Q&A with Chi Wing Lo

Hong Kong-born designer, architect and artist Chi Wing Lo is a luminary in the world of furniture. Serving as the artistic director of Giorgetti for over two decades, he released his own collection in 2014, Dimensione Chi Wing Lo, in collaboration with Italian artisan workshop Maroni. Though he’s spent more than 30 years abroad in the US and Europe, and now resides in Greece, many still associate the designer with his roots. In the early 1990s, he was one of the first Chinese designers to break into the Italian design community. “They would say, ‘Chi Wing Lo, the Chinese architect’ because I was the only one,” he recalls. “They see something in my work that was coming from somewhere else. In the composition and the way I design, there’s a certain calmness – a certain simplicity that they associate with the East.”

When I designed my first piece of furniture, I knew nothing about the market. I was reluctant to know anything about the market because I did all designs from my heart. I design what I believe.

It’s a happy coincidence when the market and what you like come together perfectly. Out of 80 collections I’ve done since the 1980s, one piece of my furniture is still being sold today. Because of this one piece of furniture, I bought a piece of land, a house and I raised a family.

I think timelessness has to do with something really fundamental that it doesn’t have cultural boundaries. I think of a white shirt; it’s quite timeless.

My work is very plain. It doesn’t want to say too much because if it’s too loud now, it may be mute in the future.

Though I’m Chinese, I’m one of the staunch defenders of Italian design. In Italy, the innocence and experimental spirit of the 1960s and 70s has slowly diminished. There’s no more ‘Made in Italy’ done by Italians. It has become a school of thought shared by others who want to capture the spirit of craftsmanship that is no longer appreciated by this generation.

We tend to think that business keeps the artistic world alive, because artists are on the periphery of the mainstream and we need to give money to support them. It’s not like that – culture is built around art.

By: Beverly Cheng