Meet Duyi Han, the Shanghai-born designer selected for Apple’s Designers of Tomorrow initiative

Duyi Han is rarely overwhelmed by digital technology – because he’s native to it. “Though you can still scroll too much,” he laughs. “The [digital world] has allowed me [to] research, edit, experiment and render my ideas about visual culture. Without it I would have to [spend] a lot of time in libraries. And I already don’t feel like I have enough time.” Aptly enough for an artist and designer who is often immersed in screens, 31-year-old Han is one of just four recently selected by Apple’s Designers of Tomorrow initiative, which spotlights emerging designers who makes technology a central part of their process. (The use of an iPad is required.) He has been offered the opportunity to present his work at this week’s Design Miami.Paris, an offshoot of the international design fair in the French capital. “Of course, that’s pretty exciting,” he says, “though I kind of expected that they’d select me.” If Apple is the archetype of the contemporary tech brand, Shanghai-born Han is perhaps the archetype of the contemporary, category-bending designer, slipping easily between objects and installations, tactile high craft and AI-empowered virtual imaginings. “I don’t really think about the question of whether I’m more a designer or an artist,” says Han. He actually trained in architecture at Cornell University, before later taking up a position with the prestigious Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron. “What I do is, for me, like architecture, just not what most people think of as being architecture. It’s more about how I can bring my visual culture research into the work. Sometimes that’s as a physical object, and at other times it’s more of an artwork. Most of the process is research.” The results run the gamut from intricately coordinated, characteristically pastel-hued, immersive scenes akin to set design, to orchestrations of various objects. This includes murals, furniture, graphics, foam sculptures, wallpaper and hand-embroidered textiles. “And I often hate all the sewing,” says Han, though he does it all himself. “On the one hand, I enjoy the sense of precision I get from using a sewing machine, and on the other hand sewing on silk is all very labour intensive. You have to be so careful. You can’t skip any step. But at least it makes you value craft in a digital world.” One work comprised completely making over an Airbnb flat in Jiangnan to produce a hospital ward-like live-in art experience – an Artbnb. Another blends symbols of Qing dynasty luxury with 3D protein molecule models. His work is hard and soft, both hi-tech and playing with age-old traditions. What connects such a diverse output? That’s something Han calls “neuroaesthetic prescriptions” – neuroaesthetics being the study of how visual arts, music and dance affect the human brain and cognition. He’s an avid taker of photos on his phone, and is fascinated by what emotions and impressions that visual content evokes in the viewers. “Different visual cues have different meanings and values. They carry the spirit of the times [in which they were created], but also have a relevance to current times,” he says. He sees using different sources from across the history of visual culture “like ingredients in pharmaceutical”. “That why I think of them as prescriptions. Each ingredient relates to a different visual culture and a different emotion, and I’m trying to create a kind of chemical compound for each specific project.” If that sounds like one of those vaguely bewildering texts hung on gallery walls in an attempt to explain the artwork next to it, Han’s work, too, is typically best experienced rather than dissected. In one work, he makes use of traditional forms that echo the kind of religious objects typically found in Chinese temples – because, he argues, they evoke in some onlookers “a certain kind of awe, an authority, even a fear”. But then Han embodies them with messaging about contemporary mental health issues, to form a “nuanced psychological experience”. The new work displayed at Design Miami.Paris, Noetrigram v0.9, is a dual-surface mirror, with details drawn from anatomical diagrams, occult manuscripts and modern wellness messaging, put through AI to generate emotive texts that have then been embroidered onto a luminous white satin. “I think it’s thoughtful design that combines all these references into something beautiful,” Han says of his work. Wellness is something of a recurrent theme for Han. As Han suggests, what the world feels now is, broadly, confusion and unease about what’s going to come next. “There’s the idea that AI will take over, that all the tech now brings a sense of uncertainty,” says Han. “It’s as though our intelligence is being compromised. There’s a lot of noise [if you are] digitally connected. It’s why I design for a sense of clarity, for a detox, a space for some self-reflection.” It’s clear that Han also designs for his own entertainment. It’s fast becoming a signature for Han to wear an outfit designed to coordinate with the work on display at exhibition openings. He becomes an extension of his work. “Clothing is part of the whole experience for me when it relates visually to the work,” says Han, who dabbles in fashion design as well. “To present myself in a unique way is a fun exercise. Although I do tend to leave it until the night before an exhibition opening to make the outfit.” Like he says, there’s just not enough time.

Meet Duyi Han, the Shanghai-born designer selected for Apple’s Designers of Tomorrow initiative

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}One of four designers selected by Apple for Design Miami.Paris this week, Han is a trained architect whose work is hi-tech while playing with age-old traditions

One of four designers selected by Apple for Design Miami.Paris this week, Han is a trained architect whose work is hi-tech while playing with age-old traditions