Naai-Jung Shih

Specialized in 3D Printing Design.

Naai-Jung Shih

About Naai-Jung Shih

on the verge of academics and professional practice, educator and designer; a translator on behalf of 3D scan and RP

  • Winner of the A' Design Award.
  • Specialized in 3D Printing Design.
  • Original Design.
  • Creative, Diligent and Innovative.
  • All Designs
  • 3D Printing
Moon Table Light

Moon Table Light

3D Printing Design

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Interview with Naai-Jung Shih

Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
a professor in the Department of Architecture giving lectures on 3D scan, RP, and design studio I/II i always want to design on different input and output mechanism.
What was the first thing you designed for a company?
As the background of architecture, programming with the requirement of client should be the first thing to work with.
What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
Parametric adjustment with RP production process is appearing to me currently.
When do you feel the most creative?
When I ‘m able to connect design issues with different viewpoints.
Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
It’s more architecture-oriented, the functionality and aesthetics.
What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
A mixture of different kind of emotions, but happiness does not always go first.
What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
A mixture of different kind of emotions, but happiness always goes first.
What makes a design successful?
Frankly I guess a design can hardly 100% success. Fulfilling design requirements always goes first.
From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
I guess it has become solid design requirements for society and environment, not just moral responsibilities.
How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
I guess it’s going to be cross-culture, cross-discipline, and cross-paradigm interactions.
When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
I am a professor for 3D RP and design studio. I usually manage a exhibition near the end of each semester like December or June. Some of them were held outside university in a local gallery, some are inside campus.
Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
I did a lot of 3D scans of temples, urban open spaces and street blocks. The static buildings and dynamic pedestrians have created a very energetic inspiration for my works. I never consider as being creative. It’s the development of concepts makes me feel great.
How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
Frankly I would rather call the style as a history of interaction with architectural and urban spaces. I’m so afraid to define my style because I guess any style is strongly related to a personal self-development stage. By looking back to style just like opening files of old archives, it’s a collection of interactions that should be think about before approaching a design.
Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
I live in Taipei, Taiwan. I have done lots of 3D scans and few RPs for cultural heritages. I guess it is personal preference that I haven’t been influenced by the cultural issues. It’s still quite open to all possibilities.
How do you work with companies?
Being in academics, I didn’t work with many companies. The companies I have been worked with come with specific requirements to be accomplished.
Can you talk a little about your design process?
Very typical. Like a spiral development of concept, any selection of alternatives would redefine former problem space and thus lead to a new perspective.
Can you describe a day in your life?
By being a full professor, it’s really a typical 9-5 routine every day, except I can arrange most of the time when not in lectures.
Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
Frankly I don’t have something for young designers. Actually I'm still learning from any designer.
From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
I do not consider myself as a designer. I guess the positives and negatives of being a title is the title itself, since a person can be limited by predefined notions.
Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
I have 3D scanners (Leica HDS, Artec, MS v2), RP machine (Microjet, Plus2), 3D software (Geomagic Studio), and frequently visit web pages and news (3ders, SPAR, Engadget) for the inspirations that come from class assignments given to students or even the moving figures in traditional market.
Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
This is a very common situation since I was an architecture student. There is no easy solution to that.
How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
from a few years to a few weeks, sometimes former designs were brought up because of new interpretations
What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
Actually I would rather be called a problem-solver or an explorer who provides concepts and methods of execution.
What was your most important job experience?
arca show room design for British Office Taiwan and being architectural design studio chairperson for 90 students and 10 instructors
Who are some of your clients?
One is show room design, as a team work, for British Office Taipei for the purpose of culture promotion. Most of the clients are academics like Ministry of Science and Technology , Taiwan.
What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
In all the architecture building information modeling (BIM) level of development (LOD) 100-500 (conceptual/programming to reality), I guess each level has great potential and can be played with.
What are your future plans? What is next for you?
I would like to apply current RP technology to explore some designs that cannot be made before.
Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
Most likely designs are developed by myself. I also work with students as a team.
Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
Design has become a hobby. There are sketches in my note I can get them done in near future.

Designer of the Day Interview with Naai-Jung Shih

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?
Everyone with architecture background is a designer. My experience as a designer or creator comes from the involvement of university design studio. A long term teaching experience with architecture degree makes me working with design even for pedagogical purpose.
How did you become a designer?
As a professor for the design studio of the first year architecture students, this unique experience makes me rethink and explore the forms and orders for architectural spaces and elements.
What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?
A project is usually approached with a theme or an inspiration. Digital tools are used to improve the quality of design components. Hand touch like painting or assembly method is preferred at the final stage.
Which emotions do you feel when designing?
Each design phase has its emotional attributes and something to be excited about.
What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?
I prefer taking pictures of spaces or shadows to reveal the hidden relationship among solid and void objects. It’s a very common shill and shared by many designers.
What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?
My design paths are tangled with many old and new projects and themes. My office is like a warehouse full of woods, stones, 3D prints for future exploration of human-object interaction in terms of lights.
What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?
There is no guarantee of success or so-called all winner design. Be faithful to your own sense might be a good start.
You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?
Do not use the word success as the only judgement of life too often might be a good rule for design career.
What is your day to day look like?
My everyday life is so routine that pushes me to cherish every design spark for happiness.
How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?
Many students attend design competitions as a way to represent most current design trends in my university. As an educator, I also have to convince myself the fundamental part of design that also matters.
How do you decide if your design is ready?
I always keep an open tab in my mind to make earlier designs better. So actually a design is theoretically never ready.
What is your biggest design work?
The biggest project was a Cultural Showroom that is made of elastic fabric to redefine an old historical building into a dynamic space.
Who is your favourite designer?
Zaha Haddid is one of my favorite designers. Her interpretation of space has also shown in fashion design.
Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?
My favorite and inspiring city is Barcelona. I’m teaching in the Department of Architecture, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. The change to my life is an office full of interesting design stuffs.
Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?
I am a hard worker and usually work alone for a not so tight inspection of personal progress.
What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?
I have managed several design exhibitions with students in recent years to let us get involved with communities. It also comes with pedagogical purpose.
What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?
It’s a self-evolving process when you are a professor for over 20 years. It’s a also a challenge when most of the instructors co-author designs with students too often. To attend A’ Design Award is to connect with the world in every manner.

Extended Interview with Naai-Jung Shih

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?
I received Master of Architecture and Doctor in Architecture degrees from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan.
How did you become a designer?
I come up with ideas every day, and I want to be a designer as a creator or an interpreter of spaces and geometries.
Which emotions do you feel when designing?
In addition to a formal style of “design”, I also prefer to make something out of its original configuration and composition in a more de-construction manner.
What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?
Every designer is unique. She or he does not have to become anyone.
What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?
Every designer is a good or great designer whenever she or he works her or his own way out.
What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?
A good design may come with the form, the function, and the message that a design can deliver. A great design is a design keeps evolving.
You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?
A good design improves the effectiveness and efficiency of life.
What is your day to day look like?
I would like to design a system for design so everyone or myself can use it.
How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?
My dream project is not a design; it’s a personal inventory system of possible resources for design.
How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?
Well, keep coming back to re-interpret design and fix it may be one of the recipes.
How do you decide if your design is ready?
Zaha Hadid is one of the masters I admire for her achievements architecture.
What is your biggest design work?
There are so many designers I prefer, in A Design Award or Pinterest for example, although I do not know their names.
Who is your favourite designer?
In this case, Wood Storm and Billy Julie were two of my greatest designs up to now, because both illustrated a viewpoint where metaphors and physical objects meet.
Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?
A good designer can be achieved by observing, practicing, thinking, and keeping communication with people.
Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?
May be a teacher, I have been working as a professor for 27 years. If I hadn’t become a so-called designer, I still can be a designer for myself.
What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?
The biggest support is the A Design Award who has provided an open environment for anyone to express itself. I didn’t even tell my wife what I am doing.

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