PORTRAIT—JIANI LU

PORTRAIT—JIANI LU

Interviews with like-minded creatives and progressive designers who, like us, refuse to be pigeon-holed and labelled. 

We begin our interview series with graphic designer and artist Jiani Lu. She is back at her Canadian studio, surrounded by nature, after having spent a few months in Bangkok, exploring and creating.

How do you learn / what is your creative process? (influence, inspiration sources etc...) what in the everyday inspires you to create and how it takes shape. From idea to form.
I am inspired by the quiet observations of surroundings and the subtleties in this. I think this comes from a feeling of existing on the periphery—never fully here nor there. Growing up in a household rooted in Chinese traditions, then spending my childhood in Berlin before immigrating to Canada, it’s this sense of in-betweenness that has shaped my adaptability, curiosity, and the way I observe the world.

Surrounded by visual arts in Berlin — my mom loved taking me to museums and galleries every first Sunday, and living just across from the Neue Nationalgalerie — I started graphic and photographic exploration when I was 13, building my first website and visual repository. Graphic design naturally became the path I pursued.



Over time, my mediums have evolved from digital media, to include film photography, collage, and oil painting. While my commercial work is guided by briefs and timelines, my personal explorations follow a different rhythm. I prefer open timelines, allowing the ability to work on multiple pieces simultaneously, revisiting and reworking them over long periods—until a point comes where nothing more can be added. Only then do I move on to the next.

Pressure, 2023 (Paper collage on board)

What objects do you cherish the most — if any?
Obsessions are intense yet always revolving, lately it has been:
A perfect bowl of street-side beef noodles, refined over decades of practice. Returning home to the studio where unfinished work is ready to be revisited again with fresh eyes. Low ceilings, an excellent sound system, and a night of dancing. The quiet of walking the dogs through the forest at dusk.

What books are you reading?
I have just started House of Leaves going into the autumn months, as recommended by a good friend. And The Poetics of Space, in tandem. Making Space: Women and the Man-Made Environment. As well as The Sandman graphic novels.

What does creative freedom mean to you?
I believe creative freedom exists in a weightless state — untethered fluidity where boundaries and expectations dissolve. In these rare moments of immersion, expression simply moves beyond you.

 

CSUPER x JIANI LU SHOP HERE

IG: @bluepokette

 

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