Remake 070. Che-Wei Wang and Taylor Levy: The Design Practice
Today, we talk about the practice of design, and how designers who learn to work with and understand technology can bring a humanistic, creative perspective to technology that can truly transform our understanding of what it can do. I've long believed that advanced technology can be beautiful, poetic, and philosophical in nature. In fact, that's what's called for in an age where tech shapes our lives, takes an increasingly greater part in creative work, and even makes decisions for us.
That's why it was so rewarding to sit down with Che-Wei Wang and Taylor Levy, the married couple behind CW&T. They've managed to carve out the space for their own creative, almost contemplative practice.
Their studio, CW&T, is an award-winning design practice creating mind-bending products. Over the last 13 years, their work has spanned from interactive software to human scale tools that enhance our relationships to work, life, and time. They center around an iterative process of sketching, prototyping, testing, writing code, machining parts, and building each addition themselves to assess their intuitions around improving everyday experiences. Their projects range from devices that alter the perception of time, an electronics curriculum for artists, an astrological compass for space travelers, to objects engineered to last multiple generations.
Wang and Levy lecture extensively, and they teach courses on time, electronics, hardware, programming, inflatables, and morphology at Pratt Institute, New York University, and the School for Poetic Computation. In 2022, they won the National Design Award for Product Design from Cooper Hewitt.
We spoke in mid-November 2022, and I was excited to talk to them after I saw some of their more thought-provoking pieces engaging with time. I was a little concerned with my ability to interview two people at the same time. Usually, I tend to go deep with one person and I wasn't sure how the format would work, but as usually happens with creative people, the conversation took a life of its own and was a delight.
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this conversation we talk about:
- Being a couple who works together.
- Balancing parenthood with business and creative design work.
- The gratitude they feel for being able to have an ongoing creative practice.
- Their creative principles.
- Why they insist on building what they want to see.
- What does the phrase "buy lots of lottery tickets" mean to them?
- Their origin story.
- What did Che-Wei learn while fixing his dad's typewriter as a kid?
- What did Taylor realize about The Beatles?
- How did they meet and become a couple?
- Their creative projects, including Time Since Launch and Solid State Watch.
- The School for Poetic Computation.
- Generative design, and how it can change designers' work.
- The importance of learning to understand time.
- And how to make room for your creative practice.
We have some amazing episodes lined up for you with thinkers, designers, makers, authors, and activists answering questions like:
- How can we program and control human cells?
- Why did the stoic philosophers think anger was the most destructive of emotions, and how did they suggest fighting it?
- Why are more and more people around the world turning to coliving communities as an attractive idea?
- And what do most people still need to understand about transgender and non-binary individuals?
But before they can get to you, these episodes need to be edited, audio mixed, and published, and Remake is now in a time of transition as I'm preparing to move my life and business back to the US with a lot of uncertainty around the future of the Israeli business.
In order to keep our team running, and protect the podcast from the vicissitudes of life, politics, and business, we're asking for your support.
If you value the podcast and the hard work that five different people are putting in on every single episode, please consider becoming a supporter or making a one-time donation at RemakePod.org/support. Or go to our website and click "Become a Supporter". You can make a one-time donation or join as a monthly or yearly supporter, which will entitle you in the future to access any premium episodes, longer versions of episodes, video interviews, and a paid Remake newsletter.
We have a lot of plans on how to make Remake into a real community and invest in more content, including short-form content. And of course, the podcast itself will always feature in-depth conversations with people who are trying to change our lives for the better. But right now, we really need your help.
So if you value what we do, please once again, go to RemakePod.org/support.
And now, without further ado, let's jump right in with Che-Wei Wang and Taylor Levy.
TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS
[8:09] Life in the Present
[12:17] Early Childhood Lessons
[16:00] A Journey to Design
[23:09] Love at First Sight
[27:42] CW&T
[31:22] Time Since Launch
[38:13] Solid State Watch
[42:21] Project Principles
[47:46] The School for Poetic Computation
[51:49] Generative Design
[56:18] A Short Sermon
EPISODE LINKS
- Che-Wei and Taylor's Links
- 🏛️ Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) - NYU Tisch
- 🏛️ Pratt Institute
- 🏛️ Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT
- 🏛️ School for Poetic Computation: SFPC
- 🌎 CW&T
- ⏰ Time Since Launch - CW&T
- ⌚ Solid State Watch - CW&T
- 🎤 Che-Wei Wang - TNW Conference 2018
- 🎤 Che-Wei Wang – The Conference 2019
- 🌎 Taylor Levy Website
- 💼 Che-Wei's LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
- 💼 Taylor's LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
- 📣 Che-Wei's Twitter: @sayway
- 📣 CW&T's Twitter: @cwandt
- 📺 Che-Wei's YouTube Channel
- Other Links
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