We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Yu-Chi Chien ("YC").

Growing up in Taiwan with jeweler parents, he was encouraged to develop his own interests in art from early childhood. As an undergraduate, he studied industrial design which improved his ability in many aspects. Influenced by his design background, he strives for distinctive characteristics and a practical spirit in his work. He draws inspiration from every story he encounters and the minor details of life around him. He enjoys combining different materials and explores many different possibilities in his work. He expresses his ideas not only in jewelry forms but also in sculptures and more daily objects and tries to not limit himself.

Yu-Chi Chien Designs

We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Yu-Chi Chien.

Designer Interview of Yu-Chi Chien:

DI: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?

YC : I was inspired by my father who is a jeweler. I studied industrial design in college and achieved my master in metals and jewelry design. I always wanted to be a designer, but I didn’t know I would become a jewelry designer and metal artist.

DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?

YC : My studio is named CYC which is taken from my initials. It focuses on bringing concepts to different media. My work is not limited to scale and materials. It can be live sized sculpture, body adornment or small jewelry.

DI: What is "design" for you?

YC : Design is serving a purpose to people, environments or concepts.

DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?

YC : I like works with meaning in it. For me, the message hidden in the works is the soul of the design.

DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?

YC : I really enjoy the wall sculpture I design for Hillside Family Center in Rochester. It is inspired by the life journey of their students. It looks minimal and simple but it is well considered for the special students of the school and how it can interact with weather and site.

DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?

YC : The first thing I designed for a company was a fashion jewelry line. It was a Christmas gift project. We came out with some charms and stackable bands to match the market of younger targets.

DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?

YC : It depends on scale. For the medium to larger scale work, I like to use copper and aluminum. They are malleable and match the cost. For the small project, I usually work with K gold and silver for jewelry.

DI: When do you feel the most creative?

YC : When I am alone and quiet in the midnight. I came out with many ideas from my small studio. I like to reach outside and gather ideas from the daytime. Organize and develop when I go back to the studio.

DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?

YC : I focus more on the functionality and how I can express the concept completely.

DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?

YC : I feel excited when having a sparkle of the concept, but feel calm when realizing it.

DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?

YC : I feel cheerful and can’t wait to see feedback from the market or customers.

DI: What makes a design successful?

YC : A successful design is fulfilling people’s need.

DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?

YC : I consider the functionality first. If it’s a piece of jewelry it has to be wearable. If it’s a piece of art, it needs to express what it wants to say.

DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?

YC : Not only a designer but every person has responsibilities for the sustainability of society and the environment. For jewelry designer, what we can dedicate on is trying to use recycled precious metal and ethically sourced gemstones.

DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?

YC : Within the technology evolving, the design tool has been lowered its limitation. I think a job as a designer will disappear in the future. Everyone can utilize tools and produce their own product.

DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?

YC : My last exhibition was at Peters Valley School of Craft from April to May 2019. One of my work was featured in the exhibition, Nuance: Craftsmanship, Imagination, and Innovation. I’m open to any opportunity of exhibition and collaboration.

DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?

YC : Other than nature and architecture, I’m pretty interested in the relationship between human, animal, society, and environment. These all could be my inspirations and nutrition.

DI: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?

YC : My design style tends to be minimalism. I remove meaningless decoration and keep important messages. Every element should stand for a reason to carry out the concept.

DI: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?

YC : I live in NYC now. Asian culture didn’t affect too much on the form of my style, but it influenced the way how I transform my idea. I use more metaphor and subtle message in my design. The pros to be in Taiwan is having more resources from local factories and designers. The con is the size of the market in Taiwan is smaller.

DI: How do you work with companies?

YC : I receive design requests from customers, and adjust the design by the production capability of the company. It involves many conversations between customers and companies.

DI: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?

YC : Know what’s your need clearly and prepare all materials that designer needs. The communication skill and being organized is pretty essential to be a good designer.

DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?

YC : I usually start with brainstorming which can be based on my idea or customer’s request. I will develop several rough directions first and improve the details after communicating with the customer.

DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?

YC : The vessel, furniture, light, clock, and kitchenware.

DI: Can you describe a day in your life?

YC : Start a quick shower in the morning. Brainstorming when I commute to work. Develop ideas on the day time, and burn the last energy at the gym after work.

DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?

YC : I’m a young designer. I would tell myself don’t step back for any chances. Grab the opportunity and see how it will lead you in the future.

DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?

YC : The positive is you can easily see things clearly through the training of design. You can quickly catch the core idea of a thing, but it’s also a con. Because sometimes you will be trapped by over analyzing. Not everything is suited for rational thinking.

DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?

YC : Stick with your concept. Do not become formalism.

DI: What skills are most important for a designer?

YC : Imagination and associative ability. These are powerful sources of a designer.

DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?

YC : Google, my notebook and Matrix, the software to build up 3D models.

DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?

YC : Design development never ends. You always can find improvement in details. It’s better to set up a goal and achieve it as close as possible before digging into the details.

DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?

YC : It depends on pieces and the complexity of situations. Shorter can be a few days, and longer can be more than half a year.

DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?

YC : Can you help me with Photoshop?

DI: What was your most important job experience?

YC : It is when I was an assistant designer for a fashion brand. I learned lots of skill sets other than design from that period.

DI: Who are some of your clients?

YC : Private collector, Jeweler, Gallery

DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?

YC : I enjoy collaboration work a lot. I like the chemical effect between various people.

DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?

YC : I hope to have some extra time to develop my own jewelry line.

DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?

YC : It depends on the scale of the project, but mostly I work by myself for jewelry.

DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?

YC : I am working on a series of resin jewelry which developed from the phenomenon of how technology influences people nowadays.

DI: How can people contact you?

YC : Instagram: cyc.studio or ycchien.com

DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?

YC : No. It was a pretty good interview. Thanks.