“Designers do not create materials; rather, we discover them, and work with them to reveal their relationship with people and space. We ask not ‘what’, but ‘how’ – how to use these materials, how to do it right, how to make things work.”

After graduating from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University with a Bachelor’s Degree (BA) in Environment and Interior Design in 2015, Isa spent over six years working in interior design. Her inspiration came from learning ceramics: making pottery made her realise that even one millimetre of detail matters, and the pinch method enhances her sense of form, scale and proportion, and appeals to her design instincts.

Isa wants to be a material-based designer, and her strength is demonstrated in her ‘HKPI Headquarters’ project, which expresses the company’s philosophy of putting people first through visual, spatial and functional details. Her attention to details is reflected in the office décor, from door handles and light switches to ceiling lights, wall panels, furniture, glass bricks, and washbasins. ‘Modern Steel Hexagonal Container, with Slate Curtain’ is a jewellery cabinet which combines metal, wood, and stone with modern craftsmanship to create a distinctive work of art. ‘Moon’ is an installation made of recycled scrap aluminium cans and other discarded metals, which hangs over the Central Market courtyard. By using beam lights, a 30-second sequence of new moon to full moon is projected, so that anyone watching this ‘Moon of Waste’ can see how much waste is produced daily.

Most material-based designers are found overseas, so Isa plans to work in a well-known material-led design company in Switzerland, and an architectural firm in the United Kingdom with a strong focus on social values.