London-based designer Susan Fang draws from nature in a career marked by innovation

Susan Fang: Oh, that’s a great question. I think it comes from the bottom of my heart as I have loved drawing and using my hands to craft objects since young, including making dolls with my art teacher. Growing up, I moved a lot and lived in different countries — every one to three years — which resulted in many handwritten letters to friends. I treasure these as each has a lot of meaning. I really believe objects you pour heartfelt emotion into retain that same energy. Perhaps this is why I love using dreamy, almost translucent materials as they reflect and can contain light. We put time, our most valuable possession, and happy thoughts into our creations and hope that energy transmits to the wearer. We hope whatever we create brings about feelings of positivity.

 

Memories of growing up in my hometown [Ningbo in China’s Zhejiang province], a naturally beautiful place, definitely left their mark on me. My family then moved to Shanghai before going on to Vancouver, Canada, which is equally rich in nature. Sometimes my mum would let me skip school and take me hiking and fishing.

 

Looking back, I remember feeling so healed whenever I return to the setting of nature… and maybe that’s just how we find balance. When I was trying to find my own design vision, I recall standing in front of an ancient plane tree at the Alhambra in Granada, Spain and things suddenly felt effortless. You easily get the answer of where true beauty lies just by being under bright sunshine or perhaps by observing leaves being blown about, fluttering into geometric shapes or casting dramatic shadows. We are all part of nature’s beautiful formula. When I was just starting out, I had a collection called Air-Flip. After that, all our collections begin with ‘air’ [as a concept] as I believe it is the strongest force yet invisible — just like hope and the energy that is core to our creativity and, of course, the brand.

 

I am not sure yet but perhaps we will have more homeware or lifestyle designs, in addition to growing the brand’s main collection. And let us see if we will have our first flagship store by then!

 

Every moment — and every year, in fact — is so important for us as we will have new challenges, but also new achievements. But I will always want to forever remember the first-ever collection: when the brand was just started and orders for the Air-Weave and Bubble bags just suddenly boomed from the first season.

 

My studio was still at my mum’s home and we didn’t have enough people to fulfil [the orders]. I recall both of us hand-beading late into the night while eating this super-delicious fruit called yangmei (Chinese bayberry).

 

No matter how big the company grows in the future, I want to remember those precious moments of working together with my mum. I hope I can always continue feeling that way, even if the [creative] process changes in the future.

 

To find your own vision and stay true to that! Also be genuine and be creative, and don’t be scared to work hard. We are still learning as we go but each of us needs to find our own journey while facing our own challenges.

 

Chinese Dress in Detail by Sau Fong Chan, about Chinese clothing from the V&A Museum’s collections. I am in the midst of preparing for my new collection but I was also presented with the opportunity to design Chinese-inspired costumes for the Royal Opera House. So, I thought it would be great to read up and research more deeply about this.

 

You by Lane 8 and Kasablanca. I really like it and even used this as the finale song for our recent show as I felt it just matched the collection so well. I am also drawn to Lane 8’s name as the number is similar to the symbol for infinity. Even the lyrics which go, ‘I want to wake up where you are, every day, here in this moment’ are so beautiful, reminding how we are all living in an infinite loop and that we can go wherever we want, be whoever we want, if we just have the strength to do it. During my show, I had the models walk in the shape of the figure ‘8’ as I wanted that to be the takeaway message and the explanation of why we chose that song.

 

It could be spending an entire day staying home on my super comfortable couch or having a wonderful breakfast with my husband, after which we would watch something interesting… perhaps Project Hail Mary at the local cinema. Eating pizza while discussing inspirational ideas, going for a jog or a walk to the park and then returning home to a warm, home-cooked meal are also ideal. Of course, the flat would already have been spotlessly cleaned, with the laundry all folded. A bit of television while eating dinner and then reading a great book on the e-reader before slowly falling asleep sounds like a perfect day off to me as well.