Y:What's the most impressive thing happened during your three years at CSM?
M: I didn't take the foundation course, so I was less competitive than my classmates. During the first year I couldn't to anything. I didn't know how to use the library to do research, and my sketchbook just looked like a disaster. So I failed with first two projects. Teachers in CSM are very strict. The only respond you could get when you explained to them was 'Who cares.' So I was very depressed by that time, even thought that maybe I should just quite and go home. But I didn't give up eventually. During the summer vocation I stayed in London, gave myself a plan for reading and study. I came to the library everyday, drew a sketch everyday and study about other people's work, preparing for the project of the next term.
Then the first project of the next term was the shirt project. I already got an idea when others didn't know what was going on. It's like the early bird catches the worm. The project went on smoothly from the very begining. Teachers and classmates all witnessed my changing. I started to feel involved and learned a lot with my classmates. And by the end of the project I was the second runner in my class. My tutor gave me lots of encouragement and positive feedback, which made me much confident than ever. After my graduation show I stayed to say thank you to all my tutors. When I told the tutor of the shirt project about it he was very surprised. 'Oh, really! Did that help? Thanks for telling me. It's good to know.' Yes, if you didn't tell someone, then he would never know how thankful you felt about him and the truth that how important a simple encouragement could change a person's life.
M: Many people said to me that I got a fame. But I don't think so. I'm not an ambitious person. I never thought about owning a brand or wining big awards. The collection was finished by me and my mother on our dinner table. I don't have any intership experienment. If you sent me to some big companies and ask me to do some collections, or research on the trends and markets, it's impossible for me. I still have lots to learn and to practise. And that's why people think my collection is fresh. I want to keep the freshness so I'm a bit reluctant to get into the industry so early.
Y: Then what do you want to do next?
M: I want to go back to China. I want to go to some remote areas to learn the folk art and craftsmanship of the minority ethnic in China. We have 56 different races in China and they all have their special craftsmanship, some of which are going to disapear from the world if nobody is going to carry on. I want to learn it, recreate it with my fashion and introduce it to more people. It's a long-term plan, 5 years at least. But I'm not in a rush. I'd like to confirm every step and make sure that I'm doing what I really want to do.
M: Yes, of course. You see my mom is helping me with my work in London. And my dad is a ceramics artist. Those porcelain on my final collection was made by him. In the future I want to do some fashion-related fine art stuff, like some installation about fashion. And my dad said he could help me with the material and space. He's a mature and traditional artist, and he's also my teacher and my inspiration.
M: Well, that's before I was born I guess. It's destiny. My mom wrote a letter to her twins sister when she was pregnant, saying that 'If it's a he, I want him to be an architect. If it's a she, I want her to be a fashion designer.' My mom likes to make clothes. She made my clothes from my childhood to highschool. My hometown is not a big city. People don't know what is fashion. I have the sense of fashion, and I read magazines on the internet. My dressing were always critisized by the teacher. But all my friends liked my style and they also thought I should be a fashion designer. Even though, my parents still wanted me to take the normal education. They sent me to high school and then I went to study arts history in college. But I always have the idea that I want to make clothes.
In college I got freedom in time and finance. I rent a very small basement near school and bought a 500-yuan (about 50 pounds) sewing machine. That's how I started. At first I made some shopping bags for my friends. They liked them very much. Then I began to make t-shirts, then trousers, one by one. They were just some pieces of cloth, but I just enjoyed making them and seeing people wearing them. My clothes is not the 'cool' stuff. But people wearing them are really feeling happy and satisfied. And that's my happiness as well.
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