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    Steven Yeung / Kar- Studio

    Steven Yeung / Kar- Studio

    1. Where were you born and where are you from ?

    I’m from Hong Kong China, born in mainland. Most of the time live and work in Guangdong.

    2. What is your first memory connected to the art world ?

    I think I’m connected to the art world when I have the first memory, since everything in life is related to art or beauty.

    3. Have you always worked in the art/design field ?

    Yes, after I got the diploma of Interior Design in UK, I worked in the design industry of interior, clothing and furniture till now.

    4. What led you to the design creation ?

    I’m not a social person, and not good at communication. I found creation could be a way to express myself, and started to draw or making clay models. Designing furniture, it is like an exit of my emotion and feeling.

    5. How would you describe your creative process and it influences ?

    Normally I start the creation from clay-kneading, without a specific aim of  “ what it should be”. The kneading will be stopped when I think the shaped is desired, all the traces and marks on the clay model is a reflect of my present emotion. We use 3D printing to enlarge the model into a proper size, then prepare the mold for manufacture. Benefit from the material feature of fiberglass, all the traces on the clay model is perfectly remained and copied on to the works. Therefore the feeling from people who see my design is a kind of echo to my emotions.

    6. 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 the kneading right away, for capturing the sense of that moment. Small clay models with strange shape could be seen everywhere in my studio. But not all of them has the chance to become a furniture. It takes time for me to consider and choose.

    7. Why did you choose the specific materials you work with ?

    There are two reasons I choose fiberglass to work with:

    The material feature. It could maintain all the traces and marks of my kneading, the work is like a extension of my emotion, and it is await for an echo. Same like the poem is printed on paper and being spread,more people read and get resonated.

    The original color of the material is similar with jade. Jade is a typical Chinese material, it is a symbol of good fortune. In Chinese tradition parents give a piece of jade to young children as a bless. Perhaps it is the reason I feel vaguely familiar with the fiberglass and use it on my works.

    8. What are the technical particularities of your creations ?

    The crafting. All the process is hand-made by the craftsman, including mold shaping, fiber-layering, polishing etc., It extremely consume time and effort. Though each piece is in same shape, but the hand-made marks left on them are different, making each of them a unique piece.

    9. What advices could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works ?

    See more, absorb more — The world is no lacking of nice designs, and thanks to the internet, it provide variety of platforms for us to explore. After the absorbing, a self-cognition and introspection is in need, as a sedimentary accretion. Then we may start the creation, let the work speak for yourself.

    10. If your works had to belong to a design movement, in which one 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.

    11. What designers have influenced you ?

    Martin Margiela. Though he is a clothing designer, but the furniture collection of the brand is full of interest. It inspired me to think from different aspects to design furniture.

    12. 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.

    13. What contemporary artists (in any kind of art) have you been inspired by ?

    Wong Kar Wai, the film director. He can always express complex and delicate emotions through his works. I am keen to express the same things in my works, thought mine is through furniture.

    14. If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be ?

    Emotional

    15. Is there anything you would like to add ?

    “Thank you for the interview.”

    Proust Questionnaire with very short answers (one or a few words) :
    (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…)

    1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?

    Do what I feel passionate for.

    2. What is your greatest fear?

    Nothingness of life

    3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

    Over-thinking

    4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?

    Hypocritical

    5. Which living person do you most admire?

    My father

    6. What is your greatest extravagance?

    Refuse to inherit family business and start my own career.

    7. What is your current state of mind?

    Can’t describe, it changes every minute.

    8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

    Mercy

    9. What is the quality you most like in a man?

    Honesty

    10. What is the quality you most like in a woman?

    Honesty

    11. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

    What should we eat for dinner”

    12. Which talent would you most like to have?

    Fall asleep in anytime

    13. 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.

    14. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

    Marry my wife

    15. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

    A mirror

    16. Where would you most like to live?

    China

    17. What is your most treasured possession?

    All my design

    18. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

    Pursuit but yet to get

    19. What is your favorite occupation?

    My current job

    20. What is your most marked characteristic?

    Complicated

    21. What do you most value in your friends?

    Honesty

    22. Who are your favorite writers?

    Sigmund Freud

    23. Who is your hero of fiction?

    No for the moment

    24. Which historical figure do you most identify with?

    Chuang Tzu, a chief representative of Taoism thought.

    25. Who are your heroes in real life?

    My wife

    26. What are your favorite names?

    Steven, of course. Otherwise why should I name myself in this.

    27. What is it that you most dislike?

    Being misunderstood

    28. What is your greatest regret?

    None

    29. How would you like to die?

    Dying in any way is not acceptable to me at the moment

    30. What is your motto?

    Live for the moment

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