Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month: Interview With Andrew Liu

Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month: Interview With Andrew Liu

We spoke with Andrew Liu, a designer and founder of the brand GUAVABABA about his design process, his personal attachment to his basketball shoes, and much more.

Charlie Franco

We spoke with Andrew Liu, a designer and founder of the brand GUAVABABA about his design process, his personal attachment to his basketball shoes, and much more.

For the latest installment of our AAPI interview series, we are thrilled to feature Andrew Liu, a multi-disciplined Taiwanese designer whose work we’ve been a fan of for quite some time.

Andrew is based in Brooklyn and grew up in Chicago. He spoke with us about how his culture manifests in his work, the origins of his brand GUAVABABA, what makes a good Basketball shoe, and offered some foundational advice to fellow designers.

Keep up with Andrew’s work on both his personal Instagram and GUAVABABA’s Instagram.

Tell us about yourself: what should people know about Andrew Liu and GUAVABABA? I would say I’m a designer as a catch-all for everything I do. GUAVABABA is me making my own stuff with no parameters. It’s sort of on hiatus, but certainly not dead.

I unknowingly discovered your work back when I bought your collaborative tee with New York-based producer Sporting Life. When did you start GUAVABABA, and what drove you to start your own project? The name GUAVABABA was actually my first Instagram username. I was trying to get into graphic design and advertising, taking some courses after college. But for the most part I was teaching myself. GUAVABABA was just a fun typographic exercise – it’s a unique combination of letters which makes a fun prompt to practice with. Eventually I started building up a bunch of graphics and ideas, which led to some of the first products I ever made.

Some of the GUAVABABA gear has Chinese characters on it. You made a tee that says “Winter Melon Milk Foam,” which you consider the best drink in the world. How do you identify in the AAPI community, and how does your heritage influence your work?

I’m Taiwanese American. My parents are from Taiwan, they came here in the mid ‘80s. I definitely grew up in a household where culture and traditions from the east were very prominent in my life. My parents are the only ones from each of their families to come to the states, so visiting Taiwan meant seeing all of my extended family. Many summers were spent in Taipei. The name has roots in my heritage, actually—guava is a popular fruit in Taiwan and I have many memories tied to it. It’s sort of a trope now, but very early on in life I recognized this feeling of being stuck between two worlds, neither of which fully accept you. I’m honestly cool with it and embrace it. How I live my life or the work I make, that’s just me. I try putting my own experiences and tastes into everything that I create. GUAVABABA is me doing whatever I want and in turn, existing in the world.

What is your favorite part of your heritage?

A little bit of everything—obviously the food, food as acts of love, family values. The way we don’t hug when saying goodbye. Lately it’s been seeking out art, music, and film from Taiwan. Old and new.

You design for GUAVABABA, and other brands/projects. What are the differences to your approach for each respectively?

Anything GB related I’m just going to do whatever feels right to me. Truly no limits on it. Sometimes friends approach me because they want a similar style or approach for their project, so that’s just about meeting somewhere in the middle. Last year, I worked on CARICOM 3 with my close friend Calum Jacobs, and while I wouldn’t say I’m a big football guy, we were able to create a world that implemented some of my style and point of view.

You mentioned you were self-taught. What drove you to keep learning and honing in your skills?

It's step by step, I think you hit checkpoints and move from there. I started with making stickers. That was the first physical thing I made, cause I felt it was the easiest. Just send a file and receive it. And it's low lift, it’s cheap, they’re flat, and you can make a bunch of them. Each project throughout time, I just tried to do something a little bit different, more complex. I don't think I ever want to make a T-shirt again. I mean, who knows, but I think the bubble has definitely burst. It’s so easy to make anything now. Although it’s still a good way to exercise design skill and make something that resonates with people. I found that after each release, I would learn something new. Like, I've done this before, and now I can do more. Applies to anything in life, really. I’ve found that every time I make something, it opens up a little pocket of a new demographic or new connections, new friends. The world opens up a little bit more with each thing.

Everything you’ve designed and/or produced seems to have a personal touch to it. GUAVABABA made a Hoop Bag, and per the description it’s a “Multi-functional crossbody bag made for (you) and now for (the rest of the world).” Can you tell us about some of the details that went into that bag?

This one came about naturally, you could almost say it was a pandemic project. It was really hard to find somewhere to play basketball indoors, even if you were comfortable with it. So naturally I started playing outdoors more. The bag came about as a solution to a very personal problem, which was wanting a bag that could carry my basketball, some shoes, and personal essentials. I reached out to a friend, Jacob Lopez, to see if we could cook something up. We’d been wanting to work on something together for a minute. I think I sketched something, sent some references, and it moved fast from there. Jacob sourced some technical fabric swatches locally in Seattle and went them back and forth until we found stuff that worked. Bought hardware, made one sample, tried color combinations, made some patches, slapped some branding on it, and done. I’m happy with how it turned out. We only made a handful but I was glad some friends were able to get them.

You’ve also produced photo books, one was from a 10-day trip to Turkey, and one felt more like a collection of images. What are you looking for when you’re out snapping photos?

A mix of things – just capturing what I see, which in New York comes about from walking a lot. That first photobook came about from an urge to create something physical from a period of my life. It felt like a cohesive selection of photos so it made sense. First time putting my name on something like that. For TURIST, I wanted to use the constraints of being in a new city for a specified number of days, walking around a lot, solo. I didn’t set out to make a book but I had a bunch of photos and thought, “okay, this is a good prompt.” Istanbul is beautiful and it’s where I learned to love cats.

You recently produced a physical archive of all of your basketball shoes in their natural worn state. Can you tell us about that? I always had a hard time getting rid of my basketball shoes. They’re a single function object and hold many memories—signaling a time in your life, where you lived, who you were playing with, how you played, whether you injured yourself, how much you spent on them. So I always kept them and knew I wanted to do something with them eventually. The project really came about from watching a lot of YouTube reviews. You start noticing patterns in the way different reviewers showcase and talk about shoes. They’re all mostly the same, some better than others. This project is essentially my take on the sneaker YouTuber, but in a different medium. From there, I first defined the parameters of what I wanted the project to include. Each step in the process informed the next. Very straightforward. Photograph the shoes, log the information, design the layout, figure out the catalog system, decide on presentation format.

Your books combine your talents, both photography and design. Are you thinking about the design when you are shooting photos, or is that something you consider after the fact? For the archive, the photos came first actually. I took a few test shots to figure it out but eventually landed on shooting the lateral side of each left shoe and the sole of each right shoe, plus close-ups of other angles. It depends really, they simultaneously inform each other, especially when working alone. Even with the layout and presentation, one thing came after another. Ultimately the archive was for me. A design exercise, a physical document, and something I could attach my name to. I wanted to share it though, so that’s where the video presentation came in. I shared some scans too. But the physical binder and all of its contents, it’s a one of one.

What are the essential elements that make a good hoop shoe?

For me, the top three aspects of a basketball shoe are fit, tech, and aesthetic. If those three hit then you have a really good product. For example, if it’s a heavier shoe but the tech is great and it looks great, then I don’t mind the weight. If it looks good but the materials aren’t premium, it may not last forever, but I’ll still be into it. A good colorway as well. There were a lot of good shoes that I wanted but never bought because the colorways stunk. Tech wise, Zoom Air is king. If it has full-length Zoom, you really can’t go wrong.

Does the player matter? A little bit. It’s all marketing, so initially it’s hard to separate the player from the shoe. Depends on the buyer I think. If I don’t love the player, I can get over it quickly because of my curiosity to try the tech. The thing I have a hard time with are shoes that are just vehicles for intellectual property. The PG (Paul George) line for example, they did a Hot Wheels one for the 6. I don’t mind a good unofficial nickname for a colorway, but if it’s being made strictly to remind you that Star Wars exists, keep it.

What is a shoe that you have wanted to hoop in, but you haven’t got to yet? Definitely a few from the past that I wish I tried. Early KD’s, early Kyrie’s. There’s one shoe in particular I’d want to try that probably isn’t wearable even if you found it: the Nike Air Jet Flight. It’s one of the shoes Steve Nash wore. Beautiful. As far as current shoes, there are plenty. Basketball shoes are better than ever. Every brand has something good to offer. You have newcomers like Puma and New Balance, some Chinese brands like Way of Wade, Anta, that are super accessible despite not being in stores here. Nike and Jordan have like 6-7 good performers out just this year alone. The bar is very high.

Have you thought of what your sneaker would look like?

I’ve never thought about that. If it was a Nike, it would have full-length Zoom, or at least a big zoom unit in the forefoot. Kobe’s are special to me, so probably something low cut that prioritizes fit and lockdown.

Do you have any foundational advice to give to aspiring designers and artists out there today?

I’m still figuring out a lot for myself, but I’d say if you’re starting out, just make what you want to see in the world. It could be something that you feel is underrepresented, something that’d be cool to exist, something you think other people may appreciate. The world is huge, I think as long as you stay true to yourself then there will be people that gravitate towards your work.

See more of Andrew’s GUAVBABA brand at his official website.