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Today's featured designer is Lu Li. Lu Li is the creator of iconic designs such as Butterfly. |
| We had the rare opportunity to interview the exalted designer Lu Li who was recently announced as the Designer of the Day by the A' Design Award and Competition. Lu Li is the creator of iconic designs such as Butterfly. We got exclusive answers to our questions about Lu Li's designs and design philosophy. |
Lu Li, how did you become a designer?
Lu Li: After graduating from university in 2014, I worked for a short time in a furniture designing and producing company. I am a little skeptical and confused about my career and life due to that nine to five job without creativity. What is the design and what is the life I want? I think about these problems for more than a month. Because of my enthusiasm for Japanese design, I finally decided to study design in Japan. My three-and-a-half-year study abroad has given me a deeper understanding of the design and strengthened my belief. What Japanese design brings to people is warmth and touching. I hope to pass on this feeling... |
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Lu Li, what are your priorities, technique, and style when designing?
Lu Li : (1) Design sketch stage: Based on the design theme, do data collection and organization, draw sketch scheme. (2) Design and proofing stage: discuss the material and processing technology with the experienced worker to determine the proofing sketch. Because many details can't be reflected by software or model, I prefer 1:1 proofing. (3) Design determination stage: adjust the details, deepen the drawings, and determine the final production drawings based on the proofed physical objects... |
Lu Li, which emotions do you feel when designing?
Lu Li: The most exciting moment is when a good design idea springs into my mind. Just like the furniture structure I studied. I don't draw a lot of design sketches, but I think repeatedly in my head. It's like a 3D instrument that can draw and disassemble structures. Inside, many structures have been constructed, and one by one these structures have been denied by oneself. This process is very painful, and the brain will burst. Until a long time later, suddenly a structure appeared. It's very simple, totally in line with my design philosophy. It pops out of my mind. I'm so excited that I immediately pick up the pen and draw it. I'm so excited that I want to rush out to the workshop to make it at midnight.
But the production process will be rather boring. When the production is completed, one finds it hard to get excited again to see the real object, because it has been built in the mind for a long time... |
Lu Li, what particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?
Lu Li: Apart from the designer's identity, I am also the editor in chief of China's WeChat official account. I will post some articles about innovative design and art on a regular basis. Through the collection and organization of these materials, my perspective is widened. By analyzing the designs of other designers, I have a deeper understanding of design. Everyone has their own unique design perception ability, the same point in the hands of different people will have different ways of expression. Open my mind, to see more to feel and learn to analyze is how the work of editing helped me a lot... |
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Lu Li, what is your growth path? what are your future plans? what is your dream design project?
Lu Li: I hope to become a world-class design master who can represent China, just as 原研哉 to Japan. I don't have a clear plan for the future. Sometimes it's enough to seize the opportunity. As for the future, just make sure that your general direction remains the same... |
Lu Li, what are your advice to designers who are at the beginning of their career?
Lu Li: This question and the following are not suitable for me to answer. I only graduated last year and just started my career as a designer this year. I don't have much experience to talk about...
Lu Li, how do you keep up with the latest design trends? to what extent do design trends matter?
Lu Li: I'm not going to chase the design trend. It's like the wind. It blows in this direction now and that direction then. I don't think I have the ability to catch the wind at a certain time and sail far. I just want to stick to my own direction and move forward slowly, no matter what direction of wind blows... |
Lu Li, how do you know if a product or project is well designed? how do you define good design?
Lu Li: I think good design is sometimes experience and sometimes a feeling. Some good designs can be transferred to consumers through commercialization so that they can get a good experience. But sometimes some good design can't be commercialized. It can only be passed on to you in other ways. As long as a design lets you enjoy the convenience of life, the beauty of life, I think this is a good design... |
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Lu Li, how do you decide if your design is ready?
Lu Li: Before the product is put into the market, it only completes the connection between the designer and the factory production. Only after it becomes a commodity, is it delivered to the customer's home, receives the customer's feedback, and carries out the iterative upgrading of the product, I think it can be regarded as the completion of the design. The completion of any stage is only temporary... |
Lu Li, what is your biggest design work?
Lu Li: At present, I am most satisfied with this award-winning work: Butterfly hanger. Because it's a minimalist piece of assembled furniture. The structure and shape are quite simple, with its strong functionality, flat packaging, manual installation, repeated disassembly, sustainability, etc.
This piece of furniture which I have studied for three-and-a-half years as a representative work of assembling furniture is very precious to me, as well as its production time. It was made by me and the people in the school workshop. I have been in the workshop for more than two years, and I have been helped and taken care of by everyone. This period of time was the most carefree and happy time in my life, which is especially precious for me... |
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Lu Li, who is your favorite designer?
Lu Li: My favorite designer is the Japanese design master 原研哉. His design is clean and pure, full of Zen and emptiness... |
Lu Li, would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?
Lu Li: Tokyo, Tokyo is a place full of design. A large number of outstanding Japanese designers are active here. Every month, various exhibitions of design and art emerge endlessly, which makes people ecstatic. I like to do handwork. When I do handwork, I am able to calm my mind, getting rid of a lot of distractions, and reach my simplest yearning.
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. ... |
Lu Li, what is "design" for you?
Lu Li: 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. ... |
Lu Li, what kinds of works do you like designing the most?
Lu Li: 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... |
Lu Li, when do you feel the most creative?
Lu Li: 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... |
Lu Li, what kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
Lu Li: 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... |
Lu Li, designing can sometimes be a really time-consuming task, how do you manage your time?
Lu Li: I think time can be reasonably arranged. Don't squeeze work to the last moment, balance work and life, and work moderately... |
Lu Li, how long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
Lu Li: 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... |
| Lu Li, thank you for giving us the opportunity to interview you... To learn more about Lu Li and check more designs by Lu Li as well as to see more Lu Li designs such as Butterfly visit designeroftheday.com/?251766 |
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| We hope you enjoyed our interview of Lu Li. This interview was made possible by the contributions of A' Design Award and Competition - The World's largest and most influential design accolade. A' Design Award is an annual, international design award open to both concept stage and realized works by designers, artists, architects and brands worldwide. A' Design Award and Competition aims to create a public awareness and understanding of good design by promoting the best designers such as Lu Li and their design works worldwide. Visit designaward.com to learn more. |
 REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY:
https://competition.adesignaward.com/designer.php?profile=251766 https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=87509 |
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This article was added on Monday, 8th of June, 2020 at 08.06 am by author 
