Friday Fives: Daisy Lee & Lucien Ng of Studio Bang-Gu
March 04, 2022
Most Fridays we give #highfives to a different designer from our extended family of PNCA students, faculty, alumni, and guest lecturers. 🙌🏾🙌🏻🙌🏽 This week, we're featuring Daisy Lee and Lucien Ng, co-founders of the collaborative design practice Studio Bang-Gu. Daisy and Lucien are visited us on 3/7/22 for our Design Lecture Series! (Scroll down to watch the recorded talk!).
Engaged in ongoing partnerships in the fields of art & commerce, Studio Bang-Gu is fueled by a multifaceted influence of eastern and western sensibilities. With a combined background in design, motion, fashion and technology, their creative process is rooted in ideas first; unbounded by a singular discipline. They are obsessed with an interdisciplinary design approach that allows them to create contemporary and unconventional forms of expression with their collaborators.
Graphic Design department head Kristin Rogers Brown spoke with Daisy and Lucien in March, 2022.
Q: What do you do to get “unstuck?”
A: Being in nature brings us a lot of joy and peace. We go on hikes every weekend as it gives us time and space to think through any “stuckness” we have in our life. Usually the effort of hiking up a mountain reminds us that our struggle is temporary and the reward of the view gives us more energy to keep going.
Q: What feels vital to the future of design, to you?
A: We believe that the future of design lies in the Creative Self. People who have a multicultural perspective and willingness to express their unabated creativity through art or design.
Recently, we’ve been learning to ‘unlearn’ processes that we are used to...It is a hard pill to swallow but necessary as we relearn new ways of working.
Q: What is one thing you want to learn right now?
A: As a designer it is our obligation to be constantly learning about new trends, sub-cultures and technologies, but we’ve been realizing that it is not enough. Knowing what someone else is doing is different from us actually practicing it. Recently, we’ve been learning to “unlearn” processes that we are used to, and letting go of the idea that there’s a timelessness to anything. It is a hard pill to swallow but necessary as we relearn new ways of working. The key thing we would like to learn right now is how to stay “young” while we learn, unlearn and relearn as we age.
Q: If you could get critique from one artist (living or dead) who would it be?
A: Charles and Ray Eames. We are big fans of the way the Eameses approach their work and way of life. The passion and play they are able to bring into their process fascinates us.
Q: A good question from a previous guest...“Why do you do what you do?”
A: Studio Bang-Gu is our creative outlet, being able to experiment and express our ideas in any form that we can dream up makes us feel alive. We have a lot of silly random ideas and oftentimes we would combine them with a completely unrelated thing; the creative freedom and the process of creating something that would change your perspective is what keeps us going.
poster by FISK, with adjustments by Alicia Vidal '22.
* * * * *
Hear more from Daisy and Lucien in conversation with students and faculty by watching the Studio Bang-Gu edition of our Design Lecture Series (above) on 3/07/22.
Talks in spring 2022 are in person for PNCA students, staff, and faculty, and open to the public streaming FREE with registration. Co-hosted by PNCA Graphic Design and FISK.
See more from Studio Bang-Gu at studiobanggu.com, or follow @studiobanggu on instagram.
Follow along with our #fridayfives on instagram @pncadesign.