OS Conversations: Nee Wong
1. Who is Nee Wong?
Nee is an interior designer and visual artist based in Kuala Lumpur. She juggles between interior design work and her exploration of colorful collaged art.
2. What does a typical day in life look like to you?
Busy! It’s tough juggling between two job scopes so I’m usually planning my day ahead in the morning along with a good cup of coffee. (I’m a regular at One Half!)
I then ease into work in my studio, mellow beats in the background, and tick things off the list. The earlier part of the day usually requires more brain juice like drawing technical drawings or sketching proposals, whilst later in the
afternoon I like winding down with some creative play. I can be found collaging in my scrapbook or putting paper scraps together for a commission.
3. What are the first 5 things you do when you wake up?
Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, and coffee! Really, I can’t function without one.
4. How did you first come up with the idea of Play with Paper and collaging?
I started to collage as a hobby after my 2-year stunt in an architecture firm in Melbourne. I was tired of drawing accurate lines on the computer every day and wanted to do something more tactile during my free time. Knowing I wanted to do something with my hands, I played with cutting colorful papers and making patterns with crayons and colored pencils. It was a fun challenge composing them into artworks. Before I knew it, I had a scrapbook filled with these collages!
5. When did you first feel like the visual design was something you wanted to go into?
When I was working in an architecture firm. I‘ve ALWAYS been drawn to colors, so it only felt natural to venture into visual design.
6. Where do you turn to for inspirations?
I love drawing inspiration from little details. It could be a story, a place I’ve traveled to, or simply the shape of an object!
7. How do you get the color, idea, pattern onto the paper just the way you want? Do you sketch it first or come up with a different mood board to suit the theme?
I’m usually not a planner when it comes to my collaged artworks, because the process is what drives the results. I usually, determine a color palette, and from there I let my hands and scissors spontaneously put something together.
8. What makes you excited about your work?
Just the idea of vibrant colors, and not knowing what you’re going to get at the end of each piece.
9. What has been the greatest lesson you have learned since the beginning of your career?
Do not be rigid, and let the creative process create greater things.
10. Name your 3 favorite colors.
Mustard Yellow, Emerald Green, Royal Blue.
11. Favorite city to travel to and why?
Japan, because of its beautiful cities and beautiful culture!
12. What are you currently listening to?
Lana Del Rey and Florence and the Machine always gets to me.
13. What are your plans for a future project?
Dreaming of a solo show and more out-of-the-box collaborations.
14. Pet peeve?
When a color isn’t the exact hue I’m looking for. A tad lighter or warmer and I freak out!