Spot the Designer - Hairuo Ding/ China

What did you want to be when you were a child?

When I was a child, I loved drawing and doing all kinds of crafts a lot. Like I used to hand-made a lot of stuff for my parents and friends, this habit has actually continued to this day, I always prefer to make something by hand as a birthday or holiday present rather than buy it from the store. At that time, I didn’t know what art was or what an artist was, so all I wanted to be was a painter because it was the only career I know that was closest to what I liked.

When have you started creating jewelry? How did this passion come about?

It was when I applied for the college. At that time, I was very determined to pursue art, but I didn’t have a specific direction in mind. Until one day, when I bought a book about art jewelry, which completely broke my understanding about traditional jewelry. The connection between contemporary art and the human body deeply attracted me and made me sure that this was the path I wanted to go.

What was your first project or significant piece for you and from what point of view?

My significant contemporary work is Voice of Bamboo, it was my first project of contemporary jewelry, so it means a lot to me. These series of designs come from my love of China’s bamboo culture, I went to the birthplace of bamboo; there was a responsible for creating and processing bamboo production, and I studied there for three months, trying to study the material as much as possible. That was the first time when I tried to use contemporary language to express traditional stuff, and I really got a lot of thoughts after this piece. Basically, it was a preliminary change in my thinking from traditional art jewelry to contemporary art jewelry.

 How do you charge your batteries? What other passions and creative interests do you have?

Before I took art as my career, art was the biggest pastime in my life. Every time when I was stressed or in a bad mood at school, I would had shut myself into my room to do handwork or draw stuff, which was the most relaxing way for me. But now because I can make these things every day, I usually write or watch movies to recharge my batteries; I’ve written a lot of prose and poems in my spare time, this is my biggest passion besides art.

What does the connection between manufacturing tradition and contemporary design mean to you?

I think they are related to each other. Manufacturing tradition has always been a kind of irreplaceable production mode, which is physical. Contemporary design is more like a thought, is spiritual, the two are both indispensable for people.

Is there a self-portrait piece that speaks most about you?

I have been troubled by mental problems for a long time, maybe because I am an extremely cheerful person in the eyes of all people, I deeply feel people neglecting and misunderstanding about mental illness, that made me start to study mental illness and tried to express this invisible pain and helplessness of people with mental illness in an artistic way, I hope people will be more imaginative about the suffering of others and encourage those people who have a mental illness to face up to it, you are not alone.

Which material have you not yet used is a temptation and a challenge for you?

I have experimented a variety of materials, and the style of my works has always been biased towards chaos and disorder. Therefore, if I have a chance, I would like to try a minimalist and clean material style. I haven’t figured out what the material is yet, but it is always interesting to challenge a style and material that I have never tried before. 

How was the pandemic period for you as a jewelry designer?

Last year the studio was closed, so basically I was working at home last year, also because most of my exhibitions have been cancelled or changed to online, but I had more time to think and create. Last year was also the year that I created the most of my artworks because I could not go anywhere, I felt confused and anxious, but in the end, they led me to create the installation work “invisible Pain”, which is also a kind of growth for me. It really made me feel the insignificance and powerlessness of human beings in this uncontrollable world.

How do you see the future of contemporary jewelry?

I see infinite possibilities, and in fact, the development of contemporary jewelry has been very fast over the years. With the development of the internet, we no longer need to travel long distances, we don’t have to meet each other in person to understand each other’s artworks. So, worldwide, this is a rapidly growing field, to integrate ourselves into the world of contemporary art Countless gallery, museum and fair curators have worked a lot to support us and provide access, there is a great future of this field for sure.

Find more about the designer Hairuo Ding