Meet Stephanie Winarto | Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Stephanie Winarto and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stephanie, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
For me taking risks is like letting go of control for a little bit—and this can make see from a new perspective and reevaluate my goals. After graduating from RISD(Rhode Island School of Design),I had quite the tunnel vision. I thought the only way to succeed as a designer was to find a job in NYC and stay there. As an international student, this meant spending a lot of time and money navigating visas, immigration, and lawyers to get to stay in the US. In 2020, during the beginning of the global pandemic and when things got bad in NYC, I decided I had to be with my family. In two days, I packed my essential things and booked the last flight to Hong Kong before flights got banned—leaving behind my friends, a job, an ongoing visa application and most of my belongings. Now, I’ve found a career in design here that I love and feel excited about doing design in Hong Kong.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m currently a designer in Hong Kong and I work on brand identities, websites, exhibitions, books etc. As a designer, I take on a jack-of-all-trades approach — I will take on any project and learn different mediums and skills. Some people think it’s most important to find your niche, but I think there is also so much in being curious, flexible and adaptive. Graduating from school, I was very digital-focused and once said I will never do brand design. Now, identity & brand design is one of my favorite projects to do. I believe that these are still my formative years as a designer and I will never know what I will love or fall into in the years to come.

Moving back to Hong Kong, I had to navigate what it’s like to be a designer and what the design industry here is like—since all my education and design exposure has been rooted in the US. Design in Hong Kong is still unfamiliar to me but exciting—it gives me courage to meet people, take on projects, and explore this terrain with an open mind. Having left NYC in such a haste, I still feel like I’m living in both places — my friends and connections are now in both places. I still work and maintain close relationships with clients in NYC and have also gained clients in Hong Kong. To me, this is what I want my future practice to be — something placeless, yet belonging and adapting to all places. I’m excited to see how design can overcome borders in the future.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Despite living here full-time, Hong Kong is still the greatest city to me. One of the best things about Hong Kong is food—the most diverse offerings of food you can find: from cheap street food, michelins starred restaurants, asian cuisine, western cuisine and more. If a friend were to visit, their itinerary is guaranteed to be 80% just food. For breakfast, it’s a must to go to the Australian Dairy company for a classic Hong Kong breakfast. Another essential experience is going to a dim sum restaurant for brunch or lunch. We’ll also go to the Hong Kong’s new M+ Museum and take a stroll around the West Kowloon harbor-side area for the best view of Hong Kong’s skyline. Crossing the harbor to Hong Kong Island, I love going to Tai Hang for its cafes and also visit the Shophouse—a heritage building converted into an art gallery space. On Island-side, I love taking the tram and sitting at the very front of the upper deck as a leisurely way to get to places and also sightsee. For dinner, I’ll take them to Soho House for great italian food and order my favorite drink — a gimlet.

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?
I thank my dad for everything that I am today. I didn’t realize this when I was younger, but now working as a designer I find that my passion and drive for what I do is rooted in seeing his work ethic. My dad is a workaholic—the amount of responsibilities that he has is stressful just to think about. Yet, he’s always patient with everyone around him and even makes time to call each of his children no matter which time zone we’re in. At the core of it all, he loves his work and it’s not a chore to him—it motivates him to do more. In his success, he is also a private and humble person, never making it about material gain. My dad is also the biggest foodie—something all his kids take after him for. At the end of the day, his greatest enjoyment is food and being able to share it with his family. His dedication to both work, life and love is what I strive for.

Website: stephaniewinarto.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winarto.st/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/StWinarto