Hidden Gems: Meet Yumeng (ILSA) Li of PEAR & MULBERRY

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yumeng (ILSA) Li.

Hi Yumeng (ILSA), we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I have always been captivated by how technology transforms the way we see culture and ourselves. My path began in UX and interaction design, creating AR and digital experiences that opened windows into stories beyond the screen. In the worlds of advanced manufacturing and digital media, I learned to build with both precision and imagination, where code and craft meet to form new ways of seeing.

My work continues to return to one question: how can culture be preserved and yet continue to evolve in a world that moves so quickly? I explore this through new forms of storytelling, through generative images that seem to grow on their own, through interfaces that invite immersion, through artist books that behave like spaces or carry traces of augmented reality.

Since moving to the Bay Area and joining the CODEX Book Fair fellowship, I have come to see publishing as both a digital and spatial act, a bridge between touch and thought. Today, my projects weave UX, AR, and visual art into living systems of memory. I want people not only to witness culture, but to inhabit it, to step inside a page, a memory, or a myth, and to see in that moment a renewed sense of the future.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not at all a smooth road. Working across UX, technology, and visual art often means I belong everywhere and nowhere at once. I have had to push against the idea that a creator must choose one identity, whether as a designer or an artist, whether working with culture or with technology. I exist in the in-between, where definitions start to blur.

There has also been a personal struggle. Leaving my cultural roots while trying to protect the stories that shaped me has been both grounding and painful. Sometimes it felt as if I was losing what I most wanted to preserve. Finding support and visibility for hybrid work has never been simple.

Yet these challenges shaped my path. They taught me to create my own tools, my own language, and my own space — a practice that holds contradiction and still moves forward.

As you know, we’re big fans of PEAR & MULBERRY. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
PEAR & MULBERRY is a design-publishing studio and cultural innovation company that bridges AI-assisted design, digital humanities, and cross-cultural storytelling. We transform heritage and knowledge systems into interactive and educational media, creating works that range from artist books and augmented reality installations to generative archives and learning tools.

Our focus is on hybrid media and game-based learning experiences that connect culture, health, and design education. We collaborate with artisans, researchers, and technology partners across the United States, Europe, and Asia to digitize and reinterpret intangible heritage through data, co-creation, and design. Many of our projects have been exhibited internationally and collected by museums, affirming our belief that cultural continuity and innovation can thrive together.

Beyond publication, we curate digital platforms, workshops, and webinars that explore how creative technologies can enhance social learning, well-being, and cultural literacy. Our cross-disciplinary model allows us to operate where art, technology, and education meet, providing design consultancy, content systems, and cultural IP development.

What distinguishes PEAR & MULBERRY is its design-as-research mindset, blending aesthetic experimentation with educational and cultural purpose. We are equally at home crafting a physical book or prototyping an AI interface. Every project is guided by a single intent: to make culture not only visible, but experiential, teachable, and alive.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Finding a mentor in a hybrid field like mine can be challenging, because there is no single industry that fully contains what I do. The most valuable guidance I have received often came from people who understood one dimension deeply—heritage, interaction design, visual publishing, or learning technologies—and were curious about how those worlds might connect.

My approach has always been to share my process, not just the finished work. When I show prototypes, research notes, or early experiments, the right people tend to find me. They are drawn to the same questions about culture, media, and learning.

Networking, for me, is not about collecting contacts but about cultivating intellectual companionship. I reach out for conversations, not favors. I approach knowledge-holders in cultural communities with the same respect that I bring to a design leader in a tech company: I listen first, then create together if trust grows.

What has worked best is being transparent about both my curiosity and my limits. Whether as a mentor or a mentee, I love meeting people from different backgrounds and learning about their cultures through their voices. It is a mutual process of growth, where every exchange opens a new angle of understanding. The most transformative connections happen when people do not simply support your work but share your way of seeing the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yumengli.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ilsayumengli/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pear-mulberry/
• Other: https://www.nvverse.org/

Image Credits
PEAR & MULBERRY
Reddot Museum
Utopia NYC