These projects were produced in sequential order, with each project building upon the concepts and inspirations from the
previous one. Although interconnected, these projects are equally important and have a distinct perspective in this practice.
As I reviewed the development of this practice, I started to notice it is a process of integration and expansion. The first project presented in this folio, Respite (2016), was built based on not only the required brief but also my previous knowledge/experience as an Asian art collector. At the time, this influence from the past was subconscious. I was simply designing what I liked. While I absorb technical skills through university courses, this "like" continues and is integrated with the countless encounters surrounding me. These encounters are but not limited to Society and Social connections.
I did not realize this at the time of 2016; this understanding was later reflected in the project Us (2020).
After graduating with a Master of Interior Design (2020), I worked as a freelance designer, 3D visualizer, 3D scene tech support, and sometimes an Asian art dealer (2020-2022). Many works do not directly influence by specific theoretical frameworks that I studied. Still, at the same time, I also gained experience and strengthened my skills, which fed into my practice.
My first commercial project, a pop-up jewellery shop in Shanghai in collaboration with RMIT Alumni Joyce Jin Song, allowed me to apply what I learned in university to a commercial context. It was the first time I recognized the need to play with limitations such as budget, regulation, and communication. I have learned not to speak design language with clients, for example, using shape instead of form.
I began to question what it is like after "handing over". What is it like when others occupy? The production of the interior is a continuous process, but there is often a disconnection between us and our work.
Respite. (2016)
The project Respite (2016) is my first-year project as an interior design student at RMIT.
As the brief required, the project focuses on the sense of Respite. Instead of constructing a physical structure, I chose to deconstruct Respite into three interactive activities, which I now refer to as encounters.
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Reading_No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
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Arranging_Flower
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Consuming_Tea
When I look back to the selection of these encounters, I notice the influence of my cultural background and interest in Asian Art.
The selection of these encounters is also based on my observation and interview at the site. Each encounter was designed to reflect a specific duration based on the interviews with those who occupied the site. The encounters were placed on the site for three days, and I was pleased to see how the public occupied them. Play with flowers, read that book, and what is most inspiring is someone places a paper coaster under my bottle. I started to notice the force of the public. This experience, from today's perspective, leads to the project Third Impact (2018). And in some way, the experience from this project inspired the beginning of my practice.
Third Impact. (2018)
Third Impact. (2018) is another project that I felt had a significant influence on the shape of my practice.
I have done a series of interactive installations at public locations. I intend to connect with the public and transfer each site's purpose by occupying them in a dramatic way. "Hacking" the site, Insert a different narrative. My favorite three insertions are Sleeping in 101 Collins St, Bushing teeth/sleeping at Federation Square, and Landscaping at the testing ground. These insertions placed force on the public while, at the same time, I, too, received force from the surrounding. I am generating connections with these members of our public through each encounter. I have also experimented with methods to encourage the public to build their own insertion through a website containing relevant digital tools and information. I was hoping these would further promote the development of their individualised community.
I started noticing the concept of "possibility" and the production of reality while working on the theoretical frameworks for this project. Which heavily shaped my practice to today.
Re Interior. (2019) I Guiding Possibility Overlay(ing). (2019)
Everything I experienced during the three-four year of my Bachelor's concludes my thesis project. Re Interior (2019) and Guiding Possibility Overlay(ing) (2019). A great tool I have found is virtual. Unity allowed me to utilize the unlimited possibilities of the digital virtual environment.
The project intends to use the nature and power of the digital virtual environment to create and further enhance the connection of people suffering from anxiety to their surroundings, those who desire connection while unable to. Now 2023, The development of digital virtual applications such as Metaverse, VR, and AI has since made these imaginations into reality.
Naturally, while working with virtual, I began to question what is real, what is subjectivity, and what is physical.
us. (2020)
The extension and questions raised during the project(s) reflect on us. (2020), I have further discussed and tried to visualize the production of subjectivity/reality. The work is based on Deleuze's concepts of the Body without Organs.
At the time, I review the relationship between subjectivity and the ontogenetic concept of a relational network; metaphorically, I will describe this relationship as a continuously transforming conceptual bracket floating driven by our desire to pleasure.
Warrandyte residential. (2022)
Another project worth mentioning is the Warrandyte residential project (2022)(Freelance_Twoinone Studio). It is a renovation project for an old wooden house. To open up the space with a limited budget and structural regulations. To avoid triggering a building permit, we have come up with the idea of opening a small window between columns on the kitchen wall to make a part of the kitchen visible from the living room and frame a scene that encourages interaction and imagination between the two spaces. Which, again, is the concept of scenes and interaction; although I have produced work based on it before, at that exact moment, it is a subconscious decision.
Retail to Future. (2022)
As a sessional tutor (2022) at RMIT interior design, I have found that there may be a potential solution to staying connected after taking over.
The connections continue through education. Reflecting on myself, I can see the strong impact the institution and its community had on the development of my practice. I have also realised the extent of my influence on my students' work, mainly represented in visual style and technical approach but also embedded in their design concept.
Chado. (2022)
These projects and other things I experienced, raised my interest in framing scenes, interaction/connection, and narrative. As an Asian art dealer, my knowledge reminds me of the Japanese tea ceremony, which led me to study Urasenke Chado with Scott Rogers.
During the study, I began to integrate it with my previous knowledge.
At this point, I recognize Chado as an interior, an artificial journey created by both the host and the guest.
Each tea ceremony is unique, composed of multiple layers of scenes, encounters (from the environment and the object), and narratives manipulated by those occupying, almost like D&D.
Patina. (Present)
Patina is an ongoing project, an archive that documents the traces of practice within interior, primarily in the form of photography. These are captured "craft" visual elements demonstrating potential occupancy of that immediate environment. Originally intended as private archives, these images encapsulate my immediate journey within that immediate environment. However, I acknowledge the continuous expansion of our subjectivity, realising that these can never document an immediate journey but rather act as triggers that generate journeys based on the audience's immediate version. By sharing this collection with the public, it has the potential to generate journeys that align with the audience's current subjective experiences. Opens up new possibilities of exploration and influence for this practice in a continuous manner.
Practice. (2020-Present)
These projects involve both design and communication skills, with their outcomes structured based on the projects mentioned above. They are processes and realised projects that, in some ways, demonstrate the commercial value of this practice.
Overall I think the development of this practice is a continuous process of integration and expansion, incorporating technical skills and my surrounding experiences. This folio, Starting from Respite (2016), this practice begins with me as an individual being, my education and the experience of these commercial practice projects. To this moment, the study of Urasenke Chado further solidified the concept of encounter, narrative and connection in this practice.