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Featured Artist Interview - JOYN:DESIGN
BY
Sammie
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It's no surprise China is in the limelight. With its contemporary arts so harmoniously diffused with its endless cultural heritage, the pride of the east is speculated to stem as one of the superpowers, not only in the economy, and in the creative industry as well.
TAXI had the pleasure to interview three very talented chinese designers, Cyan, Frank and Jian, who are currently based Down Under. Collectively, they operate under a name we will all love to hear - JOYN:DESIGN.
TAXI >> Perhaps you will want to start by telling us more about your outfit? Like how you guys got together and get it all started?
JOYN >> The common ambition of creating something refreshing on the web brought a gang of friends together to form JOYN:DESIGN. As students we were trying to learn more things by practising on the real field, and gain little recognition from the industry. As design enthusiasts, we are eager to communicate with all the creative people around. That's why we built up a little platform not only to present our own works, express our own thoughts and passion, but also to make friends, and join the force of design. That's why we're named "JOYN:DESIGN". The team is made up of Cyan, Frank and Jian. We're all from China and currently studying and working in Sydney, where various cultures are mixed, remixed together. All those exciting multicultural experiences provide us plenty of opportunities (reasons) to get started with something fun and meaningful.
TAXI >> That sounds good. JOYN:DESIGN hails from China, a place with strong cultural heritage. How do you expect design will grow in your country, say, in the next five years?
JOYN >> We believed that China does have a strong cultural heritage, which we should be proud of. However, what worried us is the emerging force of western branding had changed some tradition of Chinese design industry to lean to the western style in the recent years. The community are aware of this issue, large Chinese corporations become more concerning on build their own visual language and identity, which may affect the Chinese design industry to rectify its trends to more oriental. To be honestly, this is really a big and ponderous topic encountered by all Chinese designers and it's definitely the mission we wish to contribute to, in terms of collaborating with other conscious designers to clarify our own cultural stands. We believe the situation would be getting better in the upcoming years.
TAXI >> Tell us a somebody whom you desperately yearn to work with. And what kind of collaboration will it be?
JOYN >> Frankly, we desperately yearn to work with anyone on inspirational projects, based on the principle of JOYN: DESIGN. We had quite a few close partners on graphic design, photography, fine arts, advertising, and even IT. We enjoyed the collaboration on projects for fun, that's the way we knowing people from the industry and create trusts. To earn the meals, we also wish to have build partnerships with someone/company with stronger marketing and sales backgrounds. As for talking about a very current ambition, it would be holding a design conference in China with one of the most reputable design communities such as DiK and BD4D. We think the purpose of doing such thing is more likely to promote a further understanding of contemporary visual communication. It also aims to sharpen perceptions of young Chinese designers and encourage real progress among them, rather than simply providing another occasion for self-made celebration.
TAXI >> Alright, what's keeping you guys busy for the moment?
JOYN >> Except doing the daytime work for surviving, we're busy in running our first global collaboration - PLUGZINE02 - this moment. It's sort of visual dialogue between east & west, trying to bring together young artists and designers to explore the concept of 'osmosis'. Soon it will be launched at our website. Another project brewing is a printed magazine, supposed to get off the ground later this year. Keep your eyes out.:-) :-) :-)
TAXI >> Define too-good-to-be-true design. Maybe name your design hero.
Frank > Every sparkling design piece is like a hero to me, just don't have words to define them.
Cyan > It's really hard to define too-good-to-be-true design as well as Design Hero. Never be the best, be better-that's the way design attracts countless individuals following on.
Jian > Yes, it's difficult to articulate the definition in few words. It might depend on instinct somehow, here I'd like to simply list several individuals/teams that inspire us a lot: GTF, DiK, Netdiver, Phunk, TDR, SHIFT, Neomu, AlanChan, Whynot, K10K, Tiger..
TAXI >> Tell us one secret no-one knows about JOYN:DESIGN. Just one. Maybe two, if you wish.
JOYN >> Ha-ha, it's a tricky question. We always share things we know on the web, please JOYN to our online news section frequently.
TAXI >> Hey, that's not a secret! Last question - If there's a TAXI in front of you right now, where will you be heading to?
Frank > Jesus Christ, I'm on the 6th floor!
Cyan > HOME, if the driver can take me there.
Jian > The beach, if it's a sunny day, but not too far since it's a TAXI.
JOYN >> Thanks for having us! We're very honored to be part of TAXI.
TAXI had the pleasure to interview three very talented chinese designers, Cyan, Frank and Jian, who are currently based Down Under. Collectively, they operate under a name we will all love to hear - JOYN:DESIGN.
TAXI >> Perhaps you will want to start by telling us more about your outfit? Like how you guys got together and get it all started?
JOYN >> The common ambition of creating something refreshing on the web brought a gang of friends together to form JOYN:DESIGN. As students we were trying to learn more things by practising on the real field, and gain little recognition from the industry. As design enthusiasts, we are eager to communicate with all the creative people around. That's why we built up a little platform not only to present our own works, express our own thoughts and passion, but also to make friends, and join the force of design. That's why we're named "JOYN:DESIGN". The team is made up of Cyan, Frank and Jian. We're all from China and currently studying and working in Sydney, where various cultures are mixed, remixed together. All those exciting multicultural experiences provide us plenty of opportunities (reasons) to get started with something fun and meaningful.
TAXI >> That sounds good. JOYN:DESIGN hails from China, a place with strong cultural heritage. How do you expect design will grow in your country, say, in the next five years?
JOYN >> We believed that China does have a strong cultural heritage, which we should be proud of. However, what worried us is the emerging force of western branding had changed some tradition of Chinese design industry to lean to the western style in the recent years. The community are aware of this issue, large Chinese corporations become more concerning on build their own visual language and identity, which may affect the Chinese design industry to rectify its trends to more oriental. To be honestly, this is really a big and ponderous topic encountered by all Chinese designers and it's definitely the mission we wish to contribute to, in terms of collaborating with other conscious designers to clarify our own cultural stands. We believe the situation would be getting better in the upcoming years.
TAXI >> Tell us a somebody whom you desperately yearn to work with. And what kind of collaboration will it be?
JOYN >> Frankly, we desperately yearn to work with anyone on inspirational projects, based on the principle of JOYN: DESIGN. We had quite a few close partners on graphic design, photography, fine arts, advertising, and even IT. We enjoyed the collaboration on projects for fun, that's the way we knowing people from the industry and create trusts. To earn the meals, we also wish to have build partnerships with someone/company with stronger marketing and sales backgrounds. As for talking about a very current ambition, it would be holding a design conference in China with one of the most reputable design communities such as DiK and BD4D. We think the purpose of doing such thing is more likely to promote a further understanding of contemporary visual communication. It also aims to sharpen perceptions of young Chinese designers and encourage real progress among them, rather than simply providing another occasion for self-made celebration.
TAXI >> Alright, what's keeping you guys busy for the moment?
JOYN >> Except doing the daytime work for surviving, we're busy in running our first global collaboration - PLUGZINE02 - this moment. It's sort of visual dialogue between east & west, trying to bring together young artists and designers to explore the concept of 'osmosis'. Soon it will be launched at our website. Another project brewing is a printed magazine, supposed to get off the ground later this year. Keep your eyes out.:-) :-) :-)
TAXI >> Define too-good-to-be-true design. Maybe name your design hero.
Frank > Every sparkling design piece is like a hero to me, just don't have words to define them.
Cyan > It's really hard to define too-good-to-be-true design as well as Design Hero. Never be the best, be better-that's the way design attracts countless individuals following on.
Jian > Yes, it's difficult to articulate the definition in few words. It might depend on instinct somehow, here I'd like to simply list several individuals/teams that inspire us a lot: GTF, DiK, Netdiver, Phunk, TDR, SHIFT, Neomu, AlanChan, Whynot, K10K, Tiger..
TAXI >> Tell us one secret no-one knows about JOYN:DESIGN. Just one. Maybe two, if you wish.
JOYN >> Ha-ha, it's a tricky question. We always share things we know on the web, please JOYN to our online news section frequently.
TAXI >> Hey, that's not a secret! Last question - If there's a TAXI in front of you right now, where will you be heading to?
Frank > Jesus Christ, I'm on the 6th floor!
Cyan > HOME, if the driver can take me there.
Jian > The beach, if it's a sunny day, but not too far since it's a TAXI.
JOYN >> Thanks for having us! We're very honored to be part of TAXI.