Ye Shen

Specialized in Footwear Design.

Ye Shen

About Ye Shen

With an Industrial Design education taught in a Bauhaus manner, Ye Shen appreciates the beauty in mass-production and the romance in consumer-centered designs. "There are already so many products existing in this world, why should someone make another one of them?" With thousands of designers creative new products and millions of which being made on a daily basis, Ye had struggled but eventually managed to find his purpose to create: to transcend his products with the infusion of his own functional and emotional perspective. Ye seeks to discover the hidden bond between users, products, and even himself. Ye has built a cat tree in forms of human furniture to investigate the subject of leisure and to tease the fluid identity of viewers and users, the entertained and the entertainers. To seek for a job like any human beings do, Ye built his resume into the form of footwear to start conversations with employers he meets. Ye blends his artistic aesthetic into his quest of building products that are not only user-friendly, but also meaningfully interactive and emotionally provoking, because Ye believes if a product doesn't provide these properties, it has no reason to exist on this earth.

  • Winner of the A' Design Award.
  • Specialized in Footwear Design.
  • Original Design.
  • Creative, Diligent and Innovative.
  • All Designs
  • Footwear
Wacky Pack Interactive Footwear

Wacky Pack Interactive Footwear

Footwear Design

Good Design Deserves Great Recognition

Nominate Your Work for the A' Design Award.

Sign-Up

Interview with Ye Shen

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?
Having a poet father and an illustrator mother, my artistic journey started from doodling all over the wall at home. With zero discouragement, my creativity was never caged. At high school, I came to realized that I wanted to practice creativity as my life path, so I searched and attended any program that provides me opportunities and atmosphere. I made my major shift from fine art to design with the appreciation of mass production and the hope that my creation could be used by a mass audience in a daily setting, instead of viewing on gallery walls only.
Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
I have my corporate practice and personal practice for venting my desire to ideate and make. Officially during the day, I work as a footwear designer in the Sportstyle Department of Puma North America, where we create products with unique lifestyle perspective and comprehensive story-telling experience to push the envelope of this footwear category. Outside of work, I run a few brands that delivers products around the lifestyle I live in, from customized cat furniture, to plant-care accessories, to unofficial university merchandises.
What is "design" for you?
Design is to solve or speak about a "problem", whether it is indeed "problematic" or not. For me personally, design is a unique creative channel through which I create bonds with my users, fellow creatives, and the world.
What kinds of works do you like designing most?
I'd like designing products to start a conversation about a subject through my unique perspective, observation or reflection.
What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
The Wassily Chair by Marcel Breuer. A functionally simplistic yet artistically pleasing piece of furniture made from tubular steel and leather. This design is yielded from Beruer's exploration in the medium and technique of bent metal tubes when they were freshly introduced and just became industrially available.
When do you feel the most creative?
During the process of fabrication or while exploring my materials.
Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
The making. Through playing with mediums and executing ideas, unexpected lessons, new opportunities, unexplored characteristics unfold themselves.
What makes a design successful?
When it performs a function or bring an emotion that users have yet to anticipate.
When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
Whether it has unique and meaningful reasons to exist in this world.
From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
Humanity, A designer, should understand the struggles, needs and craving of human beings.
How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
I believe in the next 5 to 10 years, the emphasis will once again be placed on craft and hand-production.
When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
Pre-Covid in the Elms mansion at Newport, RI, USA. I would like to hold my next exhibition in a window display of a corner store in a very busy street of New York.
Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
It is hard to discuss the term "inspiration" when I practice design as a profession. I tend to feed my living experience to my creativity, and my creativity to my life. Many of my good ideas come from my internal reflections upon strange questions and myths that stuck in my head. I make connections between things I observe and think about, which can spark ideas when these connections become conflicting or juxtaposing.
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?
My approach to design is to not owning a style, but rather explore different medium that are justified by the goal of my statements.
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 currently reside in the US. Travelling to different parts of the states, taking parts of different grassroot cultures, brings me new perspectives to investigate different subject matters and trends I see day to day.
How do you work with companies?
I enjoy staying and growing in a team that I feel like I belong to and can contribute to make it better.
What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
To truly respect and consider their visions and skills as a creative problem-solver, instead of an employee. Designers tend to like speaking about their work more than themselves, so having conversation around their work can give companies a good sense of what they're dealing with.
Can you talk a little about your design process?
My process differs greatly depending on the subject I tackle. However, all of my design process starts with some sort of subject research that collect detailed notes and data points, and then a mind map to link these points into a pattern to represent how I think.
What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
Wassily Chair / Muji Bean bag / Cat trees I built for my cats / OXO peeler / Wok
Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
As much as form follows function, your actions should follow your purpose. Try to be a purposeful designer before you become a good designer.
From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
Positives: It's a sort of life hack to live by your creativity. Negatives: When creativity is tied to your profession, it can burn out.
Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
Any software, hardware and medium that I can employ to realize my concept. Tools can always be learned, but the desire to create is the gem that cannot be lost.
Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
I tend to break down a large task into smaller incremental tasks that I can tackle and feel the sense of accomplishment upon finishing each one.
What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
I enjoy bridging tradition or industrial techniques with a whimsical and wacky way to approach problem-solving. Through this combination, I get to practice my profession while expressing my personal statements.
What are your future plans? What is next for you?
I hope to become a creative director who can connect resources in every disciplines that I can be creative at.
Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
I went to school at Rhode Island School of Design, which as a design school, doesn't offer very creative merchandises in my opinion. So I'm working on my own unofficial school-merch brand that celebrates the energy around the establishment.

Extended Interview with Ye Shen

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?
I am a cross-disciplinary designer that has worked in the field of glassware, consumer electronics, furniture, eVTOL, soft goods, etc. Now I am focused on footwear design. I studied industrial design at Rhode Island School of Design, which taught in a heavily Bauhaus-inspired, problem-solving-oriented approach.
How did you become a designer?
I have a strong urge to express myself through what I create. I found it romantic to have designed mass-produced products that can get into the hands of countless users. Therefore, I become a designer to establish bonds with this world.
What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?
I have practiced fine art since I was a kid. It wasn't until the end of my first year in college did I choose industrial design to continue my pursuit of creating physical products that can be used by many people.
Which emotions do you feel when designing?
I have focused on footwear design over the past few years. I mainly designed lifestyle products with an emphasis on telling a unique story through materials and colors or delivering unique user interactions with hidden functions.
What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?
Stay curious and never stop learning, always be willing to explore new territories.
What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?
In my opinion, a good designer is capable of delivering what he/she is tasked and briefed for. A great designer, conduct projects and create products that speak to his/her purpose and vision.
What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?
A good design should be functionally sound and aesthetically pleasing and should solve a problem in real-life scenarios. What makes a good design a really good design is the level of emotion it's capable of translating. A really good design is humane and cultural; a really good design should evoke memory, sensation, and emotions.
You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?
The value of good design is that it solves problems that users have not yet realized. Good design should be invested in because it makes a more efficient and pleasing world.
What is your day to day look like?
I would study cat ergonomics and design specialized cat trees that encourage indoor cats' exercise and provide comfort and ease of use.
How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?
I hope to create a series of footwear collection that celebrates the history of my cultural background.
How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?
My secret recipe for success is in the research process, and the secret ingredient is the attention of my end consumers.
What is your biggest design work?
My all-time favorite design is the Wassily Chair by Marcel Breuer. It explored the manufacturing techniques of bent metal tubes while the method was freshly introduced. As a result, it created an elegant yet functional seating solution.
Who is your favourite designer?
Wacky pack, because it not only provided solutions and aesthetics as products but also dived into the cultural aspect of the sneakerhead and fashion community.
Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?
I constantly try to improve my attention to detail in a way that elevates product quality while being mindful of the time consumption of the process. Time management and efficiency are the top qualities of good designers.
What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?
Design is solving a problem or defining a problem before it emerges.
What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?
My professors, classmates, friends, colleagues, and supervisors have all contributed to providing me with constructive criticism to help me improve.

Stay Updated with Latest Design News

By clicking Sign-Up, you are opting to receive promotional emails from A' Design Awards, World Design Rankings, World Design Consortium and Designers.Org You can update your preferences or unsubscribe any time.

You are now at the right step

Join Designers.org & Start Promoting Your Design Worldwide.

Create an Account