Three deities step out of the Long Ocean, sisters shaped by element and moonlight. Water carries memory and return. Air carries breath and story. Earth carries patience and care. Together they move in a quiet orbit, their gestures long and tidal, their bodies holding a power that feels gentle and sure. 

 

Mid Autumn lives at the meeting point of many homes. Our team and Graedancers hold intersectional identities and mixed lineages. Many of us grew up between languages and cities, a third culture that learns to make room for more than one truth. The festival centres reunion, sharing, and study. The moon pulls the sea and marks time in clear cycles, a rhythm that echoes through our work. We celebrate this year with 3 illustrations by Didier Wong, a tryptch featuring our mid autumn elemental deities. 

"Wind" in Haku Drop Necklace & Haku Earrings.

GRAEDANCE: For the record, tell us about yourself. Who have you drawn for, and how did you find your way back to drawing?

DIDIER: Didier Wong Kung Fong. Fashion designer turned visual merchandiser. Even though I have left the world of design, my love of fashion and beautiful products still remains. In London I was lucky enough to use my illustration skills to participate on a print project for Dior, design the uniforms for Sephora Europe, and have my illustration in fashion publications such as Wonderland Magazine. The love of drawing came back to me during the pandemic. Like a lot of people, all that free time stuck at home turned into the discovery, or in my case, rediscovery of crafts and creating for pleasure.

 

GRAEDANCE: What is catching your eye this season?

DIDIER: Renewal and the rebirth of house codes. Numerous fashion brands of high pedigree are debuting new creative directors. I am interested to see how they translate historic fashion house codes into their own. High risk brings high reward. My love for fashion simply exists because I love product and beauty in something that can be considered a basic need. Clothes are products we all interact with every day, something mundane and essential, yet it can create such a difference in how we feel and act.

 

GRAEDANCE: You have lived in many places. What grey areas do you occupy?

DIDIER: Since leaving my home country, I have moved to three different countries and always been considered the outsider, the foreigner. Some might conform to a new environment. I doubled down on staying true to myself and living proudly in my difference. My vision is shaped through a unique mix of life experiences and skills picked up in my travels.

 

GRAEDANCE: Take us home to Mauritius. What do you still see when you close your eyes?

DIDIER: Growing up on a small tropical island, your life is undeniably interlinked with the sea whether you like it or not. My fondest memory is as a child, going on drives with my family as a weekend treat. We would take the coastline, driving past endless kilometers of sandy shores with the sun beaming on the water. Looking out at the sea, you feel peace and calm through the repeated motion of the waves.

 

GRAEDANCE: Toronto, London, Australia. What from each place lives in your work?

DIDIER: The people. Friendships with like minded peers across different creative communities. Sharing passions and unique points of view broadened my mind and helped me find beauty on a larger scale.

 

GRAEDANCE: You once said you are a fashion dreamer. What does dreaming in two dimensions feel like?

DIDIER: Especially today, we live with more and more restrictions, financial, social, political. Drawing is liberating to me. It is my own little world where I can put down on paper whatever I want. The only limit is my imagination and drawing skills. Hahaha.

 

GRAEDANCE: Talk to us about touch. Paper, fabric, screen.

DIDIER: I love working with physical medium. There is always an element of surprise and of learning to embrace mistakes. On paper or with fabric there is a limit to what you can do or how far you can take the material. That limit forces you to be more creative and trust your instincts. Sometimes you make a mistake and that is the beauty of reality, the imperfections. As a perfectionist, I also enjoy digital tools and being able to undo with a push of a button. Sometimes a wrong is a wrong no matter how you look at it, hahahaha.

 

GRAEDANCE: Long Ocean. Three women. Who are they and where in the sea do they belong?

DIDIER: I had in mind traditional Chinese mythology. Elements like water and air are deeply rooted in Eastern beliefs. Courtesans performing dances to celebrate nature. Water, Air, and Earth. Elements that form part of the sea and create a system together.

 

GRAEDANCE: What signals their otherness?

DIDIER: Emotion through elongated fingers. Hand gestures express grace and femininity and tell a story through the placement of fingers. By elongating them and shaping them like talons there is also a suggestion of danger. I wanted to show quiet, sensual power in these beautiful beings.

 

GRAEDANCE: Where is the in betweenness?

DIDIER: Neither human nor beasts. What stands out is their alluring beauty and magnetism. Like sirens, I wanted a sense of power, femininity, and intrigue. Not everything needs a label or needs to be familiar, and we can still attest to their otherworldly beauty.

 

GRAEDANCE: How did you stage the trio so the eye moves with intention?

DIDIER: I centered the drawings around a unifying circular frame. In Asian culture, the circle symbolizes harmony, unity, and balanced duality. Like a window into another world, these creatures sit in the center as the main characters. I wanted their poses to be harmonious and to create interesting negative space against the circle. I built contrast in colour and medium to add depth to details. Circle, pose, detail.

 

GRAEDANCE: What was on your desk and in your ears?

DIDIER: The second season of Captain Tsubasa played in the background while I worked. For imagery, the catalog of work by Audrey Hu and Leslie Zhang has inspired me for years. Audrey’s styling and Leslie’s art direction and photography encapsulate the energy I wanted for this project. They show deep respect and understanding of Asian culture and history and move it forward for the modern viewer.

 

GRAEDANCE: What do you want our clients to feel when they meet these women?

DIDIER: We are given a glimpse at an intimate, quiet moment of these creatures in their element. I would love the audience to connect with the sensual energy and feel the quiet power. This represents a facet of Graedance I wanted to explore through illustration. Sinuous shapes, the feeling of cool polished metals against warm skin, forms that can be both sensual and dangerous. A parallel between my connection to the Graedance product and my interpretation of this feeling through illustration.

 

GRAEDANCE: Before we go, what is a ritual that gets you in the zone?

DIDIER: I draw on my iPad in bed and it brings the best results out of me. Clean crisp sheets. Fluffy pillows. Childhood anime in the background. It gets me in the zone and gets my creative juices flowing. Maybe it is a throwback to when I first discovered the joy of drawing. An echo to a happy place that brings out creativity and makes me want to draw.

 

GRAEDANCE: One teacher whose words still ring in your head.

DIDIER: At the end of my course, Louise Wilson looked me straight in the eye and said, “I think we both know you are not a designer. You are more interested in the final product than the act of creating it. However, you have the eye, so put it to good use.” She was right. Since then I never looked back and went into styling and ultimately visual merchandising.

 

You may follow Didier on instagram (@big.dda).