Chen Lifan

Learning background

I have loved painting and creating on my own since I was a child. When I was in junior high school, I participated in the school art competition on my own initiative. After being discovered by the teacher, I was recommended to take the high school art class entrance examination. I was very happy at the time because I didn't expect that my interest would be recognized. So I actively signed up for a studio to hone my painting skills in preparation for the exam, and finally I was admitted to the art department of Huagang Art School in Yangmingshan. During my time at Huagang Art School, I studied painting and thinking with teachers Lian Shuhui and Gu Hezhong. However, in my second year of high school, I transferred back to Taichung due to poor health and studied art at Mingdao Middle School, expanding from the field of painting to the field of design.

In the third year of high school, he represented his school in the National Skills Competition and won the Golden Hand Award in the Art Department. Because he likes challenges, he chose the Department of Industrial Design at Chaoyang University of Technology to further learn design knowledge beyond aesthetics, including product functions, cost considerations, and ergonomics. At the same time, he actively participated in off-campus design thinking activities and connected with the industry through taking on projects. In his third year of college, he served as the president of the Graduation Production Coordination Committee. While coordinating the New Generation Design Exhibition, he completed his studies and was admitted to the Industrial Design Institute of Tunghai University.

During my graduate school years, I found that I enjoyed doing research, especially finding various viewpoints in books to talk to myself, breaking through the limitations of location, time and field. Under the guidance of Professor Li Lihui, I completed a research paper on the theme of the publicity of public art, and obtained a master's degree in two and a half years, while completing three seminar papers. Since I was a child, I have never been limited to the concept of a single field, which has allowed me to come into contact with multiple fields such as eyeglass design, illustration design, toy design, furniture design, marketing design, packaging design and process design in the workplace. The core of my work has always revolved around aesthetic design. My personality of not being afraid of challenges has allowed me to accumulate rich cross-domain knowledge.

Key to life

During my work, I once had an interview with the chairman of Youqingmen. He asked me a life-changing question: "If time and money were not a consideration, what would you most like to do?" I immediately answered: "I want to systematically record Taiwan's craft aesthetics."

I think there are many treasures hidden in folk craft wisdom, but not everyone values it or has time to record and pass it on. It is a pity to let it disappear, so I blurted out this concept at the time. However, field research without considering research funds is a fantasy, and it is still a dream today.

In 2023, I set up my own studio, combining my childhood passion for creation with research training, and creating after making traditional crafts sustainable and localized. Among many crafts, I chose velvet crafts as the research object for the first year. Its production process is very interesting, especially the technique of transforming silk threads into three-dimensional shapes is amazing. However, since no one in Taiwan makes them, I can only study and figure it out on my own. Although I suffered a lot, I finally succeeded with the spirit of not giving up. Going a step further, the traditional silk thread was replaced with rayon thread, a local sustainable material.

Creative process

At first, I used traditional vocabulary to create, and chose flowers that resonated with my own life experience, such as daylilies in "Memory. Daylilies" and hydrangeas in "Recorder". Among them, "They" is based on my childhood life memories, when my mother always placed lilies, oncidiums, and lotus flowers at home according to the season. "They" also obtained Taiwan Green Craft Certification in 2024, allowing more people to see the creative value of velvet crafts.

During the residency in 2024, I hope to create themes that are more related to the residency. One day, while walking between the residency and the parking lot, I found plants on street corners, wall corners, and the ground, which reminded me of my memories and experiences. So, I created a work based on street corner plants.

This time, the creations in the village are different from the past. They focus more on the growth location, shape, color, function and resonant memory of plants, leaving aside the past impression that velvet is colorful, noble and elegant. This series of creations is mainly green, focusing more on the leaves, and the overall atmosphere is quiet and low-key, just like the quiet appearance of plants on the street corner.

I like this simple series of works. Different from the hustle and bustle of drums and gongs, the "One Scene One Mirror" series brings me a sense of tranquility and peace of mind. Therefore, the "One Scene One Mirror" series created during the residency will continue and bloom in different locations of the residency.