July 8, 2021
Gingko Blossom Chandelier by Rosie Li in Chris Shao Studio. Photo Courtesy of Rosie Li.Creative Humans: Say hello to Rosie Li Studio.
By Nabi Williams.
Hello Human welcomes our very own Rosie Li Studio to The Humanist. An artist and designer specializing in sculptural lighting, Li’s work blurs the lines between design, art and science, blending geometric forms with organic elements.
A creative from birth, Li’s love for drawing and sculpting eventually led her to study furniture design at the Rhode Island School of Design. Soon after, Li embarked on her professional career as a designer. She now heads her eponymous studio in Brooklyn, New York, and has had her work featured in publications such as The New York Times, Architectural Digest, and Elle Decor.
Sharing her insights on her inspiration, motivation, and the future of art and design, Li gives us the 411 in this edition of The Humanist. Read on for more.
Company Profile
Rosie Li is a Chinese-American artist and designer of sculptural lighting products. In 2013, she launched her inaugural series with furniture manufacturer Roll & Hill to produce Stella Triangle, an Op Art-inspired infinity mirror sconce. Two years following, Li opened her personal atelier, Rosie Li Studio, focusing on iterative lighting series and custom commissions for private residences and high-end hospitality interiors.
Rosie Li is a Chinese-American artist and designer of sculptural lighting products. In 2013, she launched her inaugural series with furniture manufacturer Roll & Hill to produce Stella Triangle, an Op Art-inspired infinity mirror sconce. Two years following, Li opened her personal atelier, Rosie Li Studio, focusing on iterative lighting series and custom commissions for private residences and high-end hospitality interiors.
Working with traditional materials brass, glass, and stone, Li produces richly textured lighting pieces inspired by science and nature. Expressed through simple geometric modules, her works quantify organic growth, distilling natural phenomena (i.e. bubbles, tree branches) down to precise metal frames paired with hand-hewn elements.
Rosie Li’s Bubbly 03 Floor Lamp. Photo Courtesy of Rosie Li.
What makes you get up and design/create every morning?
I cannot imagine doing anything else. For me, it’s always going to be about making beautiful things to the best of my ability. My studio comprises a team of artists dedicated to our craft and I am lucky to work with them.
Is it the problem or the solution that fuels your design practice?
Problems and solutions are two sides of the same coin. In my practice, we propose a set of problems and set out to find an elegant solution.
What’s your spirit material?
While I adore brass sheet metal (the base material for our hammered Laurel and Ginkgo leaves), my spirit material would have to be 8.5x11” paper, preferably cardstock weight.
Give me a stack of paper and I’ll design a universe.
A design/art/architecture project that you always return to for inspiration?
Spencer Finch’s Mass MoCA retrospective, What Time is it on the Sun — I come back to this all the time.
Three words that describe your practice
Organic, Dynamic, Considerate.What does the future of design look like to you?
Art and design will become one. The lines between them are already blurred, and soon will be nonexistent. This creative monolith will turn towards transparency, fueling a new creative commercial industry with art as commodity being de rigueur. It sounds bleak but I feel this transition will actually make design and art more accessible, and usher in new generations of creators.
We will all become artists of our own making.
How do you use design for good?
Question everything. Be thoughtful with what you put out there.
The Inez Chandelier by Rosie Li. Photo Courtesy of Rosie Li.