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Interview with Ho Kuan Teck |
Home > Designer Interviews > Ho Kuan Teck |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Ho Kuan Teck (HKT) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Ho Kuan Teck by clicking here.
FS: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
HKT: I'm 3D artist for Movie and Game industry, it's my childhood dream to become an artist.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
HKT: My company is a luxury handmade leather goods company, we run this company since 2014. Our company goal is to design our own bags and made it by hand.
FS: What is "design" for you?
HKT: Design, is to create something that can relate to daily use or for user life.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
HKT: I love design leather product like handbags or leather goods.
FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
HKT: Leather goods design is my favorite, it's a quite big challenge to design because thereI have a lot of similarities leather goods in the market with very limitations of design.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
HKT: The first thing I designed is character design, which is for TV Commercial.
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
HKT: I love leather as a material for designing, I will choose to use 3D software for more complex development.
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
HKT: Researching is the most creative, because I can have a lot non logical thinking before develop the design.
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
HKT: I will focus more in final product quality and function yet the design remain the same.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
HKT: When I design I felt excited and motivated.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
HKT: I will felt neutral and try to get more comments from friends and customers.
FS: What makes a design successful?
HKT: Strong idea and concept make a design successful.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
HKT: The way how to translate idea to final design will be my first considered.
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
HKT: As a designer, we need to design something good in design yet have quality,
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
HKT: The design field is always play an important role when develop new products or design. We can live without design.
FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
HKT: The last exhibition was at Singapore last year, I have no any new exhibition unless I have get any notification from organizer or company.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
HKT: Most of my creativity inspiration comes from everyday life. I like to think differently and try more before have any references.
FS: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
HKT: My design style is more on blend the shape and keywords. more like translate abstract to shape.
FS: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
HKT: I live in Singapore, the culture of Singapore is a combination of Asian and European cultures. Influenced by Malay, South Asian, East Asian, and Eurasian cultures, Singapore has been dubbed as a country where "East meets West".
FS: How do you work with companies?
HKT: I have enough information and research before designing, and have enough freedom for develop concept before designing for companies.
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
HKT: The briefing or requirement for designer must clear, leave the creativity for designer as much as possible when they doing conceptual. Companies can prepare some test for designer, this will quickly find the right designer for the company.
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
HKT: Before designing, I will try to understand a keywords or requirements, looking for inspiration from the surroundings, then develop all this element and translate to design.
FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
HKT: 5 of my favorite design item at home was: customize pendant lights, wall clock, leather stitching pony, leather sofa and cement vase.
FS: Can you describe a day in your life?
HKT: The day in my life is that I am still alive, this is a day that allows me to continue to create.
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
HKT: Think out of box. If there is an idea, there is design, creative is endless.
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
HKT: Being designer, you can design your own work with no limitation. But sometimes client will limit down your creativity due to budget or marketing purpose.
FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
HKT: As I always said, think out of box. Life is the source of inspiration.
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
HKT: Thinking is the most important skills for a designer.
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
HKT: Pencil and note book is always important for me. I will always carrying pencil and note book with me to anywhere.
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
HKT: I love to designing when I was travel with Rapid Transit, and will schedule at least an hour for designing a day after dinner.
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
HKT: It's depend on complexity of design, it can be done within few hours or few months. Mostly, I will spend about 1~2 months to design and develop a handbag.
FS: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
HKT: The most frequent question to me is: Who was my target audience? Will the design related with function?
FS: What was your most important job experience?
HKT: My most important job is to focus on my own work. As long as each individual is able to accomplish their own goals, the whole will be made stronger.
FS: Who are some of your clients?
HKT: My clients was females.
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
HKT: Handbags and leather goods is the most enjoyed because it's a very fun to develop customer's requirements.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
HKT: My future plan was to keep develop my brand with good design products.
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
HKT: I was develop my design by myself.
FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
HKT: I have a series of works-in-progress design bags, still in develop. This series is inspired by South East Asia Chinese cultural, and key word is called "Nanyang".
FS: How can people contact you?
HKT: People can contact me from email : myuraleather@gmail.com or call the phone: +65 9187 8320
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A’ Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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