Li Si Yi

About

Si Yi is a designer currently based in London. Approaching products as a means of sharing ideas, Si Yi believes that design can serve both its functional purpose and also spark deeper conversations. By intertwining historical research with contemporary material exploration and manufacturing methods, the narratives embedded within her work delve into the intricate relationship between humanity and its environment. Through her designs, Si Yi invites viewers to embark on a journey of exploring new perspectives and connections.

For her thesis project, she produced two series of plant pots. The first being Spin Pot, which harnesses natural plant behaviour in response to gravity, creating unique, sculptural forms along the vertical axis. It honours the innate growth patterns of plants without direct manipulation. By allowing the plant’s natural responses to guide its development, the Spin Pot seeks to strike a balance between preserving nature’s integrity and integrating it into our environments thoughtfully. This approach ensures that shaping is conducted with consideration for the plant’s inherent characteristics and limitations, resulting in a symbiotic coexistence where design complements rather than overrides natural processes.

Secondly, Frame pot is a series of plant pots designed for unintended plants in and around homes. In an urban environment, plants adapt by sprouting in tiny cracks and corners. While they might be perceived as weeds by some homeowners, such unintended plants can also be desirable to have around. This project posits that “weed” is a subjective classification of plants determined by the society it is in, and explores how the context of a plant’s growth changes the value we assign to it. Frame Pot provides a marked space for plants that sprout unintentionally, transforming them into intentional and desirable features of our built environment.