I’m Yile Zhang — a rootless designer and everyday life explorer.
Welcome to my website. I hope you’ll find here something quietly growing — an idea, a process, or a way of being.
I was born in Xi’an, China, into a govermental film studio family. At the age of 17, I moved to Bangkok, Thailand, where I lived, studied, and worked for nine years. During that time, I frequently traveled between Bangkok and Tokyo, thanks to school collaborations and friendships that naturally drew me across borders. In 2023, I relocated to New York, and in 2025, I earned my MFA in Interior Design from Parsons School of Design.
Each city I’ve lived in — Xi’an, Tokyo, Bangkok, and New York — has subtly shaped my worldview, personality, and design language.
我是张亦乐（Yile Zhang），一位居无定所的设计师与生活家。欢迎来到我的网站，希望你能在这里看到某种正在“生长”的思想与实践。
我出生于中国西安的一个国营电影制片厂职工家庭，十七岁起独自前往泰国曼谷求学与工作。因学校项目的合作与朋友的关系，我在这段时间里频繁往返于曼谷与东京之间。九年后，我于 2023 年搬至纽约，并在 2025 年从帕森斯设计学院室内设计硕士项目毕业。
西安、东京、曼谷与纽约，每一个曾与我产生际会的城市，都在潜移默化中塑造着我的世界观、性格，以及设计语言。
My research and design practice explore the evolving relationships between space, community, and culture. I’m drawn to narrative-driven approaches that integrate material experimentation, often aiming to respond to the emotional and spatial needs of marginalized or nomadic communities within broader sociocultural contexts. I also enjoy working on commercial projects — from serviced apartments and compact urban housing to exhibition curation and interactive installations. What fulfills me most is when a built project begins to engage users in ways I never anticipated — moments when interaction grows out of design without needing to be instructed.
In everyday life, I’m passionate about photography. I love wandering through cities, capturing often-overlooked spatial details through a designer’s lens. I also enjoy weaving — using yarn, old clothes, fabric scraps, and even paper to create experimental textiles. For me, it’s not just a meditative practice but also a way to refine my sensitivity to the softness and responsiveness of materials.
If you’d like, stay a while. See what I’ve been thinking about — or making — lately.
我的研究与设计实践聚焦于空间、社群与文化之间的动态关系，擅长以叙事性的视角与材料实验相结合的方式，回应宏观社会语境中小众群体的情感需求。同时，我也乐于参与各类商业项目，涵盖酒店式公寓、城市小型住宅、展览策划及互动装置设计。最让我感到满足的瞬间，往往是项目落地后，它与使用者之间自然而然地产生出意想不到的互动。
生活中，我热衷于摄影，喜欢在城市中漫游，用设计师的视角拍摄并记录那些日常中被忽视的空间细节。我也爱好编织，习惯于将线材、旧衣布料、甚至纸张等各种材料转化成各种织物。对我来说，织物创作不仅帮助我在情绪上保持稳定，也是一种对柔软材料把控的日常训练。
如果你愿意，不妨在这里停留一会儿，看看我最近在想些什么，又做了些什么。
Special thanks to my beloved kitty —- Pao Pao, for her companionship and support.
【特别感谢我的小猫 —— 泡泡对我的陪伴与支持】