When I first saw Mike’s works in the Graduation Exhibition in Poly University in Hong Kong, I got hooked by them. Conceptual and at the same time functional. So being one of the up and coming , Mike would have plenty of thoughts or idea to share with us.
TFS: The Familiar Strangers
MM: Mike Mak
TFS: Your works are conceptual & inspirational, can you share some of your design process to us?
MM: A lot of time it got a spark across my mind while come up with new ideas, especially dreaming. Some of my ideas is created in between boring lectures 
so I will keep my sketch besides me me and make a sketch to record the inspiration. After that I will try to develop and visualize the ideas. In between there
are always lots of challenge on the production and design. I always try my best to keep the fresh sparks in my design.
TFS: Do you consider the trend when you work?MM: I am not very concern about the trend but I do think my work got influence by the trends. Because in a certain status or certain moments, you will come up with relative design.
TFS: Are you fulfilling your childhood dream now?
MM: I remember while I was a child, I want to be an inventor. I think I am kind of fulfilling my childhood dream, which not necessary create a total new things but create new insight and aspects of an existing object.
TFS: You are a watches collector, do you find the mechanic of watches inspire you? Or do this habit influence our designs?
MM: I love different kinds of watches, from cheap plastic watch to luxury and complicated watch. It is fun to look around how the design and function of the watch develop for the pass century. Watch is a very good reference of evaporating a functional time teller into something which got different style and suit different people in different situation.
TFS: Do you have any “strangers” side? Another side few people know? Or people don’t have chance to know?
MM: Actually I am a quite boring guy and a kind of lay back style
i love to get bored and do nearly nothing if i got a free time. I think this is a method to let my brain to take a break and being efficient afterward.
Mike was selected as one of the up and coming designers in this book (We made it!)
TFS: What is your daily routine?
MM: ZzzZZzz >always forgot to wake up>turbo on working> lunch break> turbo on working again> dinner> spend time with friends/ web surfing/ cycling/ design my own stuff/ watching ‘ the big bang theory’ > late to bed> ZzzZzz
TFS: Can you tell us some of your current projects? Any hints on your future plan to us?MM: Recently I am doing some developing for production on my current project, and I am still developing my path of design rote. recently I start to think up some ideas relate to the economic storm.
TFS: The moon ladder is really great to look at, it is a Chinese character’s “Moon”! Does it has any story behind it? Will you expand it to a collection?
MM: The Moon reach ladder is the 1st product of my modern chinese project. It transform the meaning of charactor itself into an product, also it converts 2d chinese calligraphy in a 3d form.
TFS: What’s the worst moment in your career so far? How did you overcome it?
MM: Let me share this later, cuz I think my career is just start.
TFS: Any advices to the fresh designers?
MM: I know nearly all the designers (include me) got a strong opinion on their own, this is not a bad thing but on the other hand they need to be open minded and listen the from others in order to develop a complete design rote for their own. I do think good teamwork lead good design. And don’t afraid to make mistakes but try to avoid to repeat those mistake. Pay 1000% heart to work on what they doing, even though the job is is not 100% willing to do. And the most important thing is never give up.
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