SKY YUTAKA

Sarah Lee and Yutaka Yano, founders of Hong Kong-based design studio Sky Yutaka, are two of the young designers contributing an installation to this year’s Archigram-designed Design Trust gala. The pair have a longstanding connection with Archigram’s work, as Peter Cook was chair of London’s Bartlett School of Architecture when the duo studied there.

“The culture within the school, of inquiry and research but rigour in developing one’s identity, highly influenced the approach to work we do today,” says Lee. “Archigram’s work was about possibilities and alternatives, and this influences our approach to see things in a different way and always look at different solutions to a design problem.”

Upon returning to Hong Kong, the duo’s innovative approach earned them a Design Trust grant, which they used to create a kinetic installation for Design Society in Shenzhen. “Design Trust is a very important platform for the creative community in Hong Kong, and their programmes and support for designers is essential to the cultural context of the city,” says Lee. “Borrowed Nature was a kinetic artwork we developed. It was a significant development for our practice and allowed us the opportunity to create the work and really help us to advance the parameters of what we could achieve.”

Lee and Yano are adapting Borrowed Nature for the Design Trust gala. “We hope it will be inviting and playful,” says Lee.