as a financial barrier: "Most of the artists there are rich people who make so-called art." From a poor family in Hunan, Luo says that he must struggle more than others to publicize his brand in the art and design industry.

The couple is not only inhibited by industry standards, but also by Beijing safety code regulations. Li Chunmei spoke of her boyfriend Luo's failed attempt to start his own store, "He wanted to put a moving truck bed in the store so that he could feature his art in it, but the city wouldn't let him."