Practice Without Limits: Reflections on Three Years of Our Taipei Studio
Throughout my journey, I have often faced situations with no fixed answers or clear path. From studying design and art abroad and completing my doctoral research, to becoming a university professor and leaving academia to concentrate on my studio practice, I have learned to find my way through unfamiliar territory and be a light for myself and others.
I welcome challenges and do not want titles, systems or categories to define too early what I can do. I hope to remain a pioneer guided by freedom and self-discipline.
Not Repeating Myself
Human ability and creativity should not be limited by fields. Design formats, academic disciplines and professional roles help us understand the world, but they should never become fixed boundaries that constrain or hold us back.
I am grateful for the support of those around me. It allows me to explore beyond what already exists and enrich my life through new challenges.
Research and Practice
Bringing research and practice together is at the heart of how I work across traditional fields or disciplines. Research helps me set aside existing answers and return to the question or questions. Practice brings ideas into the real world and reveals the culture, people and practical limits behind each challenge.
Working across fields or disciplines is not about deliberately creating different types of work. It is about facing each challenge without setting limits in advance. The medium may change, but the goal remains the same: to connect ideas with meaningful outcomes.
Projects and Products in Parallel
Over the past three years, we have developed projects and products side by side. Our large-scale projects and cross-disciplinary collaborations, from architectural façades to public art at the airport, respond to complex questions in different spaces and public settings.
At the same time, product development and bespoke services have deepened our understanding of patterns, materials and market needs.
The Balance of Two Tracks
Maintaining these two directions is not easy. Large-scale projects require constant choices between production, regulations and collaboration among many parties. Brand and product development brings me back to the details, requiring sensitivity and commitment to both aesthetics and the market.
These two directions move at very different rhythms, but together they allow the studio to test how research can enter practice across different scales and media, with each experience informing and enriching the other.
A Deeper Gratitude
Over the past three years, I’m grateful to everyone who has given us the opportunities and the space to turn our boldest ideas into reality.
My deepest thanks go to our team members, collaborators, clients and partner organisations. Thank you for trusting us not only to complete work that has already been defined, but also to redefine questions, challenge established approaches and make previously impossible possibilities real.
From Individual Practice to the Future of a Cross-Disciplinary Platform
As the studio matures, my focus has expanded beyond individual practice to building a larger platform that brings together different skills. I hope to create a distinctive studio culture where designers, researchers, architects, engineers and manufacturers can exchange knowledge and connect industries. This will allow creativity and aesthetics to be more widely developed and applied, while helping the team reach international audiences and take its place on a larger stage.
Our next steps include presenting work alongside projects by internationally renowned architects and developing public art with a New York designer. Our new four-way repeat patterns will expand from gifts and fashion accessories into homeware and lifestyle products, bringing aesthetic experiences into everyday life and international exhibitions. The studio’s digital art software will also translate personal memories and be applied more deeply across projects and products.
As the world and our surroundings continue to change, the studio will explore new media and scales while expanding the ways we understand each challenge. We will remain curious, live with intention and turn ideas into practice, allowing our art to grow and flourish as we explore the unknown.
