Custom Top: Nolan Elsbecker, Shoes: Syro, Pants: Feng Chen Weng
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An Asian American Queer Journey
Identifies as: Queer
Filipinx
Career: Singer/Songwriter
What does queer mean to you?
Queer to me Is rubbing against the grain of what people expect you to act and like. It’s not just being gay, it’s a completely different attitude to things. To me, it is shameless expression of the self in all forms. Beauty in flexibility and possibility.
What is it like to be Asian and queer growing up In America?
Back in Manila I couldn’t express myself fully without being compartmentalized to a certain stereotype. When there is no nuance in expression then there’s no breathing room. So, I kept my queerness hidden until I came to here. It was a journey grappling with my own identity as I immigrated to New York, but it was ultimately liberating as I navigated the city with a new and more open community.
Do you feel being Asian and queer in America has been liberating or hindering?
Queerness is an expression that is meant to be limitless. When you lead yourself with that then liberation is the goal. That includes liberation on all fronts including freedom within one’s own cultural expectations. I take so much pride in being Filipinx, and I also fight for queer liberation on all fronts.
Right— Top: Dion Lee Knit Jock: Austin Nolan; Left — Knit Balaclava: Austin Nolan, Top: KIDILL, Custom Pants: Nolan Elsbecker, Necklace: Ambush, Shoes: Syro
Identifies as: Queer & Trans
Cambodian
Career: Asian American Abolitionist Immigrant Rights Organization
What does queer mean to you?
Queerness is infinite. Queerness is the future. Queerness is everything yet nothing. Queerness is beyond the confines and political moment. Queerness is not identity – it is beyond gay - but a radical political orientation. Queerness is the limitless potential. Queerness is “everything on a bagel”.
Coming from a traditional Asian household has it been difficult to talk to your parents about being queer?
I personally hate “coming out narratives”. Queer and trans people, especially people of color are always “coming out”. For me the difficult of understanding one’s queerness is not rooted within the spoken, but rather the silences and gaps that exist within one’s life.
Have you gone through your own discrimination as being Asian and queer?
Queer Asian people have struggled like many other queer people of color with the racism of the LGBTQ community and then transphobia and homophobia of the Asian American community. I personally have been physically and verbally attacked for being my unapologetic self.
Left— Hat: Stylist Own, Dress: Vintage Archive, Knit Jock Strap: Austin Nolan, Shoes: Syro; Right— Shirt: Marc Jacobs, Skirt: Vintage Archive, Knit Chaps: Austin Nolan Shoes: Syro
Identifies as: Gay & Queer
Chinese
Career: Producer
Did New York have any influence on your queerness or expression as an adult?
Growing up in the south, it was miserable, New York is what gave me the boost in my racial identity/reconciliation. I see way more Asian people here on a daily basis then I would see in Atlanta.”
What is your orientation and what do you identify as? Gay/queer
The argument being “we’re all the same, we’re just like you, please give us rights” - this mentality homogenizes lgbtq+ identities to a detriment as it fails to recognize the complexities and struggles of other minority groups (trans + race, gender, class) and prioritizes the white, cis-gender, straight-acting, affluent individuals.
What does queer mean to you?
The concept of being Queer is what I would call Post-Modern, a newer generation of lbgtq+ people who are critical of the movement’s direction and has a newer argument to make “we’re not all like you, we don’t care, it doesn’t matter, bitch you’re in the way of my rights” - this mentality I vibe with, because it does get to include more POC voices.
Coming from a traditional Asian household has it been difficult to talk to your parents about being queer?
We still don’t talk about it. Also there is a huge language barrier. I’ll never fully be able to articulate my feelings in any poetic way to her and vice versa. and it’s not just language, but a cultural issue. talking about our feelings, doing deep dives, it’s such a western approach. It’s not that my mother doesn’t do this is her way, but it’s in her way. Our expectations and reactions to each other will always fail to be fully translated or comprehended.
Left— Knit top + Bottom: Austin Nolan; Right— Jewel Mask: Area, Dress: Vivienne Tam, Shoes: United Nude
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With this story, we want to show the experience of going through this and continuing to resist in a city where job opportunities are declining, added to racism and a more perceptible classism day by day that deprives immigrants and proletarians, now more than ever, of new possibilities. To grow up in a country where, once upon a time, almost all your goals could become possible.
MARIE-LOUISE HØSTBO
For over two decades, Høstbo has created a space where architecture and design are one. With a background rooted in architecture and in fine art galleries, where she focused on Danish furniture from the 1920s through the ‘70s, as well as experience as both a photographer and writer on top of it all—Høstbo has certainly earned the esteemed title at Fritz Hansen and more, consistently unifying the industries she’s conquered in her holistic approach to building on the brand legacy. Not unlike the Wabi-sabi mentality, Danish design has an equally simple, value-based belief system, and Høstbo has honed in on this. Design, to Høstbo, is not about drawing, it’s about seeing.
What is your ideal office?
A space filled with inspiration, people, collectibles, books, images, models, and samples. The ideal office space is one that is constantly evolving with the addition of new items that provides inspiration. My collection is continuously growing.
What is your least favorite texture?
An unfinished piece of design, such as a wooden surface or detail which has not been finished by soap or oil.
What is the greatest place you have swum?
The North Sea. I grew up in a small town, Hvide Sande, where I find my favorite beaches.
What is the most prized possession in your closet?
My father’s tuxedo from when he married my mother.
What’s your greatest weakness?
Impatience.
Who, what, and where do you find inspiration today?
Literature, culture, history, and people meticulously dedicated to their research.
What was the last thing you took a picture of?
The Taburet, a stool Fritz Hansen is co-creating with the contemporary Danish designer Cecilie Manz. We previewed this new piece during 3DaysofDesign in Copenhagen at the Danish Design Museum, where Fritz Hansen has built a beautiful pavilion in celebration of the brand’s 150th Anniversary.
Which design principle do you relate to the most?
Vitruvius’ - the pieces Fritz Hansen creates must be functional, lasting, and beautiful – as important as they must be aesthetically durable and have relevance to how we live and work today.
If you were a famous piece of furniture, which would you be?
The Brick screen by Eileen Grey, 1923. It connects spaces, architecture and design, different idioms, art deco and functionalism.
What is an unexpected skill you have?
The ability to let go.
What is the most beautiful word in your native language?
“Skøn”, meaning wonderful and beautiful – it’s used to describe aesthetics in design and architecture.
