Here’s How Three Asian Designers Are Becoming the Change They Want to See in the Design Industry

Although many refer to Asia as a design inspiration, the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA ) Design Census reported that only nine percent of designers were Asian in 2019. That number may appear small, especially when compared to the percentage of white designers in the industry, but this collective certainly is mighty, thanks to the revolutionary Asian designers we’re lucky enough to count as part of that group. Whether focusing on sustainability, being vocal about inclusivity in design, or pushing style boundaries in residential and commercial spaces alike, these bold individuals are striving to create the change they want to see across the industry.

In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, I spoke to three Asian designers about their experiences in the design world, what provides inspiration for their work, and how they would like to see the industry evolve as we move into the future. Here’s what they had to say. 

Two words to describe interior designer Noz Nozawa’s approach? Bold and brave. From her impactful use of vivid colors to the courageous way she left her office job to forge a path in the design field, everything Nozawa does is fueled by heart, creativity, and passion. After leaving her marketing post at Houzz in 2014, she started her own San Franciso-based firm, Noz Design, and began honing her signature maximalist aesthetic on project after project. She thrives in situations where her creativity is challenged, and relishes any opportunity to put her puzzle-solving design skills to work.

As an Asian American designer, Nozawa encountered her fair share of incidents and microaggressions of the casually-racist variety, recalling the time a paint consultant greeted her with a “Happy New Year” in Chinese — in April, no less. “I’ve also had a potential client, who was white, call me speaking Japanese, act stunned when I didn’t speak it, and then continue to make assumptions about how my designs were influenced by Japan… we did not end up working together,” says Nozawa. “Otherwise, it’s just sometimes a bit lonely — especially when I was early on in my career and didn’t have other POC and Asian designer peers — to feel like the one non-white face at an event.”

Nozawa is hopeful the design world will continue to be more inclusive moving forward, and as far as the future goes, wants the industry as a whole to embrace better access to — and an understanding of — what design work entails. “What that would mean is more transparency and access to pricing information, no more unpaid internships that only allow students with family financial support to apply, and a mindset amongst design colleagues that opportunity is abundant,” she explains. “A project I get is not a project someone else didn’t get; there are so many other amazing potential projects and clients — and believing that would make the total pie of design opportunities grow.”

Long before Phantila Phataraprasit became co-founder and chief operating officer of the sustainably-minded, direct-to-customer furniture brand Sabai, she was already knowledgeable about the home and how the choices one makes within it affect the planet. “Being conscious of my impact on the environment and on people is something that was ingrained in me from a young age growing up in Thailand, where my mother started and ran eco-lodges,” she says. “My uncle also works in the furniture and design space, so I grew up around it somewhat and was lucky enough to be exposed to beautiful design from a young age.” While she didn’t have any official training as a designer before starting Sabai, she had extensive experience as a home furnishings consumer, which drives both her customer-first approach to business, and has had bearing on her collections’ inspiration, too. Even though she sells brand-new sofas and ottomans, she’s all about vintage furniture as her chief styling reference, for environmental reasons, sure, but also to ensure her pieces’ silhouettes and fabrics embody a classicism that makes them withstand the test of trends and time. 

The biggest challenge she and co-founder Caitlin Ellen faced when starting their brand? Finding a manufacturer willing to work with them at their scope and stay true to the Sabai mission. “We showed up in High Point, NC, a huge furniture hub, as two young women with no background in design, so it was difficult to get people to take us and our vision seriously,” she says. “However, we’re extremely grateful to have found a minority and family-owned manufacturer that has been an amazing partner to us.”

For Phataraprasit, it’s important that Sabai takes a gentler approach to manufacturing at every step of the furniture-making process — from considering the environmental impact of sourcing materials to how every person involved in the creation process is treated. In addition to securing a spot on the Sustainable Furnishings Council to learn about new sustainable methods, Phataraprasit is inspired by industry peers she has worked with, like Rebecca Silver, Frank Rimalovski, Sarah Templin, and the team at Plia. Each mentor has helped her skill up and implement processes for minimizing environmental waste and impact in Sabai’s manufacturing.

In fact, to that end, Sabai currently offers two options for end-of-life-cycle solutions for furniture: the Repair Don’t Replace program, which works with customers to repair damaged parts, and the Sabai Revive initiative, which takes back pieces from customers to resell as secondhand items. She wants to lead the charge for others in the industry to do the same. “My hope is that companies will start to take more holistic responsibility for the impact of their products,” she says. “I definitely understand the difficulty of this, and almost no one will be perfect at it.” There’s something to be said for trying to do better though, and that much Sabai is 100 percent committed to.

Known for her beautifully-made furniture, light fixtures, and home decor (with an emphasis on her trademark candlesticks), Brooklyn-based designer Virginia Sin began her career with “Mad Men”-esque intentions to work in advertising. As she built campaigns for others, the little voice encouraging her to start her own brand just couldn’t stay quiet, so she listened to it and left to follow the artistic calling of clay.

Years later and with an impressive resume — and signature aesthetic — Sin’s design empire continues to grow and evolve. She’s just expanded her headquarters with a move to a new location, and her fall/winter collection for 2021 is well underway. Developing and designing her lighting offerings tops her current favorite project list. “It’s so satisfying to stretch my medium, clay, across so many home categories, and I am still taken by the concept of creating something out of nothing,” she says. “How fun is it that every design starts out as a 25-pound block of mud?”

As an Asian American woman in a predominantly white field, Sin has dealt with the internal reckoning of subconsciously fighting for a seat at the table. That often entails reminding herself that she deserves the same opportunities as her white peers. “Ultimately, I choose to find a silver lining, where it has only grown me as a person, tested my resilience, and strengthened me as a designer,” says Sin. “My strongest voice will always be through my work.”

Sin thinks the design industry as a whole should acknowledge its lack of diversity, facing it head-on by taking pointed action to create more opportunities for people of color. She’s aware of her own power to be apart of that change as well. “If I want a seat at the table, then I will need to bring more, and to do that, I will just have to continue to set higher standards for myself,” Sin says. “This notion is not fair, and I was not born into that privilege, but my hope is that one day it will be more equal.”