Mia Wang Furniture Design

ZIYAN (MIA) WANG Undergraduate Portfolio Rhode Island School of Design 2020-2024

JOB EXPERIENCE

Wood Shop & CNC Lab Monitor

DESIGNxRI, Providence RI (Rhode Island’s First Design-Driven Non-Profit Economic Development Organization) Programs & Events Associate

- Clean and monitor studio spaces.

- Offer hands-on demonstrations on machines, hand-tools and computer softwares for students.

September 2022 - Present

May 2023 - September 2023 - Facilitate 2 projects for the RI Design Week: DxRI 10th Anniversary Exhibition & DxRI Birthday Bash Silent Auction.

- Make social communication out-reach to local businesses and institutions for sponsorships and participation.

- Install and assist events on-site.

- Organize DxRI’s resource and network archives.

Ziyan (Mia) Wang zwang15@risd.edu mywang0910@gmail.com 347-517-0432

EDUCATION Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI September 2020 - May 2024 Bachelor of Fine Arts in Furniture Design GPA: 3.905

Stuart Hall School, Staunton, VA September 2016 - June 2020 High School Diploma

SKILLS - 3 Years of Fine Wood & Metal Working Experience

- Keyshot - Fusion 360 + CNC Operation - Laser & Vinyl Cutting - UV & 3D Printing - Adobe Suite - Google & Microsoft Suite

Honored Student in Rhode Island School of Design Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022 & Spring 2023

Trexton Undergraduate Career Grant Observatory Design, Providence, RI (Industrial Design Consultancy) Industrial Designer May 2023 - August 2023 - Collaborate with other designers to develop a projects in 2 major categories: Residencial Furniture and Accessible Design.

- Experiment with materials and structures and use computer softwares to create 3D models, renderings and 2D work drawings.

- Use 3D printer, CNC machine, wood & metal shop resources to build mock-ups, molds and final products.

Summer 2023 Chosen to be 1 of the 4 students among the entire RISD undergraduate school to receive a $3000 summer internship grant.

Anderson Ranch Summer Workshop Scholarship Summer 2023 Chosen to receive a scholarship to attend a summer woodworking intensive workshop in Anderson Ranch Arts Center.

EXHIBITIONS Orion R|E|D, Lincoln, RI (New England’s Leading Full-Service Manufacturing Company) FF&E Designer May 2022 - December 2022 - Design customized displays for events, trade shows and retail.

Project Clients include: Swarovski, Sage & Sound, UPPAbaby, Cannondale, Sally’s Apizza and Wills Group Splash In. - Attend client meetings and project presentations.

- Use AutoCAD software to create 3D models and 2D constructional drawings of millwork, furniture, and display items - Research materials, hardwares and finishes, and manage company’s supply archives.

- Rhinoceros 3D - AutoCAD 3D

AWARDS/HONORS

Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI Teaching Assistant September 2021 - May 2023 - Assist teachers of various courses in RISD to plan and implement lessons.

- Help students with design & production questions and hold after-class TA studio sessions.

DESIGNxRHODE ISLAND 10th Anniversary Exhibition: A Decade of Design in Rhode Island 2023

RISD Department of Textile Design Senior Show 2023

RISD Special Curated Shows – Playing House” 2023 “There is No Hope for Love in Rhode Island” 2023 RISD Department of Furniture Design Triennial 2022 RISD GDxFD “Reading Room” Exhibition at the RISD Design Center 2022

WORK CATALOG - Standing Vanity - Tea Grill - Ox Coffee Table - The Sky of Fangcao Street - Side Table - “As One” Bench - Distant Companion - Floor Lamp - Great Grandmother, Salt & Fishing Village - Rocking Stool - Maple Tray - Lotus Incense Burner - Blossom Bowl Table - World of Wando Pen Holder - Stacking Vase Set - Bansaw Box - Twin Soap Trays

Standing Vanity Dimension: 49 1/4” x 19” x 18” Material: Walnut, Walnut Veneer, Birch Plywood, Birch Dowel, Odie’s Oil About The standing vanity is a functional object that embeds ornamentation and cultural memories.

Conceptually, the piece responds to the historic Chinese female gender experiences(in domesticity), the lost of their narrative, the societal expecations for them, their sorrow, power and extraodinary accomplishments. The project is expected to establish an alternative story about a today’s female’s imagination of domesticity from the historical counterparts.

The design also recognizes the incredible sensitivity to aesthetism that Chinese artists developed throughout history by embeding the traditional Chinese ornamental languages. The crafting of the object utilizes the constructional techniques of Scandinavian woodworking, plywood making, and vacuum bending.

The vanity is intended to provide its owner a space of relaxation, evoking feelings of delight and inclusivity. The simplicity of the structure and its materials allows is to be compatible with a wide variety of interiors to satisfy the diversity of its users.

Technical Drawing

Other Design Variations

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Ebonized Ash

Walnut

White Oak & Oyster Grey

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FRONT VIEW

SIDE VIEW

New England Winter

Design Focus

Work Process

Functionality & Aesthetics - A 360-degree-rotatable mirror allows usage from various angles.

- Two shelving units maximize storage spaces.

- A combination of solid hard wood and plywood for visual diversity and structural stability.

Final Product

Tea Grill Dimension: 23” x 23” x 39” Material: Mild Steel, Hard Maple Wood, India Ink About The tea grill is a small indoor grill designed for usage and decor in contemparory living spaces.

Conceptually, the piece responds to the long tradition of ceremonial dining and tea drinking culture in various East Asian societies. In China, tea drinking not only plays an important role in social gatherings as a way of showing hospitality but also provides a personal experience of peace, harmony and truthfulness to oneself. The project intends to integrate the ritual of ceremonial dining in the living environment of individuals in contemparory society.

The object functions as an all-purpose grill, with a grill grate as cooking area, a fire pit underneath, a wooden outer rim as serving area and a tall metal rack for hanging food (stove on) and self-crafted utensils (stove off). The form of the object takes inspiration from aesthetic and ornamental languages that Chinese artists developed throughout history. A heavy base with a light top conveys visual heiarchy. Decorative details that utilizes floral and water symbols conveys peace and good fortune.

The crafting of the object utilizes metal laser cutting, TIG welding, CNC machining, metal forging, metal polishing, and heat patina.

Wooden Hooks with decorative blossom-shaped ends

Steel Food/Tool Rack

Threaded Connection Stainless Steel Cooking Grate

Steel Fire Pit

Wooden Table Top

Steel Hinge

Steel Body with decorative blossom-shaped openings

Concept Images & Design Focus I started the project aming at designing a small charcoal grill for indoor usage by a small group.

Although can be used as an all-purpose grill, the intended aesthetic and functionality of the grill focuses on the ceremonial tea drinking tradition that has been prevalent in many societies in Asia for centuries. The initial concept image research allows me to understand the tradition from both historical and contemparory perspectives, the main functional components of similar products, the structural aesthetic and the color palette of my design.

- Separation between cooking and serving areas.

- A hanging rack for food and for storage.

- A heavy base with a light top conveying visual heiarchy.

- Decorative details that utilizes floral and water symbols conveying peace and good fortune.

- A combination of solid hard wood and mild steel for heat resistance and visual diversity.

- Rustic color palette that includes a spectrum of warm and cold colors.

Work Process

Final Product in Use

Ox Coffee Table Dimension: 49 1/4” x 19” x 18” Material: Cherry Wood, Milk Paint, Vinegar Paint About The Ox Table is a functional object that embeds a delightful memory within. This project was my first attempt to bring personal narrative into my design practice.

“In the Ox Village that grandma was from, people grow rice in water fields with oxen plowing the fields.

Sometimes, my cousins would take the little kids in the family, including my sister and I, on a walk to the very top of the hill, where we could see the whole Ox Village. In my eyes, the squares of green fields and moving spots of black oxen form a happy pattern of country art. grandma told me that a land full of cattle is a sign of blessing from the Buddha. Oxen move in the field, getting water and dirt onto themselves. Black oxen then turns into spotted cows!

This was my first knowledge about print-making and graphic art.”

Technical Drawing & Surface Design

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A Herd of Oxen

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The Sky of Fangcao Street -- Side Table Dimension: 24” x 14” x 23” Material: Solid Maple Wood, Watercolor & Gouache

About Twin sisters Cara and Mia collaborated to create this piece of furniture, in memory of their childhood and the places that live deeply in memories as we undergo tremendous changes in life. The painting on the surface of the tabletop depicts the views of Fang Cao Street in a whimsical style. With gouache, Cara painted the historical street, the old buildings with stores on the first floor and residential apartments on the second, the tropical trees with fruits, birds and clouds in the sky and the Wang sisters (Cara and Mia) flying by in a little airplane. The table is constructed with solid maple wood and dyed in blue watercolor and sanded slightly to enhance the wood grains.

Fang Cao Street is a historical alley in the city of Guangzhou, originally built in the Qing Dynasty, and is also the place where the Wang sisters went to their boarding elementary school. As toddlers, the Wang twins always dreamed about escaping the school. They dreamed about flying on an airplane over the school’s wall, the old Fang Cao Street, the stores, people’s homes and eventually the whole city of Guangzhou.

To them, Fang Cao Street was their whole world.

By making this side table that embeds a special memory, Mia and Cara hope to preserve their childhood imagination in their space and express nostalgia and gratitude to the place where they grew up.

Technical Drawing

Construction Process

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FRONT VIEW

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Final Work Image & the Life of Fang Cao Street

“As One” Bench Dimension: 40” x 12” x 15” Material: Ash Wood, Acrylic, Cement Accent About “As One” Bench is an attempt of mine to explore functional forms that are minimal yet spacially dynamic. The design of the bench originates from 3 spatial terms that interests me personally: shift, divide and combine. The body of the bench is constructed with ash wood, with one section shifting toward the left, and the other to the right. The sections are joined in the middle by discks with a cement accent, which creates diversity in materials. The grains of the two sections are colored respectively in blue and white acrylic paint, with creases carved into each of them, intending to add depth to the form and reinforce the spatial contrasts within the object.

Explosive View & Work Drawings

Object in Use

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Distant Companion -- Floor Lamp Dimension: 25” x 22” x 58” Material: Steel & Yarn About “Distant Companion” is a floor lamp that I created in collabration with Pauline Catillo, a textile designer and was exhibitied in the Department of Textile Senior Show of Rhode Island School of Design.

In this project, we explore the potential of how textile, specifically knit fabric, can play in 3D and lighting designs. We intend to create a structure for a floor lamp that takes the form of an fanciful and whimsical creature, as if a silent companion in the room that brings us warmth and peace.

Work Process

Final Work

Great Grandmother, Salt and Fishing Village Wall Hanging Installation About This wall hanging installation is made to explore a story about my great grandmother and an impression of the social and natural environment of southern China from my grandfather’s childhood.

My grandfather comes from a small fishing village on the southern coast of Cantone, China. Soon after he was born, his father passed away. In order to feed the family, his mother(my great grandmother) became a salt worker. Under the sun, she carried baskets and baskets of salt on her shoulder and walked from the salt fied to ships and trucks. With her sup- port, my grandpa was able to go to school, studying in a university in the city of Guangzhou, and eventually became a philosophy professor.

Grandfather grew up in hunger and poverty. He told me that I would never understand the feeling of starvation. During the Great Famine in the early 60s, my great great grandpa splitted his quota of yam to the rest of the family to let them live, but he himself was starved to death in bed. Whenever grandpa talks about his childhood, he tears down.

When I was little, my grandpa picked me up from school everyday. When we got home, we would snack on food that he got from his hometown: salted fish, salted shrimp, salted tea with roasted rice...... Salt flows in our blood veins. In kindergarten, we learned an ancient poem about the hardworking southern farmers whose salty sweat seeps into the field and grows rice. Salt, the gift of the earth that provides a mother the livelihood to raise her son. The taste of salt is the spirit of home and the wind from the Pacific Ocean that nourishes the soil of my ancestral land.

After my great grandmother passed away, grandpa rarely goes back to his hometown. Many years ago, my sister and I went back to the fishing village with our grandpa to worship the graves of our ancestors. Some relatives joked about my family, saying: “ Because your grandpa built such a large grave for his mother, the women in your family will only give birth to daughters!” However, deeply inside, my grandpa knows that his mother is a great mother, a kind grandmother, and a strong woman full of love and liveliness. She was a unique piece of memory that connects him with the fishing village where he grew up.

I want to make an object about my grandpa, his mother, the fishing village, his childhood, and the taste of salt. I cherish the story that my grandfather told me, and the impression of southern China from his childhood. I hope to use my creative voice to learn about this old memory and to gain the power of healing and warmth.

Dimension: 49” x 2” x 49” Material: Aircraft Plywood, Maple Veneer, Salt, Flour, Paper Clay, Cotton String, Found Wood

Material Layering Inside Vacuum Bag

Maple Veneer

Aircraft Plywood

Solid Wood Mold

Shape Tests

Blossom Bowl Table

Technical Drawing

(Rendering)

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Dimension: 12 5/8” x 12 5/8” x 10 15/16” Material: Solid Maple

The bowl table project takes on the challenge of creating a piece of furniture with Windsor-styled legs(round-tenoned legs that are pushed into drilled holes on the bottom of a solid wooden seat) using entirely digital tools.

The object is modeled in Rhino and rendered in Keyshot. The form of the bowl table ressembles a blooming flower with its petals facing up and sepals hanging down. The connection method between the seat and the legs are designed for the possibility of fabrication using a 3-axis CNC machine.

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About

Rocking Stool Dimension: 40” x 12” x 15” Material: Birch Plywood, Polyurethane Finish

About The rocking stool is initially modeled in Rhino and configured for CNC cutting in Fusion 360.

The stool explores the concept of balance within a minimal object. When a user sits on the stool, the stool will tilt and rotate with movement of the person, it’s predictable yet inpredictable, stable yet instable.

The stool is designed to be easily assembled and dettached.

Explosive View

Technical Drawing 6 83

Maple Tray 5 4 16

Dimension: 6 3/8” x 4 5/16” x 5/8” Material: Solid Maple, Polyurethane & Wax Finish

About

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The Maple Tray has a form inspired by a pan-fried egg, so it lights up your day just like a beautiful sunny-side-up egg in the morning!

The tray is designed and fabricated using entirely digital tools. It is modeled in Rhino and configured for CNC cutting in Fusion 360.

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Technical Drawing

Lotus Incense Burner

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(Rendering)

Dimension: 4 1/2” x 4 1/2” x 3/8” Material: Bronze

Formerly a symbol with a religiou connection to Buddhism, the lotus form has been used in designs of ceremonial vessels, utensils, and furniture and was carfted with precious gem stones and metals throughout the history of China. Over time the lotus has become an object that symbolizes peaceful and mindful living in Chinese culture. With the traditional symbol digitalized and used in the design of a table-top decor/diffuser item, the incense burner brings a relaxing atmosphere to a home and/or office space, adding a sense of modernist delicacy to the interior.

The design is modeled in Rhino and rendered in Fusion 360.

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About

Stacking Vase Set Dimension: (Tallest Single Module): 4” X 4” X 7” Material: Solid Poplar, Milk Paint, Cement Accent, Polyurethane & Wax Finish About “Growing up in a tropical town, my oldest companions in life are the city’s wild plants that break into every building that they come across. ” --Mia’s Artist’s Statement The Stacking Vase Set is a set of table-top holders for small house-plants. The vases are designed like Lego pieces that can be stacked and reconfigured in whatever way that you want.

It provides you a special space to place the wild flowers, grass and plants that you gather from the outside, bringing a pop of green in your living space!

World of Wando Pen Holder Dimension: 19” x 4.5” x 12” Material: Solid Poplar, Gesso, Gouache, Colorpencil, Osmo Oil Finish

About In this box-design project, I collaborated with my twin sister, Cara, who is an illustration student at RISD. I designed, constructed and painted the box, and Cara illustrated on top of it.

This is one of our first attempts to explore surface decoration using drawing media in object design.

The object serves not only as a pen holder but also as a dictionary of the world of Wando.

Everytime you pull out a pen from this holder is like pulling a word out of a dictionary. In the world of Wando presented on this pen holder, you will have the magical power of pulling words and pictures to create any story.

Bandsaw Box Dimension: 12” x 4” x 4” Material: Solid Poplar, Gesso, Gouache, Colorpencil, Osmo Oil Finish

About This bandsaw box stores memores.

When I was little, my sister and I used to play in a park where a lot of bamboo grows. After the rains, we advantured in the little forest of bamboo, enjoying their smell that mixes with the wet soil and moist air. On the tips of every bamboo stem, new sprouts grow and eventually become new leaves.

Sometimes, we picked off the new-grown sprouts and chewed on their soft ends, pretending we are little pandas feasting on lots of bamboo.

Soap Trays Dimension: 4” x 7” x 1/2” Material: Solid Cherry, Gesso, Gouache, Colorpencil, Osmo Oil Finish

About This is a cherry soap tray. The ocean has two twin daughters. The first daughter is named Water. She likes going for walks on the bottom of seas, from the deep ocean trench, to the shallow reefs. She likes collecting little things all over the ocean. In her collection, there are shells, corals, fish bones, tires and bottles. The second daughter is named Fire. She dreams about the human world, where you can laugh as loud as you want, and no dense water can stop down your volume and cry with tears on your face, and no water to take them away. In her sketch book, she writes about her dreams on land. Her favorite things are the moon, sun, dandelions, and mushrooms.

Thank you Phone: (347) 517-0432 Email: mywang0910@gmail.com zwang15@risd.edu Instagram: @miawang_zy