Interview with Hsu-Hung Huang

Hsu-Hung Huang ("HH") interviewed on Thursday, 28 July.

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

HH : I am an interior and product designer, with ten years of commercial and residential design experience and a Master of Arts (Merit) in Product & Furniture Design from Kingston University in London, England. I hope to re-build a bridge for dialogue between the world and Taiwan’s culture through contemporary designs.

How did you become a designer?

HH : After graduating from my university and achieving a Bachelor of Art in Interior Design, I contributed to prominent interior and product design companies. During my university studies, I acquired knowledge in both theoretical and practical foundations of design. In addition, I was familiar with the development of my designs through data analysis and design concepts. After years of working in interior design, I have decided to acquire a Master of Arts and learn new design methods, Product & Furniture Design from Kingston University London. The primary reason is that due to legalities and the realities of the political and social history in Taiwan, there have been scant opportunities to design furniture that matches the unique needs of the Taiwanese people. It could be said that most factories in Taiwan strictly made designs for other nations and we were given the leftovers. Therefore, I hope to design furniture that not only has cost and aesthetic considerations but will also be created to fit into the urbanized, hot and humid, semi-tropical atmosphere in Taiwan.

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

HH : To begin, I usually plan to conduct a large number of studies on the background of the project via direct observation, participant observation, and qualitative interviews. I usually attempt to find and figure out the clients' potential problems while also expressing my viewpoints. Following that, distinctive and original design experiments that are more adventurous than past aesthetics would be created. I believe that the final result would be more alive and relevant to contemporary times.

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

HH : In certain creative activities, sometimes, I am forced to face stress from the deadline. To explain, designers should have plenty of creatives and ideas in the design process and experience different challenges. Solving various problems consumes a great deal of time and is usually unpredictable. However, the pressure may be a benefit for designers. It would push someone toward creating more potential and better outcomes and stimulate their abilities.

What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?

HH : From my point of view, the most important skill is critical thinking. Critical thinking often helps me to change my perspective to enhance my approach and thinking about problems or circumstances. Furthermore, utilizing this way will have a beneficial and positive effect on my decisions and viewpoints.

What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?

HH : In the future, I plan to extend the series of Tao rocking chairs and hoped to cooperate with some residents of the indigenous community and produce some design works in a small number of diversified ways. Through production cooperation, technology transfer, etc., aesthetic value and product quality can be improved. Also, expanding the consumer market of contemporary indigenous products and furniture is quite potential.

What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?

HH : As a designer, I realized that designing not only requires sensitivity to beauty but the consideration of the strategies behind using aesthetics. When I incorporated these two aspects into the creative process, I was able to solve my clients’ problems efficiently while also reflecting on my own design philosophy.

You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?

HH : In my opinion, a professional designer should be expressing his or her viewpoint precisely and possess flexible thinking. That is to say, it is also necessary to change different mentalities to face various works or environments. Moreover, a good designer should simulate putting themselves in a different position and think in empathy for clients or coworkers. Hence, they can understand and achieve effective communication between their respective needs of both.

What is your day to day look like?

HH : I am not only a designer but a design educator at a university. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the work style shows a significant change. Essentially, remote work is the primary work. Every day, I usually read before breakfast, and then I begin my busy workday online and cooperate with coworkers or clients from oversea. Until lunch, take a short break. Then, I will keep working including computer work, online classes, and online meetings in the afternoon. Sometimes, certain meetings must be held outside. After I get off work, I will have some personal rest time. I usually do some exercise and get together with my family.

How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?

HH : Honestly, I do not really follow the latest design trends. I do not support certain consumers who emulate global trends and fads with no thought to how it matches their lives. However, that thinking through making is my favourite motto. I typically feel creative when I have a strong desire to develop or modify anything but don't have a certain conclusion to do it in the beginning. More exactly, I often try to arrange and combine various methods or conduct a great number of experiments then inspiration appears seemingly out of nowhere.

How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?

HH : In my perspective, I tend to assess a design work utilizing created factors including aesthetics, design philosophy, practicality and symbolism. Particularly, aesthetics is my significant consideration for the first impression of design work. To be more precise, I believe that a good design should appeal to users by having a pleasing look firstly. After that, people would be interested in the object or space and try to understand what it is.

How do you decide if your design is ready?

HH : I always keep an open mind to make my designs better. Success, to my mind, involves always having a loving heart and a passion for designers’ work. Thus, there are not always finished or ready.

What is your biggest design work?

HH : The Tao rocking chair is one of my favourite projects. This work was inspired by the boat-building methods of the Tao Indigenous community, previously of Orchid Island, a rugged and remote island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan. Respecting cultural heritage, a crucial part of Tao life centres upon the building of traditional fishing boats for the Tao people. Hence, addressing the issue of culture preservation, I aimed to communicate Taiwan’s unique culture to the world via this project and transfer the experience of rowing the Tao canoe into the joyfulness of swinging in a rocking chair.

Who is your favourite designer?

HH : I quite appreciate the design works of Le Corbusier, a Swiss-French architect. In design contributions, Le Corbusier was well-known for his architectural theory and style which was modernism, or the international style. For instance, in Notre Dame du Haut, he combined classic aesthetics with a modern design including material and building construction techniques. According to Towards a New Architecture (1923), Le Corbusier believed that simple form was the most beautiful form and simple type was expressed by arranging pure order. Moreover, he did not support the complicated and additional decoration in the design. That is to say, utilizing the simple principle allows designers to develop elegant design works. This design philosophy appeals to me significantly.

Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?

HH : Taiwan is a picturesque and mountainous island on the Pacific Ocean and it demonstrates tremendous diversity in its cultural heritage. Especially, indigenous nations who have various legends, crafts, and ceremonies strongly represent Taiwan’s unique marine culture and spirit. To preserve this precious and traditional culture, I often attempt to embed spiritual and societal knowledge and practices into material design.

Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?

HH : I believe a good designer should be honest and self-disciplined. These characters are important virtues. From their background, these factors influence designers to do appropriate things and make correct decisions. Furthermore, if designers were honest and self-disciplined, supervisors or cooperators could communicate with them more effectively based on trust. Otherwise, I firmly believe that some job skills could be cultivated and shaped but it is not easy to change these personalities.

What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?

HH : In my opinion, I support that a designer should treat and solve social and environmental issues around our world positively. They would improve these problems and attempt to change this society better rather than make a lot of fads. In the future, I intend to continue informing people about Taiwan's unique culture through more design works. The main reason is that I aimed to focus on cultural issues and had a sense of mission for saving cultural heritage.

What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?

HH : From my point of view, acquiring A’ design award competition not only is an honour but also is communication with other people all over the world. More exactly, on this platform, I would be able to interact with designers from different cultural backgrounds to exchange ideas and share the practical challenges of my past work experience.

Hsu-Hung Huang Profile