Project Description

Ho Mei Mei Collection

Description:

Fine Art freshmasonry Ho Mei Mei clarifies and explores herself through visual creations. She sees them as the language and medium in which she best expresses herself. In the multiple collaborations facilitated under the 「DesignXcel」programme, Mei Mei still managed to create a common atmosphere and cohesion that confine the work into a collection larger than itself.

Abstract lines and geometric forms are recurring elements in Mei Mei’s work ‘Wish You Have a Peaceful Mind’, she employs them as a practice that balances her emotions and sensibilities in real life. The lines and geometry represent her rationality and calm her emotions through the process of creation. Some visual elements are seemingly contradictory in nature, but actually compatible in the larger sense, the deliberate placement of opposites draws in the audience to proactively experience the precarious balance in her mind.

Different products can act as platforms to promote the works of a budding artist, helping them reach a new market that has previously been unexplored. Collaborator Delta Blues Audio Limited, ECO Concepts and Starlite Visual Communication Limited (Team Green®) have all utilised the advantage of new technologies to bring down production obstacles, enabling artists to distribute their works cheaper, easier and quicker.
Delta Blues Audio Limited is known for their high-fidelity loudspeakers. It features a unique circular and planar ‘resonance disc’ that gives its distinct audio signature. Its modular construction allows the disc to be fabricated in different materials and craftsmanship, at the same time offering a blank canvas for different artists to express their artworks. Mei Mei’s distinctly intricate line work was truthfully represented in Delta Blues Audio’s NX-1 Speaker. Her line work displays an underlying radial pattern that aligns perfectly to the speaker cone.

Another piece from the same collection was applied on the ‘EcoCan’ through state-of-the-art cylindrical printing technology. Taking inspirations from a classic soda can, ECO Concepts’ design takes on a water bottle, aptly named ‘EcoCan’, which is familiar yet surprisingly modern. The material PLA boasts heat resistance up to 120°C, BPA and toxic free. The loosely organised geometric shapes and minimal lineworks resemble falling tea leaves, as stated by Mei Mei, thus giving the functional apparatus a poetic touch.

Team Green® designed the Doggy Chair to be a fun, self-assembled piece of furniture that can be flat-packed, easily transported and customised with a variety of full colour-prints. Mei Mei created a pattern with a collage of expressive brush strokes, with a nordic colour palette that will blend well with a majority of interiors.

Mei Mei also collaborated with Nothing Ugly, a streetwear fashion brand that aims to ‘confront’ the mainstream aesthetic with a bold and straightforward message. To an average audience with no artistic training, Mei Mei’s work may appear a bit abstract and vague, but accompanied with the brand’s self-assuring phrase ‘Nothing Ugly’, the objective is to break the stereotype of Art amongst the public.

Under the facilitation of 「DesignXcel」, global charity icon HeArt Panda and Mei Mei worked together on its iconic 8-inch tall Panda figurine. The story of HeArt Panda goes way back to the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake disaster, and in 10 years it has become the icon to inspire bravery and love throughout the world. Mei Mei’s Panda was covered in mud-colour as a homage to the disaster, and with the Chinese character of love (“愛”) to show the strength arose from the ordeal.

修讀美術的設計新鮮人何美薇喜歡透過視覺藝術來澄清和探索自己，她認為這是她最能表達自己的語言和媒介。在《設計列陣》推動的多項合作中，何同學還營造了一種共同的氛圍和凝聚力，將作品延伸到比自身涉及範圍更龐大的系列中。

抽象的線條和幾何表達形式是何同學的作品「願人們都心有所安」中反覆出現的元素，她將它們當作一種用來平衡她現實生活中所思所感的方法。線條和幾何形狀代表了她的理性思維，並在創作過程安撫了她的情緒。一些視覺元素在本質上看似矛盾，但其實在更大的意義上是相容的，刻意營造對立感吸引了觀眾主動嘗試體驗她心中的不穩平衡。

不同的產品可以作為宣揚新興藝術家作品的平台，幫助他們進入以前從未被探索過的新市場。合作夥伴Delta Blues Audio Limited、ECO Concepts和星光視覺媒體有限公司(綠團)都利用了新技術的優勢來降低生產障礙，使藝術家能夠以更低價錢、更便捷的方式宣傳自己的作品。

Delta Blues Audio Limited以其擁有高還原度音質效果的揚聲器聞名。品牌生產獨特的圓形平面「共振盤」，可提供獨特的音頻特徵。揚聲器獨特的模塊化結構令「共振盤」能夠以各種材料和工藝製造，同時為不同的藝術家提供創作空間。何同學獨特的線條藝術作品在Delta Blues Audio Limited的NX-1音箱中得到了真實的體現。她的線條藝術勾勒出一個隱藏的徑向圖案，與錐體形狀的揚聲器完美結合。

ECO Concepts通過最先進的圓柱形印刷技術，將何同學另一幅同一系列的作品應用在其產品「EcoCan」中。 ECO Concepts的設計靈感源自經典汽水罐的形象，他們採用了一個名為「EcoCan」的水瓶，這種瓶子既令人熟悉，又意想不到地富現代感。 PLA材料具有高達120°C的耐熱性，無BPA也無毒。如何同學所述，組織鬆散的幾何形狀和在畫中僅佔極少數的線條彷彿是落下的茶葉，從而賦予這個功能裝置充滿詩意的觸感。

綠團設計的小狗椅是一種有趣的、可自組裝的家具，它可以扁平包裝，便於運送和定制各種彩色印刷品。何同學創作了一個圖案，上面帶有富表現力的畫筆筆觸，具北歐風格的色彩與內層融為一體。

何同學亦與Nothing Ugly進行了合作，它是一個街頭時尚品牌，旨在用大膽而直接的信息「直面」主流美學觀念。對未經藝術訓練的普通觀眾來說，何同學的作品看起來可能有點抽象和模糊，但若結合品牌充滿自信的標語「Nothing Ugly」來思考，我們就會知道作品的目的是要打破社會大眾對藝術的刻板印象。

在《設計列陣》的推動下，世界知名的慈善品牌HeArt Panda和何同學一同打造了8吋高的標誌性熊貓像。 HeArt Panda的故事可以追溯到2008年的汶川大地震，在品牌成立的10年間，它已成為激發全人類勇氣和愛心的標記。何同學的熊貓被泥土覆蓋，希望向災難致意，並以漢字「愛」來點出這場災難在人民間所喚醒的力量。

Design Graduate:
Ho Mei Mei

Collaborator:
Delta Blues Audio Limited
ECO Concepts
HeArt Panda
Nothing Ugly
Starlite Visual Communication Ltd (Team Green®)星光視覺媒體有限公司

Email:
smeimeitree@gmail.com

School:
Hong Kong Baptist University 香港浸會大學