May 12th, 2010
Interview with Dookaz Designer - Crystal Maisie
1. What are your current occupation and state of mind ? 請介紹下自己
I’m a product designer by day and an illustrator by night. I use to dream about having my own little shop selling by own little brand. I can’t say I’m there yet, but I’ve started my little collection of illustrations and hand made goodies… you can check out my stuff at http://www.sunnysideup.hk/ !
Being a Christian, I also hope to spread the Gospel through my works. Many people are scared and defensive when they hear about Christianity/God/Jesus, they think that Christians are weird and boring and serious. I hope that through my works, I can make Christianity more approachable and spark an interest for people to seek more about Christianity.
2. Why do you like design? 爲何喜歡設計?
I think if a design is powerful enough, you can really change the world. I’m not trying to change the world, but I hope that through my designs, I can spread some good and positive energy to world and doing my part to make the world a better place.
3. How would you describe your style of art? 你的設計風格如何?
My art is quite raw and cute in a twisted way. I am a big fan of masking tapes and I love to use them to patch different elements together in my art to create a scrap book. My brain is actually full of bits and pieces of information that I patch together, so I just visualize what’s in my head.
My message is always positive but the colors and textures have a hint of darkness within all the colors. I want to reflect how the world is, it is not always perfect, not always bright and colorful, but everything we see still has beauty in it despite of the imperfection.
4. Where did you get your inspiration for your design? 從何得到設計靈感?
Inspiration is everywhere. I like to look at people around me, or details that seem to be insignificant to other people- like the grass between the cracks of the pavement. I get inspired from other art pieces, music, movies, things happening around the world, the Bible, basically anything that my senses can absorb. These inspirations tends to come suddenly like a light bulb going on, so I usually have a log-book and pen with me because you never know when you’ll be inspired.
If I’m really researching on a specific topic or theme, I like to read about it and transform the words into visual elements. I like to get inspired by poetry and language, it’s beautiful how words go together with the visual elements and adds impact to the whole piece.
5. What cultural influences have influenced your style and subject matter? 哪些文化因素曾影響過你的設計風格和主題?

I can’t really pinpoint which cultural influences have influenced by art. Growing up in Hong Kong, we’re exposed to many different cultures, so I believe my work is influenced by multi-culture. I would like to look a bit more into Chinese culture in my future works as I am, after all, a Chinese.
For the subject matter, the Bible has a lot of influence on it, as it’s a book full of wise words, advice, and beautiful poetry. It is definitely my favorite book. I am always experimenting with different styles, or having different themes in my work. But the center of my themes always points to positivity.
6. Who is your favorite artist of all time and why? 你最喜歡的藝術家是?爲什麽?

My favorite artist of all time is Salvador Dali. He is an artist with not only an amazing technique, he had wild and bizarre ideas in his head and is not bound by a little box called reality. He is highly imaginative and is not afraid to show them. It’s his boldness and charisma that makes him so unique
7. What kind of design website do you often visit? 你平時喜歡去哪些設計網站?
I don’t really have specific design websites… actually I just google a lot.
8. Tell us about the design process for your picked design? How did you get the inspiration? What to express? 談談你的獲選設計?靈感來自何處?想表達什麽?
Love Our World:
This is to show and express our love to the world and Mother Nature. The world is in such a chaos and it seems to be all tangled up. But underneath the tangle and mess, you can still find beauty underneath.

To world with Love:
This is also to show our love and appreciation to the world. What’s happier than to receive a huge bouquet of balloons?



World Cup Babies:
The once every four years World Cup event is so hot that even babies from different countries are counting down to World Cup! I try to incorporate each countries significant symbols and colors to each design, and add football related baby elements to make the world cup design cuter and a bit different from the usual World Cup designs we see.
9. How did you hear Dookaz.com? 如何得知Dookaz.com?
I met Iris at Design Mart @ Detour 2009. We had a nice little chat during the event and that’s how I found out!
10. Why choose Dookaz as the platform to publish your design? 爲何選擇Dookaz作爲設計發表平臺?
Dookaz is a great platform for designers to transform their designs to real products. Dookaz’s aim to spread positive message goes in parallel to the objective of my works, so I hope that together, we could spread more positive energy to everyone.
11. How do you comment on Dookaz.com? 對Dookaz有何評價?
Dookaz is very positive and supportive to the local designers. I can definitely see the passion in what they do!














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