Didi NG Wing Yin

Material-led practitioner. I love to think about wood, work with wood, and live with wood.

The real passion started with my first engagement with furniture design back in my BA studies in 2011. Even tho it was a very fundamental project, furniture has held a very important position in my heart. It is hard to explain why, but there it is.

Growing up in Hong Kong, I was trained to be practical and reasonably rational, often leading me to make (too) quick decisions. However, after living in Finland for years, my perspective on my surroundings has changed. I’ve learned to broaden my vision and take a calmer approach to life. The contrast between the attitudes toward living in Hong Kong and Finland has provided me with more options and greater flexibility. These two experiences have helped me understand myself better and provided clearer logic behind my work.

I was inspired by firewood making at the cottages in Finland. You know we never need to make a fire from wood in Hong Kong. I think it was a miracle that splitting a piece of wood with just an axe can create distinct results. Then I started to study and split many different kinds of wood. And test to present the beauty of the natural fibre that we cannot imitate.

I like basic material. Wood is the primary resource here. But when it comes to furniture, makers tend to use hardwood because it is more durable, better value, and easier to work with. I tend to think in a different way; I try not to focus on the instrumental value, but instead focus on seeing the uniqueness of the most common material. I always think that the value of anything in this world should not be valued for very instrumental reasons. Somehow, looking at wood is like us humans; we have different personalities, but each is equally important.

I understand naturalness as an attitude towards life being spontaneous. But in making, this attitude listens to material agency. It follows a material’s structure, resistance and variation to influence the formation of a work rather than imposing a strict outcome. This creates a productive tension between human intervention and material agency. This attitude somehow goes against how I learnt to design but fits my personality well. The idea comes from hands-on practice: to craft, you have to respect and listen to the material. The material is your company, and you negotiate with it. The more I work this way, the more it shapes my attitude.

Minestrone Workshop is a co-working space focused on contemporary woodworking. The workshop is known for its experimental, material-driven approach and its culture of hands-on craftsmanship. We are a team of ten designers in total, all of whom graduated from Aalto University. After graduation, we faced the same challenge of not having a place to work, especially in woodworking. It is always wiser to share. Our areas of focus are different; some of us specialise in interior design, others in furniture design, and some are more focused on art.

I was in Venice a few weeks ago and went to see the exhibition of Lee Ufan at SMAC. I was so drawn to his installation Iron Field. I like works that are simple and philosophical. Another very inspiring exhibition was Andrea Branzi at Triennale. He is one of my favourite design heroes. I love his radical approach to design.