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Gables, is called ‘cuo tou jiao’ in chaoshan dialect, meaning ear of the home. The towering and tall ‘cuo tou jiao’ is the conspicuous element of Chaoshan traditional houses, and a symbol to recognize home. This ‘cuo tou jiao’ is the key element in Prof. Haoyu Li’s design of this salt & pepper shaker set, which makes it realized that Chaoshan people can carry part of his home wherever he is all over the world. This set contains 2 shakers, 1 shaker holder and a tissue holder, which all inspired by the Chaoshan traditional architecture elements. The unique and traditional Chaoshan culture is reflected across its food, language and architecture. The harmonious and balance of 5 elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth from Feng Shui is always emphasized among them, so as in the building of ‘cuo tou jiao’. A rounder and wider shape represents Gold. A rounder but straighter represents Wood. A curving wave top represents Water. A closed angle top represents Fire, and a shorter but slimmer shape represents Earth. For better functional and shaping concern, a Gold ‘cuo tou jiao’ was chose and applied in the design of 2 shakers. …
Invited by 29th International FAMOUS Furniture Fair (DongGuan) Committee, I designed and joined this exhibition in March 2013, named as Second Life. Because all works showed there were re-design of existing furniture parts from my students. All materials for building the display space came from leftovers of bending plywood. The whole exhibition, not only shows different design ideas on leftover materials, but also emphasizes concepts of environmental design.
Many companies and institutions in Germany will hold design competition as one of the ways to collect good design ideas. I joined one held by Leitz, a company of stationery, and won the Prize of Best Market Prospect. I was inspired by the bowl pyramid and successfully saved places during transportation. My design was put into production in commission.
Winning of 2nd Prize from 3M Design Competition is a determination and beginning of my design profession in July 2002. This design concept which comes from a simple idea of 1 plus 1 equals 2 was applied and grew into the final outcome in 3 months and beats other 125 designers from Europeans. Sticky notes and marker pens are successfully combined in this design. I also gained great experience from 2 days workshop in Neuss 3M head office and the interviews by Design Reports. This design grew into production and won great portion in German and Japanese Markets.
This project was commissioned by Apollinaris of Germany, a company selling potable water, to design a special teapot representing their corporate identity in September 2005. Multiple access to the handle is one of the spotlights in my design. I was inspired by the Chinese tradition that people serves for each other when having tea.