Interview
Andy Tseng
1 Please give us a brief bio of yourself and your design background.
I have been on the interior design industry since 2004. As I used to run a hotel business in the domestic, I wanted to design rooms with my own style for those who come to travel could have a unique living experience. Since then, I have transformed myself from a design amateur into a professional one by extensively reading, learning and working with construction workers on site to enter the interior design industry.
2 What made you become/why did you choose to become a designer/artist?
The main reason inspires me to be a designer is that the guests who have stayed at our hotel. Seeing the satisfied smile on their face makes me determine to become a designer.
3 Tell us more about your business/company, job profile, and what you do.
Our company is engaged in various business projects, including self-built properties, renovation of old buildings, commercial space design, interior space design, system furniture and kitchenware, as well as government public works construction. I am the manager in the company. I am in charge of the company's operational planning and the design planning of all projects.
4 What does “design” mean to you?
Design means my interest and sense of accomplishment. I enjoy seeing the happy expression on my clients' faces when they see the work I've done for them. This is the reason why I love design and what supports me to keep motivating.
5 What’s your favorite kind of design and why?
My favorite type of interior design is residential (home) design. I hope to help my clients feel relaxed by living in a cozy space we designed after a busy day at work.
6 To you, what makes a “good” design?
As for me, a good design is not only to achieve the client’s needs but also make them feel unlimited free within a limited space.
7 Describe your design style and its main characteristics.
My design style is modern minimalist style. The main feature is to maximize the limited space and create more available spaces for the clients.
8 Tell us about your design process.
Step 1, listen: Listen to the client’s needs and ideas. Step 2, analyze: Help the client’s gets to know what is the design they truly need. Step 3, integrate: Combine the client's ideals with the practical situation. Step 4, advise: Give the client the best design project advice Step 5, finalize: The client makes the final decision on the design plan.
9 Do you think your country and its cultural heritage has an impact on your design process?
Yes, I do. The impact is quite great. Since the lifestyle in our country tends to be more practical, so my design style mostly close to the modern minimalism, and it also influence me unconsciously focusing on maximizing the client's storage space.
10 Congratulations! As the winner of the 2023 MUSE Design Awards, what does it mean to you and your company and team to receive this award distinction?
Being able to receive the award, I am very surprised and glad. After all, there were so many participants from different countries, and their works were all excellent. I am grateful to get this such highly praise of my work from the judges. Winning this award is a great recognition for both our company and me. It makes us feel worth putting all the efforts to keep taking challenges in the future.
11 Can you explain a bit about the winning work you entered into the 2023 MUSE Design Awards, and why you chose to enter this project?
When I designed Juzhen, just like its name, I hoped to create a commercial space that was no longer a place for work or business negotiations, but a place that could bring warm, relaxing, and a strong sense of design to our clients. Therefore, I designed children's play area, office area, meeting area, and material display area into an open space to make clients not be distracted for their kids while discussing the project. Through the design, it also let the family find out their own spaces and enhance their relationship. Because of this concept, I hope have more people get familiar with my design by taking a part in design contests to prove whether my design idea can be interested or not.
12 What was the biggest challenge with this project?
The biggest challenge was how to integrate the four major areas of children's play area, office area, meeting area, and material display area into a 23 square meters space within a limited budget.
13 How has winning an Award developed your practice/career?
I really appreciate the judges give me such a great evaluation on my piece. Having it was an undoubtedly a great affirmation to my design. It gives me even more motivation to strive for excellence. I hope that through my designs, my clients can have more smiles on the faces.
14 What are your top three (3) favorite things about our industry?
(1) Communicate with clients: During the communication, it brings me a lot of inspirations on the design. (2) Planning and design: Incorporating clients' ideas into reality gives me a sense of superiority. (3) Client site inspection and acceptance: Inspecting the site together with the client is one of my favorite things because seeing the smile on their face is the biggest sense of achievement for me.
15 What makes your country specifically, unique in the design industry?
I think it is the construction quality. We emphasis on the quality of construction, and record in detail the entire process to ensure that our clients can trust us completely during the construction process.
16 Where do you see the evolution of design industry going over the next 5-10 years?
In my opinion, the future of the design industry will be guided by construction quality, as AI may be able to complete over 80% of the design work in the future. Therefore, the quality of construction will determine whether a company will be eliminated or not.
17 If you were a student entering this industry or an aspiring MUSE Design Awards submitter, what advice would you give them?
You should treat every client's project as if it were your own home and design and plan accordingly. It's important to understand the works and design concepts of each award winner, which can increase your chances to win awards.
18 What resources would you recommend to someone who wants to improve their skills in the design industry?
(1) Learning by doing is the fast way. It ensure that the design drawings are feasible for construction. (2) Understanding the works and design concepts of each award winner can help quickly enhance one's own design concepts.
19 Tell us something you have never told anyone else.
Designing is a hard working because you need to spend a lot of time learning new things. You also need to practice a lot, and do the modification all the time in order to produce a good work. So doing design is a hard-working industry.
20 Who has inspired you in your life and why?
Every client in my life is my teacher because each of them has their own ideas and needs. Through communication and coordination with them, new design inspirations will pop out from my mind. When people ask me who inspires my design inspirations, I will say is my clients.
21 What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?
I think that work hard is the key to my success. Only keep working hard can make you have chance to be successful. I would like to share a sentence with guys, “It said that the opportunity is for those who are prepared.”
22 Which THREE (3) friends/peers would you nominate to participate in the next MUSE Design Awards?
23 Do you have anything else you would like to add to the interview?
I hope to see the interviews with our Gold Award winners on the official website.
