Jason Shih
1. Please give us a brief bio of yourself and your design background.
Hey! I'm Jason Shih, a graduate of the School for American Crafts at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, USA, where I majored in Metal Sculpture. I also hold a Ph.D. in Art from the China Academy of Art, obtained in 2015. Currently, I reside in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, where I dedicate most of my time to sculpture and public art projects.
2. What made you become/why did you choose to become a designer/artist?
As a professional sculptor, I like to experience the taste of life with perceptual observation in the subtle moments. Another reason why I chose to become one is the reason that the experience I go through is like the ever-changing situation of game shapes in the poetic imaginary space. For me, art creation is where you share various moods and stories in daily life.
3. Tell us more about your agency/company, job profile, and what you do.
There's a lot to tell about! But it would be better for you to have a look yourself -Good Art Co. Ltd, website is https://jasonshih.com. For me belief is passion is the key, hence most of what I do in my life is creating and sculpting embodiments of beauty that will last an eternity.
4. What does “design” mean to you?
For me, design would mean 3 things:
1. Poetic imagination
2. The dynamics of light and shadow
3. Rhythm of volume
5. What’s your favorite kind of design and why?
My creations are all an interpretation of kinetic energy or dynamics from the aesthetic context of Futurism (1909-) and Constructivism (1917-). It is the speed and continuous movement displayed by the kinetic energy of nature and animals are often full of charming energy images. My pursue of the beauty of dynamic energy itself that can be interpreted in a restrained and elegant manner at the moment of defying gravity, flying in the air, and sliding.
6. To you, what makes a “good” design?
What makes a good design? That's simple: Sincere creation embodies the beauty of eternity.
7. How did you come up with the idea for your award-winning design?
My idea for the winning design is an abstract sculpture that adopts a simplified aesthetic that uses simplicity to control complexity.
8. What was your main source of inspiration for this design?
My main source of inspiration would have been my intuition. I'm good at translating the aesthetic insights in daily life into profound and timeless elements, gathering pure energy in concise and concise words. My creations start from the delicate humanistic thinking of oriental sentiments and invoke the bright expression techniques of contemporary visual art in form and colour. The characteristics of the work are simplicity yet grandeur, attention to detail and full of dramatic tension. In a lively and creative modern style, it elaborates on contemporary humanities.
9. Do you think your country and its cultural heritage has an impact on your design process?
Yes, especially from the oriental trend.
10. Congratulations! As the winner of the London Design Awards, what does it mean to you and your company and team to receive this award distinction?
Thank you! It has been an honour for me to win the 2024 London Design Awards, as it was a self-fulfillment dream to be a part of one of the most distinguished few in the field of design.
11. Can you explain a bit about the winning work you entered into the London Design Awards, and why you chose to enter this project?
Sculpture is to interpret the beauty of light and shadow, rhythm and volume through the visual techniques of colour, shape, and texture. The qualities that the creators of sculpture pursue to touch people's hearts are as abstract as temperature and smell but rich in profound penetrating power.
This aura that directly points to people's hearts, and the aesthetic sense that makes people enter the drama in resonance, may also be like nostalgia, embodied in the nostalgia of seeing things and thinking about them, and the timid expectation of being close to the hometown.
12. Who has inspired you in your life and why?
Sea breeze, mountain mist, morning sun, and sunset, in addition to shape and colour, there is also the memory of temperature. Cooking smoke, hot soup, wooden tables, pottery cups, the echo of the smell is the gradual tone of nostalgia.
In people's daily aesthetic experience, the memory of temperature and smell accompanied by touch often becomes a kind of fuse to revisit the journey of old dreams.
The work involved in sculpture creation is to "condense" and record all kinds of beautiful presence in this beautiful time and space in an appropriate way and with true emotions.
13. What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?
Sincere creation embodies the beauty of eternity.
