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DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?

: The inspiration was from the local traditional herbal tea drinking culture that used to be purchased from family-run herbal tea shops. Our idea is to upgrade and modernise such tradition by means of technology and design breakthrough.

DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?

: I wanted to design a product that is not only an object, but rather a humanistic interactive companion that sits at home as a health companion. It has life and it integrates into our daily living.

DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?

: My plan is to roll out globally with this product, and to explore different regional signature herbal tea ingredients to innovate new recipes and flavours globally.

DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?

: It took me 2 years from idea, testing to implementation of the concept to a final product.

DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?

: I used to design for cooperate clients on coffee capsule machines, but I feel that tea is a much healthier product and pleasant drink, especially for the Asian market. I in turn cofounded this project with my partner to pursuit this inspiration, turning herbal tea culture into an innovative way of lifestyle drinking habit.

DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?

: We plan to product the product ourselves by cooperating with hardware manufacturers.

DI: What made you design this particular type of work?

: I always enjoy designing for a lifestyle perspective with a better living approach. This is a health tech product that I can foresee its huge potential in the market as a pioneer product of its kind.

DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?

: Designs of coffee capsule machine influenced the design of our work, inspiring us that even herbal tea could be prepared in a more user-friendly and efficient way like coffee capsules. However, we focus on the approach of a sustainable solution in terms of single serve pod material.

DI: Who is the target customer for his design?

: Modern citizens, aged 20-60, purses work life balance, looking for natural health remedies.

DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?

: It is an ecosystem that we designed, from sourcing of the herbs, supply chain management, to the product system itself and the health big data platform. It is not just a single product.

DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?

: Lify means life is healthy. It also resembles a health companion that we personify.

DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?

: Qualitative design research, trend study, material research, rapid prototyping skills

DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?

: It is a design that has a life, echoes and interstices with users to deliver personalised experience.

DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?

: We collaborated with hardware engineers, software developers, data scientists, herbal tea specialists and Chinese medicinal practitioners to make it happen.

DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?

: It takes up a major roll, from the brewing technology we developed, to the big data analytics the help to engage customers.