We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Lu Li ("LL").
Lu Li, born in the 90s in China. A famous philosopher in China once said: "去甚，去奢，去泰" (abandon extreme, luxurious and unreasonable thought) which is the guiding ideology of my design.
Lu Li Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Lu Li.
Designer Interview of Lu Li:
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?
LL : I studied Furniture Design in China and Product Design in Japan. The experience of studying in Japan has a great influence on me. This country is full of elaborate designs, and those small nuances and details are always very warm. But the atmosphere for designing now in China is not very ideal. I hope I can make some contribution to this area in China by my own efforts.
DI: What is "design" for you?
LL : They say, science is We, and art is Me. For me, the design is somewhere between rational analysis and artistic expression, and it is an individual artistic expression with certain rational analysis. The design should be people-oriented, so it can't be all about personal artistic expression, it needs rational analysis of data. The starting point of the design is decided by the designer, what he sees, what he perceives, and finally what expressed by him, which means his own thinking and expression—what we call art, is involved in the whole thing.
DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
LL : I started by learning furniture design and has been working on it ever since. At present, I am kind of obsessed with the assembly structure of furniture, and I want to continue it.
DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
LL : At present, the most satisfying design for me is the award-winning butterfly hanger. It was designed and produced during the Graduate years of Kyushu University in Japan. Before it was designed, I finished the design and production of another hanger which made me a little frustrated, with its complex structure and unsightly shape. But I didn’t stop. I have got a voice in my heart that keeps telling me to design furniture that represents my design concept. So I shut myself up, and then I had the butterfly hanger. It was designed by me and then made with the staff of the workshop at Kyushu University. This production experience also is precious to me.
DI: When do you feel the most creative?
LL : I feel it I find beauty, and I can't help but immerse myself in it. Like, there was this time when I was working in the workshop, I happen to find that the waste woodblock of Gingko was very beautiful. I watched it for a long time and couldn't help it. I wanted to create something with its amazing beauty. The next day, I made it into shaving that look like tiny chocolate mousse cakes. So I spend a month and a half working with sawdust to do the theme creation of food shooting.
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
LL : Because what we are studying now is the structure of assembled furniture, we are more concerned about the structure design.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
LL : Design is a brain squeezing process. We should try our best to squeeze. In the early stage, it may just be squeezed by hand. In the middle stage, it may be pressed by the door. In the later stage, it is like putting it in a blender and mixing it, making it into a smashed liquid. The pain is deepened step by step until the liquid evaporates into the air, and suddenly the bright moment comes, and I begin to be ecstatic.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
LL : All emotions have been experienced in the process of realizing it. It's repeated in your mind many times, and when it's really finished and being there, in front of you, there's not much emotion. It's like it's born out of my own head, and now it's given a physical appearance.
DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
LL : Innovation and uniqueness. Design lies in breakthrough and constant innovation.
DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
LL : The last exhibition was held on May 15-17, 2019 at Kyushu University Oohashi campus in Japan. Before graduation, I held an exhibition displaying all my furniture works and small handicrafts as a memorial for my three and a half years of studying abroad. The next exhibition will be held in September this year at the MAISON SHANGHAI exhibition.
DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
LL : My research is mainly focused on the innovative structure of assembling furniture. In the early stage, the main way to find inspiration is to look at a large number of architectural designs, some furniture structures designed by others, and then create new structures by myself. Slowly I summed up my own design methods and then used them to guide my design.
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?
LL : I am a native of China, which has a long cultural history, and the experience of studying abroad in Japan makes me start to examine the culture of my country again. During the Tang Dynasty, a lot of things in China spread to Japan, which developed into an integral part of Japanese culture through continuous inheritance and innovation by Japanese. As to which part is Japanese and which is Chinese? Sometimes it's really hard to distinguish. The Japanese regard culture as a treasure that is forgotten by the Chinese. All of these we should re-examine and pick up.
DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
LL : I think the designer's perspective is very important. It is easy to get limited by the environment if we stay in an environment for the Long term. We need to jump out of the framework and stand on different perspectives to think about problems. It is also important to keep a young and learning heart.
DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
LL : I think time can be reasonably arranged. Don't squeeze work to the last moment, balance work and life, and work moderately.
DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
LL : It will take about a month to design the furniture. Starting from the concept, confirm the material and process, deepen the drawing, proofing, modification, and confirm the final drawing.
DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
LL : I don't have a clear plan for the future. I prefer freshness and challenge. If I find something more interesting, I might get involved. But in the past one or two years, I have been mainly studying the structure of assembled furniture.
DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
LL : Design is not as simple as drawing. It involves many aspects, including factory technology, publicity, and packaging, transportation and after-sales, etc. I want to focus on product development, so I chose a team of a large company. I hope to bring my design to more people who like it.
DI: How can people contact you?
LL : You can contact me through this email：1045188807@qq.com