I’m from Hong Kong, China, born on the mainland. Most of the time live and work in Guangdong.
MAGAZINE · INTERVIEW
Steven Yeung – Kar Studio
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Interview
Where were you born and where are you from?
What is your first memory connected to the art world?
I think I’ve been connected to the art world when I have the first memory, since everything in life is related to art or beauty.
Have you always worked in the art/design field?
Yes, after I got the diploma in Interior Design in the UK, I worked in the design industry of interior, clothing, and furniture till now.
What led you to design creation?
I’m not a social person and not good at communication. I found that creation could be a way to express myself, and started to draw or make clay models. Designing furniture, it is like an exit of my emotions and feelings.
How would you describe your creative process and its influences?
Normally, I start the creation by kneading clay without a specific aim of what it should be. The kneading stops when I feel the shape is right. All the traces and marks on the clay model are a reflection of my present emotions.
We use 3D printing to enlarge the model to the proper size, then prepare the mold for production. Thanks to the material properties of fiberglass, all the traces on the clay model are perfectly preserved and transferred onto the final work. Therefore, the feeling people experience when they see my design is a kind of echo of my emotions.
Could you describe a typical day of your work?
I’m in a daze most of the time when there’s no specific arrangement on the schedule. When there’s inspiration flashes or mood swings, I will start kneading right away for capturing the sense of that moment. Small clay models with strange shapes could be seen everywhere in my studio. But not all of them have the chance to become furniture. It takes time for me to consider and choose.
Why did you choose the specific materials you work with?
There are two reasons I choose fiberglass to work with:
The material feature. It can maintain all the traces and marks of my kneading. The work is like an extension of my emotions, waiting for an echo. It is the same as a poem printed on paper and being spread, so more people can read it and resonate with it.
The original color of the material. It is similar to jade. Jade is a typical Chinese material and a symbol of good fortune. In Chinese tradition, parents give a piece of jade to young children as a blessing. Perhaps that is why fiberglass feels vaguely familiar to me, and why I use it in my works.
What are the technical particularities of your creations?
The crafting. The entire process is handmade by the craftsman, including mold making, fiber layering, polishing, and more. It is extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive. Although each piece has the same shape, the handmade marks left on each one are different, making every piece unique.
What advice could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works?
See more, absorb more. The world is not lacking in beautiful designs, and thanks to the internet, it provides a variety of platforms for us to explore. After absorbing them, self-cognition and introspection are needed, like a process of sedimentary accretion. Then we may start creating and let the work speak for itself.
If your works had to belong to a design movement, how would you define it?
I have no idea which design movement I belong to, or perhaps all the designs do not belong to any design movement? It is of the creator’s own.
What designers and artists have influenced you?
Martin Margiela. Although he is a fashion designer, the brand’s furniture collection is full of interest. It inspired me to think about furniture design from different perspectives.
What contemporary designers do you appreciate?
There are a lot of great designs; most of them, I don’t know who their designers are, but I can see their spiritual world from the designs. I think it would be enough. So I will not list the names of only one or two people I know from my limited cognition.
What contemporary artists, in any kind of art, have you been inspired by?
Wong Kar Wai is a film director. He can always express complex and delicate emotions through his works. I am keen to express the same things in my works, though mine is through furniture.
If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be?
Emotional.
The Questionnaire
The Questions
(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust.
Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde,
Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Do what I feel passionate for
What is your greatest fear?
Nothingness of life
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Over-thinking
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Hypocritical
Which living person do you most admire?
My father
What is your greatest extravagance?
Refuse to inherit family business and start my own career
What is your current state of mind?
Can’t describe, it changes every minute
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Mercy
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Honesty
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Honesty
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
“What should we eat for dinner”
Which talent would you most like to have?
Fall asleep in anytime
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I don’t want anything change — any number change in π can’t make a complete circle, any changes happen will not make a complete me
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Marry my wife
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
A mirror
Where would you most like to live?
China
What is your most treasured possession?
All my design
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Pursuit but yet to get
What is your favorite occupation?
My current job
What is your most marked characteristic?
Complicated
What do you most value in your friends?
Honesty
Who are your favorite writers?
Sigmund Freud
Who is your hero of fiction?
No for the moment
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Chuang Tzu, a chief representative of Taoism thought
Who are your heroes in real life?
My wife
What are your favorite names?
Steven, of course. Otherwise why should I name myself in this
What is it that you most dislike?
Being misunderstood
What is your greatest regret?
None
How would you like to die?
Dying in any way is not acceptable to me at the moment
What is your motto?
Live for the moment
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