Harmony and Design

When we designers speak of Harmony as a design principle, we usually mean a good design is expected to have all its parts fitted together aesthetically, or organically, resulting in delivering a focal point of interest in completion. Any element that does not contribute to the integrity of the whole shall be taken away. As with all endeavors involving human, it has to fit in with the taste of a discerning viewer, the reasonable man of our legal assumption. As such, the harmony principle faces the following areas of complications which unfolds itself when facing the taste of a discerning or knowledgeable human subject.

Firstly, too harmonious a design will be boring. Like music, when all the melody notes come from harmonious Major and Minor Chords, the piece will be sweet, but will become boring hearing it a few times. We need notes to generate dischord at the right time, to deliver surprise and suspense, in order to give us more lasting aesthetics. A designer job is the same as a musician, to create element of dischord to drive away the monotony of an expected comfort.

Secondly, people have changing taste within the definition of harmony, or people define harmony-in-practice differently. In the era of Kings and Queens, Prince and Princess, elaborate decorations would be considered to be harmonious designs. Beginning from the era of Bauhaus on the 1920-30s, in response to the immense possibility of mass manufacturing, people started to appreciate designs with the barest elements to define a new design. In our modern world in which the spirit of free choices runs supreme, designers have almost infinite freedom to tailor their designs to an increasing number of commercially viable niche markets.

Thirdly, the fast pace of the modern world makes people getting bored even more easily. Previously unacceptable disharmony become harmony, and designers are trying newer and newer approach to test and to extent the taste of the consumers. Music is one area where creativity runs at a wild pace. With the modern sound synthesizer, undreamed of sounds (chord, dischord or noise depending on one's taste) are being made everyday, some will forever be considered as noise, and some will be included into the main stream harmonic sound one day - becoming an acquired taste through frequent exposure!

Below is one of my Shangri-La ring, with the well-balanced centre stone set within the garden of a natural habitat of flora and funa, a mixture of chord and dischord. A lasting piece of art.

Sabina Lee - Shangri-La ring

The sound of the bamboo forest

When Tan Dun (譚盾) premiered The Map, Concerto for cello, video and orchestra in Hong Kong in 2009 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the concert was introduced as "Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun’s multimedia adventure across time, space, and cultures". It was a thrilling night of musical extravaganza, counterpointing between the cello solo and video orchestra and video, solo and ensemble, text and sound, and multichannel video and playing of stone.

Contemporary music never gets a big fan in Hong Kong. The Map was destined to be a single concert, but Tan was happy to stay behind to shake hands with fans like Paul and me.

Tan's theme score in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is however very popular, made unbeatable with big names like Director Li An, Cellist Yo-yo Ma, and an unbeatable cast of Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen. Tan will always be the oscar-winning composer from then on. Tan's music came back to my mind almost in reality when I visited one of China's best preserved eco-towns Anji (安吉) where the movie was shot. Last year I was invited to give a talk on art and jewelry to an audience of alumni members of Hangzhou's Zhejiang University, and the same host brought me to this beautiful town some day before the event.

I love nature but very often I would be frustrated by the noisy and jostling people around popular tourist attractions. Luckily it was a weekday, and the place was quiet, quiet and clean, with clear running stream from mountain top, a few locals leisurely fishing, almost like a cozy Japanese town deep in the mountains. The famous bamboo forest park was surprisingly calm and quiet. Tan's music belongs here. The man at the park complained to us that the crews left behind loads of rubbish after the shooting, but they were grateful that the movie attracted many visitors. "It's good for business".

We had our dinner at a local farm eatery where they served whatever they liked to cook for you, with the nice concept private dinner (私房菜). I enjoy cooking and am convinced that working with the freshest ingredients is a prerequisite to a good dish. We got the freshest ingredients that day, the freshest home-grown vegetables, the freshest local fish from the running stream, and, we also had an excellent dish with a kind of meat that I hadn't tasted before.

There was no tiger, nor any dragon around. Just an unlucky rabbit, I was told.

Bamboo forest in Anji

The sound of the bamboo forest, interpreted by Yo-yo Ma and Tan Dun

Dancing to Jazz

Modern concert hall jazz is not the same as the original jazz at noisy and busy bars and clubs in US in the post-war forties and fifties, where working class, mostly blacks, gathered for some alcohols, some fun, chit chat, food, and...music to carry the hours, after a frustrating day of hard labor. I would imagine the jazz musicians were almost half-drunk, trying to grab the attention of the audience amidst the noise and chaos created by the patrons as well as those serving the tables. "Gotta grab those folks' attention with these non-chords", which after hearing repeatedly, finally became pleasing to the ears one day, and the musicians were honored to have created a new harmonious chord!

The rhythm and chords, broken or not, were always there, half-drunk, a jazz pianist will strike a few pleasing, free-flowing notes here and there when the noise was too loud. O man, when the noise began to subside a little, our pianist would immediately catch the moment, adding more and more notes on top of the continuously running rhythmic patterns. And virtuoso as he was, his hands worked like magic, perhaps helped by his occasional substance indulgence, that substance nowadays was commonly known as recreational drugs. His audience was electrified. When he couldn't do it no more, he would pass the spotlight to the drummer who had been waiting for his turn eagerly at all times.

Dizzy's Club Coca Cola at Lincoln Center New York was a clean version of the original jazz club. Two years ago I was there, the audience consisted of mostly jazz-loving tourists, including me and Paul. We were up close to the musicians, with seating arrangement simulating the original jazz club, the ticket came with a drink, and a chef ready to do light meals, with occasional orders. Otherwise, the place was as quiet as a concert hall. The musicians played virtuoso music, probably better than the original jazz musicians, now that they are clean, with better musicology and more time to practice. What remained the same was the basic rhythm and chords patterns, overlaid with free-flowing notes at high speed, creating passionate and more subtle music catering for a new generation of more discerning music lovers.

I created my Dancing Roses line of jewelry almost 10 years ago. I was inspired by the changing role of the modern woman, an efficient manager at home and in office, yet, can freely express her love and passion meeting her loved one. I expressed it through creating a minimalist geometric form, the always there rhythmic patterns, and inside freely moving petite roses, of single or multi-color, crying out for attention in different combinations. The same year I was the only Hong Kong jewelry designer being invited to exhibit at the prestigious Designer Hall in Baselworld, Switzerland.

I danced to Jazz.

Dancing Roses by Sabina Lee

Listen to Jason Marsalis at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York