Li Xiang doesn’t design with a universal standard in mind. Instead, she lets her work speak for itself. It’s unsurprising for the designer whose childhood was nurtured by parents who encouraged her creative side with piano and painting lessons. “It enriched my growing experience and liberated me so I could dare to be immersed in wild dreams all the time.” As founder of Shanghai practice X+Living, Xiang matches her eye for beauty with a draw toward innovation. “I [want] to be a person who has influence,” she says, “and can make some contributions to the world.”
On her big break
Xiang designed the Shanghai location of the Zhongshuge bookstore chain in 2013, two years after launching her own firm. It was a debut project that pushed design limits by creating an experience of being wrapped in a sea of books over two stories. Three years later, she completed the Yangzhou location, which incorporated nature-inspired characteristics of the river city. A photograph of the space was later published on the cover of an Indian elementary school’s geography textbook. “I’m proud that this bookstore not only became widely loved by locals, but also represents the city” all over the world, she says.
The Neobio Family Park in Hangzhou evokes a fantastical land
Design philosophy
Xiang’s first job at the China Construction Institute proved formative in the development of her design sensibility. She learned “it’s necessary to know yourself, stick with yourself, and break yourself,” she says. This formula has benefitted her genre-defying work, especially when crafting Neobio Family Park indoor playgrounds, including her first project with them in Shanghai. The brand became one of the most famous in China, and Xiang became an expert in the field. This led to other opportunities, including Meland Club in Wuhan, China, a renovation of a shopping mall’s third floor into a fantastical kid’s club. Taking cues from Kunqu Opera, Xiang reinterpreted elements like its costumes, musical instruments, and facial makeup into something to be admired and loved by children. “I wanted to transform the public space into somewhere parents could enjoy hanging out with their children. Such an idea is quite unprecedented and challenging, and harder to make come true.”
Favorite project
“I have always been concerned about wildlife conservation, and the Park Zoo Hotel in Hangzhou is a particularly rare and unforgettable experience,” she says. The space is imbued with a deep love for animals, recalling an art exhibition more than a hotel. “[Guests] are able to observe and feel the real situation facing the endangered animals in the present moment,” she says. “It’s not easy to incorporate a topic of public interest in the conceptual design of a commercial space. You need to balance the seriousness of the topic with [the recreational nature] of the venue. Most importantly, you need to earn the support and trust of the project owners.”
On nurturing inspiration
“I once came across the art installation Memory by Anish Kapoor during a study tour in Germany, and I was awed by its power and the tension it brought to the whole space. I realized what I truly want to express and display through design: I want to create something that brings vitality and inspiration to people and the world, which is a complicated and challenging task, but has a natural appeal to me.”
A starry sky background welcomes children to Wuhan’s Meland Club
This article originally appeared in HD’s July 2020 issue.
