Interview with Lau King

Lau King ("LK") interviewed on Sunday, 15 November.

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

LK : I was graduated from Schools of Creative Media in City University and I have been an artist and photographer for about 8 years. Visto Images, Rosewood Guangzhou, Artcm Nanjing, Singapore the Artling, Shanghai Wondulful Department, Beijing Ancient Architecture Design Institute, Beijing T.K. Chu Design, these are my clients I have worked with.

How did you become a designer?

LK : Being an artist is always my dream. Before being an established artist, I worked as a commercial photographer. The turning point of my life is after hitting the rock bottom in 2018 which I got betrayed and disrespected from the people I worked with, then I realized my value and decided to answer the calling of my path as an artist after I got my first sale around my birthday time in 2019. I am a self-taught artist in taking this path.

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

LK : My approach in creating my artworks is 1) Observation , 2) Inspiration, 3) Sensation. World is my canvas which I do not restrict myself to any specific theme. I shoot when I feel inspired or excited about the things I saw. My phone or digital camera are my best companion in creating those artworks. As inspiration come in a flash of mind. Fast, compact and on hands camera would be my best tools in creation.

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

LK : Inspiration comes anytime. Mostly when I am in alone moment in which I could connect to my soul without much disturbance. I used to wander around the street to discover anything I found fresh and interesting to shoot. Sometimes there is an inner voice calling me to stop and shoot, I think this is what we call intuition.

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

LK : Before being a full time artist, I worked as commercial photographer after graduated from university. I love photography since I was young and I self-taught myself photography skills and later on become a professional photographer. After several years of work, I found that whatever genres of photography I shoot I could not find contentment on it. And I discover the most valuable and important to me is my own photography which represents my soul and my journey.

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

LK : Things won’t happen over night. You must be patience and persistency on your dream. There will be a lot of obstacles and discourage moment along the path, treats every trials and errors as a kind of boost for strengthening your spiritual muscles. Your will be grateful that you have not given up in this marathon after reaching the light of the tunnel.

What is your day to day look like?

LK : I wake up and do a little meditation, make myself a good breakfast and tea. Then I either start working at home office, connecting with client or going out for a relax walk on mountain. If days are sunny, I would love to go to have a sunbath on beach. Connecting with nature is very essential and vital to me and our body.

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

LK : I love to explore the world and there are still cities I want to visit. Paris, Kyoto, Milan, Shanghai and Bali, these are some of my favourite cities which there are a lot of beauty and interesting thing to discover. Other than Photography, Music is sort of my second life. I can live without music as well. I listen to different genres of music everyday which I connect to its vibes. The vibes could boost your mood of your days and how you see the world. I am currently at Hong Kong now. Working on some online exhibition now. Due to pandemic, some offline exhibition and a commission project incurred significant delay. Thanks to photography, I love my life every single day. I could discover something exciting in our everyday life. Life is full of beauty and miracles.

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

LK : I hope my works and my approach in creation can change and raise the consciousness of the world. I wish people could stay focus in the present, aware of the beauty around us, especially nature. And I wish young people are dare to follow their heart and chase their dream. When I have more resources, I think I would establish a fund for people who have difficulties in achieving their path as an artist.

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

LK : Really thank you A’ Design Award helping and guiding a lot of knowledge from its PR and promotion programme such as interviews and features, which help a lot in understanding ourself as a designer/artist to share the good works to the world. Besides, the exhibition opportunities from A’ Design Award are also very valuable. Not only we can exhibit at Como, Milan, we could also exhibit our works at extra more place like China, gaining more exposure to different audience in the world. Last, in a career wise, it definitely helps us gaining a lot more recognition and prestige in the field of our works. In this way, it helps us advance our career to a higher level of attainment. Therefore, joining design competitions are inevitably a good idea to raise our standard and advancing in our career to the next level, sharing our good works in a larger stage. Being the Designer of the Day is truly a honour to me and hope my insights can contribute and ignite some sparks to the audience.