Today we’d like to introduce you to Yue Wang.
Yue, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Ever since my parents signed me up for drawing class when I was three, art has been a very important part of my life. I love drawing. I would go through a whole box of crayons every month as my art was always full of color. I let my imagination run wild on paper and it was a way to express who I am.
I was born and raised in Shenzhen, China and when I was 13, I moved to Los Angeles to start high school. It was not easy moving to another country by myself, everything was so foreign to me. Little by little, I adapted to life in the U.S. and life got much better over time. As one of the only Chinese students at my high school, I often found myself missing the connection back home. I use art as a form of expression and throughout high school, I used art to share my story and tell people about my culture.
I decided to stay in Los Angeles after high school and I attended Loyola Marymount University with a degree in Graphic Design in 2015. I am very grateful for my time in college. I spent my time mentoring for ARTsmart, volunteering for a service organization, worked in internships, and connected with the international student community. My favorite part of college was exploring many different art mediums. I spent countless hours in the studio. I remember developing my black and white film, building my first wooden furniture, making many screenprints, working on graphics, and so much more. I was able to get out of my comfort zone and discover so many different creative outlets.
For my thesis project, I decided to share the stories of international students from Asia through my art. My thesis touched on how their experiences influenced their cultural identities and shaped their stories of growth and struggle. I was able to tell an immersive story through image design, fabrics and textile designs from different countries and other elements including candy! I designed graphics that represent each student’s story and printed them on Satin Cotton. I sewed them with fabric from the student’s home country. These mediums are intimate to each story and by incorporating their sight, touch, and taste while viewing my exhibition, the viewer can gain a better connection with each student.
Today, I continue exploring new ways to express my creative side and raise a voice about issues and communities I care about through art.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Overall it has been a pretty smooth road, but there were times I don’t know if I was on the right road. At the beginning of college, I wasn’t sure about what I wanted to do In the future. In the summer of my sophomore year of college, I took a fashion design class at Parsons School of Design in New York. The class sparked my interest in fashion design and I wanted to pursue it full-time. In the summer of my junior year, I had the opportunity to intern at Vesture Group inc, a fashion company based in LA. There I learned the whole process from making a design, putting it into production, and to your shopping cart. After graduation, I was able to get a full-time job at the same company.
Although I am very thankful for the position I have now, it was not always smooth. I actually came back to work last week as of writing this as I was furloughed for the past six months. Coronavirus has been hard for so many people in different ways, and I was a bit lost at what to do at first and it was extremely difficult finding other opportunities on a similar road. As weeks went by, I started to really think about what I could do to improve on and land a new role. I felt like I wasn’t learning anything new, and my Animal Crossing island was becoming way too elaborate (Dream code DA-8001-1901-5231, if you know, you know). I looked for opportunities to study and learn more about my interests and develop my skills.
I began taking UX/UI classes at Cal Art after a friend recommended it to me. It was an amazing experience and it opened my perspective on a different form of design. I wanted to learn more so I started taking a UCLA extension on user experience design. Now, I’m working as a Design Assistant/CAD Artist at the same company and completing my certificate at the same time.
Tell us about your business/company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
During the time I was furloughed, I was able to use my experience in the fashion industry to help a family friend with her e-commerce business. I helped run their online stores, maintain their social media accounts, and make custom design orders. This experience really taught me how to set-up a business and now I am in the process of launching my own e-commerce business, Sunnie Clay.
My sister and I started making hand-made polymer earrings for fun. It has become our favorite activity to do together and within a few weeks we had so many beautiful earrings, we didn’t know what to do with them. We started giving them out to our friends and they absolutely loved our designs. We loved sharing our designs with other people and it inspired us to start our own business.
We set up an Instagram for our business @Sunnie.Clay and will be posting updates through there. I also just opened my Sunnie Clay Etsy shop but I am still in the process of developing the brand and figuring out what is working and not. If you would like to show support, please give our account a follow and stay tuned for updates. We can’t wait to show you our beautiful earrings!
What was you like growing up? Personality-wise, interest wise, etc.
Growing up, I spent a lot of my time between school and after school lessons. I remembered that I attended so many after-school lessons which including violin, calligraphy, ballet, drawing, and painting but I loved drawing and painting the most especially after I realized I have no music talent… I took drawing and painting classes for about 7 years. The favorite part of those art classes is that I got to buy myself a beef ball skewer from the little stand next to my art class every time as a reward.
I also enjoyed making stuff with my grandfather. He loves working on craft projects, and he built many things in our house. When I was little, he taught me how to build the airplane out of paper and foam board, and we always competitive on whose airplane can fly the furthest.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://yuewang0809.com/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiffany2wang
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/sunnie.clay
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
