We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Yen, Pei-Yu ("YP").
Yen, Pei-Yu is an award-winning designer that helps make the World a better place with their original and innovative creations and advanced design works.
Yen, Pei-Yu Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Yen, Pei-Yu.
Yen, Pei-Yu Design - Revival Cafe
Designer Interview of Yen, Pei-Yu:
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?
YP : My taste and view about art were influenced by my mother – an art teacher who’s enthusiastic about bringing art to everyone’s everyday life. My upbringing then made me very interested in interior design and led me to pursuing a career as an interior designer when I was in my high school.
DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
YP : My partner and I set up Tetto Studio in 2012. We provide our clients with a holistic design consultation and service – my partner offers his insight in web development, helping the client build a stylish virtual space in this ever-growing virtual world, whereas I am responsible for realizing the client’s idea in this real world.
DI: What is "design" for you?
YP : Design is an essential that is not always tangible by its user, yet constantly shapes the user’s experience every now and then. A good design helps people enjoy more convenient and aesthetic lives.
DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
YP : Work that has unique characters and echoes the idea of environmental symbiosis.
DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
YP : I enjoy a wide variety of design style, but work I like the most usually is particularly strong in the choice of colour and overall presentation.
DI: When do you feel the most creative?
YP : Quiet mid night.
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
YP : The needs of the user.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
YP : Energetic.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
YP : Feel in love.
DI: What makes a design successful?
YP : Answering the expectation of the user.
DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
YP : Reasonableness and overall balance.
DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
YP : Creating great design that helps the user understand that aesthetics and design are indispensable for modern life.
DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
YP : As AI is gradually taking over many tasks we thought computers cannot handle, I think designers around the world must dedicate more energy in innovating the field to discover the unique human elements that cannot be captured by AI.
DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
YP : Interior design is an interactive way to present a design. I gain much inspiration from discussing with my clients because they help me envision what sort of experience the user of this space would like to have and allow me to use my language to vitalize the space.
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?
YP : There’s no one single way to describe my design style because, for me, the most important thing in interior design is to make sure that design can meet the expectation of the user, not the designer’s personal views. Nevertheless, overall, I prefer minimalist style more than other styles.
DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?
YP : I always begin my design by visiting the space I am commissioned and also conducting several in-depth discussion with my client to understand their preferences and expectation. I will then bring the concepts I got from the initial visiting and discussion into the design, and have another round of discussion with my client after the 3D sketch is created.
DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
YP : Custom-made iron table, dinning environment, wall of pictures in the living room, dressing table, and office room.
DI: Can you describe a day in your life?
YP : I begin my day by reading and yoga. After the breakfast, I will be in the company to organise tasks I am going to do in the day. During the afternoon, I may be in the site to check the progress of the project with the workers and see if there’s anything that needs to be changed. After all of these, I will go jogging and update the progress of all of the ongoing projects. I usually end my day by chatting with my families.
DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
YP : Believe in yourself, your design is priceless, not worthless. Never accept unreasonable request. (laugh)
DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
YP : One of the greatest issues brought by my professional training I’ve noticed is that it’s sometimes very difficult for me to take a rest without thinking about design. The training requires me to maintain a very critical attitude about all sort of design around me. I often find myself wondering how the interior design of the cafe can be improved when I was trying to take a rest and stop thinking about anything about design.
DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?
YP : Ergonomics, proportion, aesthetics.
DI: What skills are most important for a designer?
YP : Besides design, communication skills are also very important. Communicating with the user and workers are essentials to produce a good design.
DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
YP : AUTOCAD、SKETCH UP、PINTEREST I like to begin my drafting on paper. I will then use SKETCH UP to generate a 3D rendering to examine my idea more carefully and help my client envision what the project will look like. I also use websites like Pintrest or Archdaily to learn about new design ideas from all over the world.
DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
YP : I do time budgeting to help myself be on top of my project. Every project has its expected deadline. Dissecting the project into smaller chunks helps check and manage the progress very much.
DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
YP : It depends on the project. Generally speaking, it usually takes about 6 months to complete the design alone after the first meeting.
DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
YP : What’s the ideal way of using this space in your mind?
DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
YP : I will continue learning about new knowledge and enhance my design skills. In the following few years, I will also set up my own team to reach out more clients.
DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
YP : Currently I am the sole designer of the interior design sector in my studio. I hope I will be able to lead a team in future.
DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
YP : I am currently working on a self-build project commissioned by a couple.
DI: How can people contact you?
YP : They can contact me via the website of the studio: https://tetto-design.com/interior/inquiry