Steve is building Ecoand, a home and personal-care company based in Shanghai. He grew up between Taiwan, Vancouver and China, and spends an unreasonable amount of time thinking about why certain objects, places, smells and ordinary routines stay with us.
The Working Archive is where unfinished thoughts are given somewhere physical to live.
Recurring subjects, in rough order of frequency: ordinary objects, kitchens, cities at off-hours, the process of making things, basketball courts after dark, and whatever the wet market is doing at 5:50 in the morning.
informal photograph on file (the mug stands in for the person)- Early years
Taiwan and Vancouver, in alternating doses. Two kitchens, two languages, one family computer with a photo folder.
- 2005
First file in this archive: a blurry gym floor, taken half by accident on a 3-megapixel camera.
- 2009
First real camera. The first six photos were of the kitchen table, learning the dials.
- 2022
Moved to Shanghai.
- 2024
Started Ecoand. First bottle looked like a pharmacy sample. Documented under PROJECTS, failures included.
- 2026
Opened this archive, so the unfinished thoughts would have somewhere physical to live.
Current projects live on the PROJECTS page, unresolved issues included.
Notes are read by an actual person, usually within a few days, occasionally from an airport gate.