Innovation & industrial design leader

Design innovation leader with 15+ years across Milan, Hong Kong and Mainland China. I specialise in building strategic design capability inside large technology organisations, translating design ambition into fundable, executable programmes that move product categories forward.

I combine European design rigour, from my training at Domus Academy and years in Milan, with deep knowledge of China's industrial and organisational realities.

Core strengths

Strategic category vision

Identifying product gaps and evolving design languages.

Innovation roadmapping

Protecting design value through complex corporate hand-offs.

Executive influence

Aligning R&D roadmaps with GM, BU and CEO-level objectives.

Team leadership

Building and mentoring design teams; turning service teams into strategic assets.

Experience

Where I've led

2025 – present

TCL Design Innovation Center

Acting Director (consultant, full-time mandate) via Build Republic

Appointed Acting Director of Industrial Design to lead the team and keep delivery velocity ahead of the permanent director's arrival.
Led the IFA 2025 future-facing white goods portfolio: a complete concept range in 3 months with 5 designers.
As Acting Director of X-Lab, authored its repositioning from prototyping unit to Strategic Foresight & Category Incubation, with a new mission and 2-year roadmap.
Secured Executive Office approval and funding for new category incubation programmes.

2023 – 2024

CASETiFY

Senior Industrial Design & Innovation Manager

Upgraded the slim power bank portfolio to premium category design languages, reaching 60% of total category revenue.
Led the end-to-end revamp of the rope cross-body strap line, reversing a declining sales trajectory.
Refined third-party design intent against internal engineering constraints to salvage the launch of a signature GaN charger.
Cut development cycles by 50% (4 weeks to 2) with a structured prototyping workflow.

2013 – 2024

Build Republic Limited

Founder & Design Director

Leader (Haier Group): full product design language repositioning the brand for Gen Z and Millennials.
Ambi Labs: 6-year fractional design directorship scaling an IoT start-up into premium retail, including Lane Crawford, and two international design awards.
Henderson Land: two first-of-kind innovations, recognised with a Red Dot award.
Directed UX/UI for CLOT and Leading Nation; led business development across 3–5 concurrent accounts, pitching to C-level stakeholders.

2010 – 2012

Jozeph Forakis Design, Milan

Senior Industrial Designer

CMF and product innovation concepts for Samsung and LG.
Led design for Plus Plugg Srl, an IoT hardware-app pioneer later acquired by ASSA ABLOY (Compasso d'Oro, Good Design Award).

2006 – 2008

Diamond Packaging Ltd

Industrial Designer & Project Lead

Luxury display systems for Richemont Group: Cartier, Piaget, Montblanc.
Designed and delivered Chow Tai Fook's flagship store displays in Sanlitun, Beijing.

Education

MA in Product Design

Domus Academy, Milan · 2010

Speaking & teaching

Singapore Design Week — guest speaker, “Design Language for Brand Building”
Hong Kong University — guest lecturer in design thinking

Awards

Compasso d'Oro — Plus Plugg, Italy
Good Design Award — Plus Plugg
German Design Award — Ambi Climate 2
A' Design Award — Ambi Climate Mini
CES Innovation Award ×2
Red Dot Concept Award — Media Facade

Tools

Rhino, KeyShot, Autodesk Sketch, Vizcom, Krea, Midjourney, Figma, Adobe Creative Suite

Industrialisation

DFM, CMF strategy and rapid prototyping from concept through production hand-off

Languages

English, Cantonese, Mandarin (conversational)

Hiring?

I'll send my full CV and portfolio on request.

Request CV & portfolio See the work