Meet Sean Jiaxing” Guo | Designer & Digital Artist”

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sean “Jiaxing” Guo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sean “Jiaxing”, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Sometimes, a good artist or designer always have beautiful stories that how they started doodling or how they loved art when they were children. But I have never been one of them.

I was born in a family of teachers and engineers. And that was probably why I had a none-art-related childhood, also why I received my first bachelor’s degree in engineering. After I graduated, I thought I could be a good engineer based on my knowledge and skills but to be honest, I didn’t enjoy being an engineer at all. At that time of chaos, I tried a lot of jobs and fields, engineer, salesman, teacher, even did a job in Shenzhen that disassemble used cell phone. Basically I didn’t have a life goal at that period, just lived a life, literally.

A good thing was that I realized I have a strong sense of self-expression and really wanted to express logic in a creative way. But I was not a good talker or writer. And one day I came across product design. It was the day I got a book by Naoto Fukasawa, who is famous for designing for MUJI. The simplicity and well-thought of his designs, really got me. I thought design could be a great tool for me to achieve something. “Maybe I could be a designer.” I said.

Then I came to LA to study product design. It was five year ago, which was where and when everything started.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Five years ago when I came to United States, I studied product design in LA, and before that, I studied engineering for another four years in Beijing, China. Not like a lot of artists who have a juicy art background, I’m not even an pure artist. I consider myself more as a interdisciplinary designer and digital artist. I use different mediums, either physical or digital, to talk to people through objects and experience, in the realm of product design.

I think a lot of people don’t really get the difference between art and design. Me neither. I guess the only difference is the strongness of perspective and expression. In another word, as a designer, our job is more like an expression within a a lot of constraints, because it’s more client-oriented or customer-oriented. With that being said, my goal and also challenge, is to adjust this percentage, to fulfill the needs of my clients, within all the constraints (budget, manufacturing, technology, ethics…) and at the same time, to express my perspective as a young designer: form language, CMF, the concept and philosophy, and the whole story behind the design or the product. The products are vehicles of my expression, which I consider them as my art.

Since I want to have as much as control of my design, I choose to become a freelancer in this stage after a graduate. Compared working for a company, the relative freedom is what I was looking for. But it’s definitely not so easy. I need to reach out to a lot of people. Since I’m just a “junior” designer and I don’t have a vouch from a big brand background. So in the beginning it was pretty hard. But now it’s getting better 🙂

Currently I’m thinking about start my own studio and clothing label. Since I’m a digital artist, everything will start virtually. My first digital clothing collection will be launched next month on DRESSX and I’m looking forward to it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Pasadena, which is a beautiful city in Los Angeles area. For a week long trip, there are definitely a lot of good places to visit. The first spot is Pasadena old town which is the heart of Pasadena. Basically you can find anything you need here: good restaurants, a few bookstores and record stores, and all the stores where you can spend your time… Statistically, if there is a Apple store and a Tesla store on the same street, it would be a good spot to go in general. They’ve done all the research 🙂

After the city tour, I would probably bring you to my school which is ArtCenter College of Design. The hillside campus is dope. It’s near Rose Bowl Stadium and on the mountain, so you can have the best bird’s-eye view here. Oh by the way, Rose Bowl has a famous flea market, which is a great chance to meet interesting people and objects.

Then we can either go to Angeles Crest highway, which is a exciting attraction in the mountain. A good place to driving and hiking, and full of fresh air. Or we can just drive to the beach: Santa Monica, Venice, Manhattan…Well, technically they are not in Pasadena. But in Pasadena you could get into the mountain and to the sea within 40 minutes. Not many places have this benefit. It’s Pasadena and it’s LA.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Eight months ago, I was preparing my grad show at ArtCenter. And it was the first time in-person grad show in & after the pandemic. Before the graduation, it was really a bad time for me: five classes, grad show, design projects, job searching, no income, and the peer pressure… even my car was hit by someone in the midnight.

Then I decided to do something that I had never done before: I started a fundraiser on GoFundMe. The main goal was to cover the expense for my grad show. But more importantly, I wanted to express my anxiety, my true feelings, and my perspective as a young designer. I tried to build a connection with people with my emotion, to bring them in, as part of my grad show. Finally, to my surprise, I got $1455 from 65 people, including my friends, my instructors, people in the design industry, and even some strangers.

Special thanks to my girlfriend and shout out to everyone who love and support me.

Website: https://seans.works/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/s2092_/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanguo7/