Justin Chi is a Taiwanese designer who focuses on user experience and functionality in fashion design. As an attentive observer, he is inspired by the curiosities and queries of things that we are familiar with, and how they integrate into the life of the user. Through various types of research and production processes, such as repeated experiments and collaboration, he emphasizes the forgotten detail in a simple way.
He has also extended this approach to human-centered design to the context of the medical industry, through the Medical Wearable Devices Design project held by Taiwan Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. His role was to determine the needs that patients, doctors, and nurses expressed regarding their hospital apparel, and developed an integrated design solution to remedy the various issues they faced. He brought his expertise in pattern making to improve the convenience of the existing range of hospital apparel.During graduate studies at FIT, he also worked with the US Cerebral Palsy Foundation, developing an accessories collection for people with disabilities based on the human-centered solutions.His designs are informed from observation and integration, not just focusing on problem solving. From personal research to cross-disciplinary collaborations, he establishes his own design methodology which centers around the target user joining the design process to tell a story.
Justin Chi holds an MFA in Fashion Design from Fashion Institute of Technology and a BA in Fashion Design from Taipei – Shih Chien University. His professional experience includes Calvin Klein Performance and 3.1 Phillip Lim menswear collection.
When did you first realize you wanted to launch your own label?
During graduate studies at FIT MFA Fashion Design program, I focused on exploring user experience and functionality in fashion design. After that, I try to perceive and continue to create stories through my own label with playful outfits.
If you could go back and tell yourself one thing before beginning your career what would it be?