Y Tsai on how to use design to make a social impact

Architecture & Interiors/2012/19 min/Reel № 12.001

ByY Tsai, Tsai Design Studio

Y Tsai on how to use design to make a social impact

I Am Not a Designer/Recorded 2012

A close reading, kept within reach.

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The short version

Y Tsai takes architecture & interiors as a lens on the larger question the festival keeps returning to: what design owes to the people and places it works among. The talk moves from specific projects toward a broader argument about practice.

Recorded in South Africa in 2012, the conversation is grounded in Y's own working method — the compromises, the constraints, and the moments where the work taught them something they didn't expect.

The closing turn is characteristic of the archive: less a conclusion than a provocation, handed to the audience to carry into their own disciplines.

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What did Y say about…

Y Tsai uses his past and current projects to demonstrate how designers can make a dent in the universe by means of social improvement.

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About the speaker

Y Tsai

Cape Town/South Africa

Cape Town designer Y Tsai takes a multidisciplinary approach to generating creative solutions in the field of furniture, interior design and architecture.

Tsai Design Studio

Cape Town/South Africa

Tsai Design Studio is a multidisciplinary design practice based in Cape Town.