Olivia Chen creates incredible designs that have soul. Her work possesses a vivid, liveliness. Hers' is the sort of design work that sends you off into the rest of your day stoked to sit down and attempt to create something with that same energy and force.

I suspect Olivia is equal parts artist and designer—the artist at play in their studio, in consummate communion with practice meets the designer smashing out incredible design to a ravenous client base. To be honest I sense the soul in Olivia's work goes deeper than most—that it is a playful soul that invites and invigorates—open-handed and utterly self-confident. That is her power.

In 2019 Olivia launched Studio Chenchen, which can be best described on their gorgeous About page. Pop over and give it a read before you keep going. The brand and vision— which is Olivia's voice—is willing to be weird and unique without losing its edge and connection with what is happening in the world, while still blazing a new trail.

I recently caught up with Olivia to learn more about her career, her company and her life. I wanted to find out if there was some secret ingredient that went into making this person so amazingly driven and rad. I discovered, as everyone does who is looking to find " secret magic", that what Olivia does best is get shit done. She starts and doesn't stop. Simple.

We all want a secret ingredient and what I was blown away by, in addition to her dig-right-in-and-create attitude, was Olivia's grace, teamed with her silliness and her honesty. I'm so excited to share this conversation with you, because as always I've read it and found myself reminded how important it is to just do you, and say fuck it to compromising for anything less. Enjoy.

Amy: Hey mate, can you tell us a little about yourself and what you do?

Olivia: I am a Taiwanese graphic designer living in Sydney. I’m 34 years old. I grew up in Taiwan and moved to the states to study when I was 16 and was living in NYC until I was 27 years old. After that, I had moved around and tried living in France, Hong Kong, and now in Australia.

Dreamy shot of Olivia’s Studio Chenchen workspace.

A: This is one of my favourite questions to ask, because I think as children we are both abundantly creative and utterly unaware of how magical that is—what did you think being an artist was when you were a little kid?

O: Art was not a serious thing when I was growing up. They raised little girls like in the Victorian era in Taiwan. I was taught piano, painting and flute, but they were understood as “hobbies for a refined lady” not as something you should make your life or career about.

Even as a kid, being an artist was something romantic and rebellious at the same time.

I exhibited high interests in art but never took it seriously myself. I think it was because of the adults around me.

A: Where we grow up has a huge influence on us. I'd love to know a little about what is was like growing up in Taiwan. What is your earliest memory? Is there anything you really miss from home? What makes you most proud and happy to be Taiwanese right now?

O: Growing up in Taiwan was very weird. I grew up in the countryside and loved country life as a kid. But I also never felt like I fit in. I remember being very self-conscious to be looked at as the “country kid”. I think that’s why I decided to move to the biggest cities later on. I felt like I had something to prove all the time! But it was really fun in the countryside.

My memories will be how free it was growing up in the countryside of a developing country. Most of the time, we ran wild. All the adults were too busy making money, so no one took care of us. I was the eldest among my cousins, so I taught all my little cousins how to ride a bicycle. I took them riding to “far-away” places for a picnic; we visited the public cemetery the most (I loved scaring them with my made-up ghost stories). There were also lots of stray dogs on the street chasing us all the time ( lol).

Because Taiwan is such a tiny country loaded with so much historical burden and identity crisis, and also constantly being threatened by China. I think most Taiwanese people are humbled and more open-minded because of that. We understand how it feels like to be marginalised and overlooked. I am especially proud of the way we preserved and embraced different cultures coming to the land, and especially being the first Asian country to legalise gay marriage.

A: You launched Studio Chenchen in 2018. I've been roaming around on the About page of your company's website, which is just so full of amazing ideas in and of itself. I found something in this research that stoked my curiosity on one point in particular. What does “igniting conversation through thoughtful design” look like within the day to day of running your business and in your approach to the design process for your clients?

O: I was working in advertising and branding agencies before doing it on my own. It was around the time when I started my career that brand strategy became the hottest thing. A lot of the conversations were around “why we design it this way”, “understand our audience to make the design appealing to the right people” to the point I felt like we over-rationalise everything. I think brand strategy and design thinking are double-edged swords. And if we over-rely on the strategy side of the business, we’d lose the art in it.

I wanted my approach to be a little bit different. I wanted to allow the process to the solution to be more organic.

And I want the result to be less safe—I want my work to provoke an emotion or a reaction.

It makes sense to me to approach design and branding with 40% rationality and 60% randomness. A project would start with the strategy, but the execution needs room to be free of it too. That’s what I meant by “igniting conversation through thoughtful design” because the design should not just be a solution from the brain, but also from the heart.

A: Can you share a little about your experience as a woman of colour working in a leadership role in Australia today? What do you find the most challenging thing about being a leader of your own company? Also, are there any unexpected, weird or wonderful parts of it that you hadn't anticipated?

O: I wouldn’t called myself a leader in my company since it is just me and my husband helping part-time. I would call myself the owner of my company. I have to take responsibility fully in every decision the company makes. As the owner of the company, I have to be the face of it too. I deal with clients, sub-contractors, collaborators and business people myself. As an Asian female whose first language is not English it is sometimes hard, but so far, I am embracing the challenge, and I also get a lot of support from my peers and my clients.

It was honestly harder for me when I was working in agencies. There are certain stereotypes and images attached to someone as a “creative director”, especially in those large agencies, where you rarely see a female executive creative director.

Many women decided to leave the corporate design world and have their own studio that suited better for them, and I think that’s great. More power to them!

Studio Chenchen’s branding for Sydney Lunar New Year 2020

A: I wonder what impact your fine arts studies at Pratt Institute in New York have had on your work as a designer. Reflecting from this point in your career, what would you say are your main take aways from your time at art school? What did you find most valuable about your arts education in general?

O: The way Pratt Institute runs its program is similar to Bauhaus. We have four years of education, and everyone is required to do a foundation year in the first year. So, no matter what your major is, you would need to take fundamental sculpture class, painting class, art history class etc. during your first year, as well as other liberal art class that was required for all universities students in the States.

My major was in communications design, but going through the first year not touching a computer was great. We had more focus on training our eye, the theory, and the thinking behind it. I believe that people do not go to university just to gain professional skill, that is what trade schools are for. People go to university to learn how to think critically, and that’s really what an art school education did for me. All the critique, discussion, debate, and philosophy classes opened my eye and my brain!

I take the critical approach in the way I design. I aim to make design that is full of symbolism and cultural reference but also challenges the stereotype.

A: Can you tell us about a project that was a real game changer for your process and career? I’d love to hear about some of the lessons you learnt in the process.

O: It would be the campaign and branding for Capricorn Film Festival. I was at first, so stuck in the usual strategy process and felt restricted in the brand strategy we created. I was too focused on creating something shining, something that I thought would attract the teenagers as they are our target audience. It was the perfect example of what I have mentioned earlier about when the strategy becomes a straitjacket for creativity.

It wasn’t until after multiple design proposals, that my client was not getting what he thought I could offer, that he told me “What excite you as a kid? Forget about the strategy, forget about the target audience, I want what you would do for fun!” And suddenly I realised I lost the fun on the process—the exploring part of creation. The brand strategy and target audience study led me to create predictable solutions. I threw it all behind me and the idea of creating little clay figures for the campaign was born. In the end, my client couldn’t approve the design fast enough. This is also a great example of how I like to co-create with my clients.

Capricorn Film Festival Campaign branding by Studio Chenchen

Olivia making clay figures for Capricorn Film Festival

A: As we speak, the entire world is in varying states of lockdown. Here in Australia, we have never really reached a full lock down situation, but the vast majority of people haven't left the house for anything but food shopping and exercise in weeks. Can you share a little about how the last few months have been for you personally?

O: I am in a lucky position that my livelihood is not jeopardised due to the lockdown. The business has some savings, and even though all the new business has come to a stall, we still have existing work from our current clients. I have been teaching part-time for a while, and that is still going on. We changed the classroom online, and it was great not having to commute to school, to be honest. I already work from my home office since starting Studio Chenchen, so it wasn’t a significant change for me physically. If anything, it was a necessary break for me. 2019 was a fantastic year for Studio Chenchen, we got approached by many new clients, and it was a great first year for me. I worked most weekends and was in the expansion mode all the time. 2020 became a good year to settle down. Revaluate the business and also to do some up-skilling and maintenance for the studio. I also fixed up my company payroll and all the admin kind of things. So yes, the business is not expanding at the moment, but I ended up cleaning up all the little things that were in my back burner for ages. So I am happy.

I am also learning 3d modelling and motion graphic online. It is excellent to go back and be a student again.

I was also happy that I had an excuse not hanging out with friends for a while. I am very protective of my personal time.

I am such an introvert who loves staying at home. Sometimes I act like Golem from Lord of the Rings moaning about my “precious times” when invited to too many social engagements. Hahah…

A: How are you and your community being affected by the Covid-19 situation? How has it affected your creative practice and work in particular?

O: Uncertainty is just not good for any business. We learn how fragile the economy is. All future projects are being halted, and we are unsure how many new businesses we will get in the future. But we are optimistic. If anything, it made me question the way I live my life and my capitalist ambitions. I wonder how long we can continue to take advantages of globalisations and not be burnt by it ( or we are being punished right now).

The whole idea of jet-setting around the globe and to only pick and choose what we like from other cultures was fun for us who comes from developed countries, but everything comes with consequences. Covid-19 is one of the consequences.

A: With every set back also comes opportunity. In the time of lock down, what are some new creative practices or processes that you have begun to explore and why?

O: I am learning new skills and reading more and that has been a blessing.

A: Other than the one's we have been chatting about, can you tell us about a big life experience or event which really shifted your perspective and changed your life?

O: Moving to America when I was 16 changed my life. I was eager to study abroad since I was a teen. I did well in Taiwan, but I just didn’t fit in and couldn’t be myself in a patriarchal society. American culture presents itself to be free, empowering, and expressive. So I applied as an high school exchange student to a public high school in South Dakota and moved there to live with a local family by myself. The exchange program only lasts for one year, so in order to stay, I had to move to a private school. While my parents did help me financially, they didn’t want me to stay in America.

So I looked around myself online and found and applied to a private high school in Boston. I literally applied to the first school I found online!
After I got the admission letter, I told my parents about my desire to stay and they were partially shocked and partially impressed.

My parents are very business-oriented. If you want something from them, you have to do the work to prove to them that you really want it.

Later on, when I was applying for university, I also didn’t tell my parents that it was an art school until I got accepted either. My parents don’t understand English, so I used that to get what I want sometimes—haha. But again, none of this would be possible if my parents didn’t support me financially. So I am forever thankful for them.

Spending some of my teenage years to my late twenties without my family in America helped me grew and developed to who I want to be. The independence and freedom were so amazing. The optimistic and go-getter attitude in American culture also really worked for me.

Epic thanks to Olivia for sharing her thoughts and stories with us. If you’re stoked and keen to keep up with what Olivia has coming up with Studio Chenchen, you can explore their website and follow them on Instagram!

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