Constance Chu / LICC 2021 Winner

Interview with Constance Chu, LICC Winner in DECORATE (Interior) in the Non-Professional category, talks about how design has always been a part of her life since she was a child.

Why did you choose to pursue a career as a designer? When did you realize you wanted to pursue this as a career?

Design has been a part of my life since I was a child. I have always had an interest in small details, and I would always be the one stopping to take pictures and document what catches my eye. Without really knowing it, I was constantly looking out for unique traits in space: how the shadows come in, how motifs match, etc. I have come to understand the spaces we inhabit as something alive, something that speaks to us with their own character. I was fascinated by how someone had intentionally made those decisions and how they had thought everything through, so I’ve naturally aspired to be one of those that orchestrate how a space becomes special.

How does it make you feel to win this award?

Best in DECORATE (Non-Professional): “The Cocoon Cafe” by Constance Chu

I am incredibly honored to win this award. It makes me reassured and proud of the direction I’m going in and encourages me to strive to do even better for the future.

How did the idea behind your winning project come about?

The project always begins with extensive research, so the idea behind the project was mostly from

understanding the core of the chair we chose. It was important to look into the chair’s intentions, how it achieves those intentions, and what gives it its identity. Viewing the space as an extension of the chair, the chair’s intent of blurring user-object boundaries inspired an exploration in blurring user-object-space boundaries and the notion of the space also being able to embrace the user.

What significance does your art represent for you personally, and for your audience?

With my craft, I hope to design more places of home in the public sphere, a feeling of warmth and comfort and a sense of welcome in a realm made up of strangers. I hope to offer a thoughtfulness that the visitor is cared for and that spaces respond to the needs of its guests. 

View the winning project of Constance Chu here.