Creative Minds: Celia 'Cate' Leung's tactile dreams and graphic designs

Name: Celia Leung

Origin: Hong Kong

Places lived/worked: Hong Kong, USA, Japan

Pronouns: She/her

CV:

Design director, Design Bridge and Partners, Hong Kong, 2023 - current
Design director, Superunion, Hong Kong, 2021 - 2023
Freelance design director and designer, various companies, Hong Kong and Japan, 2017 - 2021
Senior designer, Eight Partnership, Hong Kong 2016 - 2017
Senior designer, Future Brand, Hong Kong, 2014 - 2016
Senior designer, Whitespace, Hong Kong, 2011 - 2014
Designer, Low Res Lab, USA, 2009 - 2011

1. How did you end up being a creative?

I like making things with my hands and attract to tactility. I dreamed of becoming an interior designer when I got into university. Unluckily the entire interior design program got discontinued, and then I chose my second priority, Communication Design. From that moment onwards, I become a graphic designer.

2. What's your favourite piece of work in your portfolio?

I still like the visual identity design for BÊP, a Vietnamese restaurant in HK. I enjoy working with them a lot, they gave me so much creative design freedom without any interference and allowed me to be involved in their restaurant interior design. It is a pleasure to witness their growth and be part of it.

3. What's your favourite piece of work created by someone else?

 The story series Inside Chanel is my all-time favourite; it is absolutely enchanting and inspiring. It is the best brand story series I have ever watched. The script and the voiceover are so strong. The art direction, the animation, and the music are all in perfect harmony.

4. What's on your bucket list?

I want to own and run a small lifestyle brand to create and sell my prints, ceramics, and other creations. I wish to apply my profession as a brand identity designer to my brand by building my visual identity, putting my passion for the craft, and making things by hand into reality.

5. Do you work best under pressure, or when things are calm?

I work best when things are calm, for sure. My creative sweet spot is the half-asleep and half-awake period, that is when I find myself most imaginative.

6. Do you have any secret or odd talents?

Not sure if it is a secret, I use ‘Cate’ as my coffee name. As people sometimes get my name wrong, and it is simply because I like Cate Blanchett.

7. What food can you not live without? What food would you be happy to never taste again?

I love Chinese soup, I can’t live without it. I am happy to say goodbye to steamed fish intestine with egg, I tried once and will never try again.

8. What's your guilty pleasure? 

Binge-watching factory manufacturing videos. I am obsessed with the process of how things get made. My mom always brought me to join those manufacturing factory tours when I was a kid, and I still remember being so impressed by the gigantic pink rubber easer mountain in front of me.

9. What app could you absolutely not live without? What app do you wish you could delete?

I can’t live without Google Maps! I use it daily as my food list, driving guide, and travel plan. I wish I could delete the Facebook app. It just gets too many unnecessary updates, ads or random videos. If I want to check out how my friends are going or some second-hand stuff, I will pick Instagram and Carousell. I think it has lost its uniqueness to me.

10. Do you have any recurring dreams?

I always dream of myself going up and down in a fast-moving elevator but going nowhere.

11. Cat person or dog person?

via GIPHY

I thought I was a dog person before I had a pet, but I got my cat due to Hong Kong’s tiny living space. Now I have four cats, but they all harbour a dog inside.