RONG ZHANG

LEGENDARY INTERVIEW

Design Legends ("DL") had the distinct honour to interview legendary designer RONG ZHANG ("RZ") for their original perspective and innovative approach to design as well as their creative lifestyle, we are very pleased to share our interview with our distinguished readers.

DL: Could you please tell us a bit about your design background and education?

RZ : I am a Chinese Womenswear Fashion Designer. My collection is defined by its artistic fusion of craftsmanship, modern femininity, and youth culture influences with a sense of refined ease.Balanced between tradition and modernity, harmony and contradiction, I creates thought-provoking silhouettes through breaking the garment stereotype. I received her Bachelor degree in Womenwear from London Collage of Fashion in 2015. Using rich and geometrical patterns, the art of folding, creating volume through construction, My undergraduate collection has been featured in leading publications such as Vogue. For the intricately crafted, multi-layered garments and explorations into digital printing, digital embroidery and weaving techniques, my collections has been selected for ‘The Chinese Festival’ Exhibition in London V&A Museum 2013, ‘1ndependent15’ Design Show in London 2015 and ‘The Costume Colloquium V-Restraint and Excess in Dress’ Exhibition in Florence 2016, ‘Midwest Fashion Week 2017’and ‘FashionX Runway Austin 2017’. In the past accolades have included ‘Raffles Design Institution First Year Scholarship’ (2010), ‘The top 15 Designer for Tomorrow Award’ (2015).

DL: What motivates you to design in general, why did you become a designer?

RZ : Under the influence of my parents, who engage in trading children clothing, I have grown up with an unyielding interest in clothing color and fabric. I often painted the sketches of costumes in my imagination and sewed clothes for baby dolls. I steadfastly insist that clothes are alive in the hands of the owner's personality and designer’s ideas. After graduating from high school, I believed in my enduring passion in fashion design and strong spatial imagination. Therefore, I decided to give up the study of science and decided to get into costume design profession.

DL: Did you choose to become a designer, or you were forced to become one?

RZ : I love fashion design and become a designer followed with my heart

DL: What do you design, what type of designs do you wish to design more of?

RZ : Womenswear fashion

DL: What should young designers do to become a design legend like you?

RZ : concentration, hard working

DL: What distinguishes between a good designer and a great designer?

RZ : detail focusing

DL: What makes a good design a really good design, how do you evaluate good design?

RZ : unique and have a clear customer

DL: What is the value of good design? Why should everyone invest in good design?

RZ : a good design opens a new lifestyle

DL: What would you design and who would you design for if you had the time?

RZ : My family

DL: What is the dream project you haven’t yet had time to realize?

RZ : Couture collections combined with modern techniques

DL: What is your secret recipe of success in design, what is your secret ingredient?

RZ : keep updating and improving my design, like materials and researching

DL: Who are some other design masters and legends you get inspired from?

RZ : Susan Hefuna, her artworks of sketches and constructions has inspired the texture in my fashion collection

DL: What are your favorite designs by other designers, why do you like them?

RZ : Vivienne Westwood. Her distinctive style of work, the control over the entire design and selection of good ideas greatly impressed me. It also taught me how to judge the beauty of a design through the mix of a clear concept and different clothing items combination.

DL: What is your greatest design, which aspects of that design makes you think it is great?

RZ : The latest collection 'Traces', I challenged different fabric manipulation like the layering organza, the pearling edge georgette. Finding inspiration from my personal art performance.

DL: How could people improve themselves to be better designers, what did you do?

RZ : learning and accepting new ideas from others

DL: If you hadn’t become a designer, what would you have done?

RZ : doctor maybe

DL: How do you define design, what is design for you?

RZ : A bridge to explore the world

DL: Who helped you to reach these heights, who was your biggest supporter?

RZ : my father and mother.

DL: What helped you to become a great designer?

RZ : mistakes，I made mistakes all the time, and improved myself after.

DL: What were the obstacles you faced before becoming a design master?

RZ : courage to start the project again

DL: How do you think designers should present their work?

RZ : know who they design for

DL: What’s your next design project, what should we expect from you in future?

RZ : I plan to take a break first, and might start some designs for childrenswear.

DL: What’s your ultimate goal as a designer?

RZ : set up personal brand and a strong design team.

DL: What people expect from an esteemed designer such as yourself?

RZ : give them something fresh

DL: How does design help create a better society?

RZ : Good design make daily life convenient，and make normal staffs unique

DL: Which design projects gave you the most satisfaction, why?

RZ : The 'Traces' collection, I made everything all by myself, from researching to finishing. The first garment piece took me 3 month to finish.

DL: What would you like to see changed in design industry in the coming years?

RZ : more opportunities for emerging designers and brands

DL: Where do you think the design field is headed next?

RZ : more focus on customer instead of brand itself

DL: How long does it take you to finalize a design project?

RZ : depends on projects

DL: When you have a new design project, where do you start?

RZ : depends on projects

DL: What is your life motto as a designer?

RZ : Do what I love , with my efforts

DL: What is the role of technology when you design?

RZ : the tool push my design further

DL: What is the role of the color, materials and ambient in design?

RZ : elements that essential

DL: What do you wish people to ask about your design?

RZ : What they think of from my design?

DL: When you see a new great design or product what comes into your mind?

RZ : Remember it first

DL: Who is your ideal design partner? Do you believe in co-design?

RZ : have strong human relationship and like learning new things.

DL: Which people you interacted had the most influence on your design?

RZ : My undergraduate professor

DL: Which books you read had the most effect on your design?

RZ : Pattern Magic

DL: How did you develop your skills as a master designer?

RZ : practice personal skills and learn new skills

DL: Irrelative of time and space, who you would want to meet, talk and discuss with?

RZ : singer Chenyu Hua

DL: How do you feel about all the awards and recognition you had, is it hard to be famous?

RZ : be famous is not hard, feel accomplishment is hard

DL: What is your favorite color, place, food, season, thing and brand?

RZ : yellow, my hometown qingdao, chinese soup, summer, ski, Acne Studio, JW. Anderson

DL: Please tell us a little memoir, a funny thing you had experienced as a designer?

RZ : The first design I made is a violin made by milk paper box and threads, when I am 8.

DL: What makes your day great as a designer, how do you motivate yourself?

RZ : when I finished something in my mind

DL: When you were a little child, was it obvious that you would become a great designer?

RZ : I never think I will do design, before high school. I thought I will be a doctor like my grandmother.

DL: What do you think about future; what do you see will happen in thousand years from now?

RZ : Design become more digital