Research Team

WHY DID YOU APPLY TO THE ITALIADESIGN FIELD SCHOOL PROGRAM?

I applied to the Field School to expand and continue my own development. I wanted to test my boundaries and find the balance between my teamwork and my individual capability. Italy is a country where we can experience both design and ancient traditions first hand. By studying the historical and current state of Italy, I would have a chance to understand the contrast in the ways that it grew, and developed over time.

WHAT I LEARNED

Generally?
As we moved around we faced different living conditions and we had to adapt FAST. It was difficult sometimes but we were able to manage all the different situations. I quickly learned to be able to roll with everything that came at me and calm my nerves during stressful times during the Field School. Despite the sometimes high-stress nature of the work we kept it cool and didn’t really annoy each other; rather we managed to rely on friendship, like a family. Working in such a team environment was a great and intense. I was delighted to live with twelve wonderful people but it was also a bit shocking as many of us were used to living alone or with family. I am glad that I had the chance to live so closely with other diverse people; although I must apologize to them about my snoring.

About Design?
Design is about giving form to my passion and the things I love. Design is about good process and good research. It’s not just about making another chair. It is about design and objects that move our design perspective further along. Design is a broad topic but as a designer, we should be able to apply different facets of design into a variety of disciplines. That’s what I learned.

About Innovation?
Innovation isn’t easy. Innovation is about the research and the love of what you are doing. It takes time and focus and effort over time. It is a result of good design process and it constantly builds knowledge and ideas atop each one other. Italian designers do this so well. They live it. In innovative design firms the designers are updating and improving past ideas, forms and technologies, in order to improve them and to enmesh the quality of the old into our current state of working and living. An innovation can be simple or complex depending on the problem, situation, and solution. But as innovators, we should be able to change the condition and experience of living and working by knowing how to introduce true innovations into the community. For the community.

About Design Process?
There are many different paths and methods to Design process and these methods often depend on the designer or the firm. Italian-based companies distribute their work to other designers, Cassina, Alessi and B&B Italia, will hire a variety of designers for new projects, bringing different perspectives into their world from the outside, keeping their ideas fresh. We saw that in most cases design process has to remain dynamic and open if it is to be truly innovative.

About Cities?
All cities are different. All human patterns are different. Rome is a social and cultural centre. It has a vibrant energy but its center is hidden behind the tourism. The skill is in pulling these skins or veils off and seeing what is below. Rome for example is alive with local energy as you go away from the centre, away from where most are all going. For example, you have to seek out great food, but if you do, it is so worth it. The food in Rome was something that I never expected to experience in my lifetime. Rome also exists within history and is filled with historical monuments and artifacts. So; Rome is these layers and many more. All cities are; that’s what I learned. But I also unfortunately learned that you should walk carefully not to walk on top of the relics (or paintings of Relics). Sorry!

In Dolciano, our retreat in rural Tuscany, it’s so calm and relaxing. We can be stressed to our limits but that could be relieved in Marino’s place, our home. And WOW with the hill towns the stress was relieved. One of my favorite moments was just walking through the hill towns. Each town was expressive and unique in their own ways. They all had their own distinct values that make them unique, despite that maybe only fifty kilometers separate them. They are all so fiercely distinct and proud.

Florence is like a dream. Walking in Florence is like walking into the perspective in an old painting, one that you can walk directly into. It’s all, just…perfect. The view from street level is often quite cramped and tight, noisy, but when you are at top of the Cupola of the Duomo, you cannot express how beautiful the city looks with all the red roofs extending into the distance. The parts to the whole. You see the pattern from above; the chaos is a pattern. If you want to learn about the roots of design, and of the artistic heart of Italy, Florence has to be one of the places you go.

Milan was just marvelous because we were able to communicate with top designers and we learned a lot from talking to each of them. Milan is a fashion and shopping city, a bustling core; but on Sunday it seems to fall asleep. The use of the streets and squares changes so much in Italy. I gained a great deal of experience exploring there, maybe more than in any other city.

Did you learn anything that significantly changed how you think? Or how you design? Or even, that changed your life?
I think I have a better understanding of my capability as a designer and a student. I would love to always be a student; there are so many subjects to learn about and process. Learning is an endless process. As a designer, we should design as if we are students, learning from every step we take. This is what I learned from Alberto Meda. Well, we heard that everywhere. Meda for me just put it in a way that stuck. Maybe a designer IS a student. Or should be.

What new perspective do you/did you come home with?
I would say that my vision for my future has changed due to design, and the study in Italy helped this. It changed what I think design does. Rather than thinking about “new new” ways of designing things, we should look into the consideration of user needs and people first as the basis of a design. My interests are in both design and engineering. As we more become familiar with user-centered design, we should take a step further to find a line between design and engineering. Or rather a sweet-spot between them. I think that’s what I’m finding. Meda has done this. If you are able to process a true innovation, it can work in different professions or disciplines, design, art, science, and etc. Maybe that’s what we can really learn from studying people like Leonardo, Brunelleschi, Alberti. They DID it. Can’t we?

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STUDYING ABROAD AND STUDYING AT HOME

Living at home, ( I live with my parents) we are fed and we are familiar with everything around us but when we are studying and living abroad there is some sense of unknown that keeps us sharper. Maybe too comfortable is something to challenge. On ItaliaDesign if you can learn to go with the flow and adapt you enjoy and learn from the living situations. I think this made our work different and more exciting. Something was shared and made better, more diverse. I think you conquer fear.

FAVOURITE MOMENTS

I would have to say just being together with the group was my favorite moment. It was just delightful to be joined to twleve intelligent, passionate people with common interests. That were able to have a six-week long conversation; a chat, about what we do and what we wish to accomplish.

MY TRANSCENDENT MOMENT

"Coming down, I felt a moment of transcendence as I glanced at the city of Florence with the wind brushing against my body, feeling a greater appreciation for the elegance of Florence and the historical value it has kept through years of transformation."

Download this and the rest of my Florence moments here

MOST MEMORABLE INTERVIEW MOMENT/QUOTE

The most memorable interview has to be the day where we met up with Meda and Isao Hosoe back to back. Each designer comes from different spectrums of background, focus, and process but they both are trying to confront and design for the human lifestyle by solving the issue or answering a question through their design. It was inspiring.

FAVORITE PLACE/SPACE

I really liked the spot high above the Tuscan town of Cortona where we could look out over the countryside surrounding Cortona. A place where there is no end to the view that feels as if it is out of a painting. I enjoyed these moments most during our Tuscan Hill Town tours. The feelings seemed enhanced being so far from home and seeing it together with friends. It all changed so quickly with light, time of day, so that when a perfect moment happened, you knew it and we would sit speechless and just take it in. Tuscany is a magical place.

MY FAVORITE ITALIAN

I would have to say Alberto Meda. He is giving back to the design community as a maestro, a role model, and as a teacher. He influences the high design culture but he’s also always learning. His humility and skill made me conscious of my need to always learn and improve on my own knowledge.

MY CAPTURED MOMENTS

ADVICE FOR UPCOMING ITALIA DESIGN STUDENTS

Take risks and if you have questions to “do it or not”, just do it. Go for it and experience the new environment. Don’t be too shocked about cultural difference but embrace it and try to cope in the environment. LASTLY, if you know bit of Italian, you are set.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Escaped from Meadowridge Independent School in 2003 and began SFU in the following semester in TechOne. I took my major in Interaction Design and I am still in progress towards completing my degree.

CAREER GOALS AND INTERESTS

I am aiming towards my second major in engineering and learning the technical abilities to join with my design perspective.

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

I am from South Korea and I was born to a farming family.