Xingyi Huang is Beijing born designer currently based in Chicago. Her latest collection, Water Creature, feature fantastical delicate structures that hold together in gorgeous colourful harmony. We sat down with her to learn more about her inspiration, her influences and where she sees her work in the future.
How did you become interested in studying fashion design?
Ever since I was young, I always had a lot of passion for dressing up and putting weird outfits together. My mom has a sewing machine, and she is good at sewing and that inspired me to sew. It came natural to me that I would study fashion design to learn more about what I ‘d like to do.
Does your background influence the way you think about design?
I think it does in some type of ways because some of my designs are inspired by certain elements that belong to Chinese culture, like the structures and the math behind it. I think designing a piece, the shape has a lot of calculations behind, and I’d like to make most of my pieces symmetrical or balanced.
Your designs are quite fantastical, tell me about what inspires them and the characters you create in your head that inform your design?
Thank you, they’re all my imagination combined with the inspiration of the sea creatures that I’ve seen, their colour and shapes are dreamy and amazed me. I haven’t used too many colours in my old designs, and I was excited to try out some colours. Personally, this collection is a soft escape from reality, but eventually brought more colours to reality.
How do these characters inspire your creative vision and process?
These characters are all very fun and dreamy and mystical I want to give each one of them a storyline and from there hopefully more characters and storylines will be born. In a sense these characters are all me and my friends alters in another world.
How do the materials you use influence your design?
When I’m picking out materials, I’m so happy. I think the vibrant energy of my excitement is what drives my entire creative process. I love picking out beautiful different stimulating materials that inspire the shape of the designs and challenges unconventional strategies in creation.
What would you like the audience to take away from your work?
I would love to inspire people like me to indulge in their imagination to create their own world.
As a designer, do you see your work within commercial retail spaces, or do you see what you create as art?
Both. Some ready to wear lines are designed for retail spaces, some other pieces are customizable and for exhibition purposes. And some are for me.
Where do you see yourself taking your work next?
Right now, I’m in Chicago but I want to go to Shanghai or Beijing where I’m from. I haven’t been back to China for couple years and I feel disconnected from the Chinese fashion industry. Otherwise, I’m looking forward to collaborating with other artists remotely.
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