Creative Couple Series: Liz & Enle
Welcome to our newest series, all about the creative couple. Our first featured couple is Shuhua “Liz” Xiong & Enle Li. They are both hugely talented designers working in NYC who both attended the School of Visual Arts. Enle is a multi-hyphenate avid basketball fan, designer, animator and teacher at his alma mater, SVA. Liz, drawn to the 70s, 80s, and cites her anime-filled childhood as one of her inspirations, is a brand designer with a focus on illustration. Read below for a peek of how this creative couple live, work, and create.
L: Shuhua “Liz” Xiong
E: Enle Li
COUPLEDOM
How did you both meet? What were your first impressions of each other? What made you feel that he/she was the one?
L: We met because of our mutual teacher in SVA, Eric Baker. He introduced us. He asked me to print my business card and bring it to this lecture of his other history class. He was trying to mentor me and push me outside my comfort zone. When I first met Enle, I kept staring at his hair because he had lots of gel on, and it was NOT moving (LOL!).
E: I remember the way she handed me her business card. She pulled it out from the middle pocket of her denim overall jumpsuit and held it with both hands. I thought that was the purest and cutest thing.
What moved you both to get engaged? How did it happen?
L: I think Enle has always been the one that is very faithful and confident with our next step, ever since the beginning. I am a born pessimist and I just followed his faith in life with this step.
The marriage happened right before the pandemic. What made you decide to get married then? Can you please share with us how you chose your wedding outfits?
L: We never planned it would happen right after that! We decided to get married because our anniversary is 2/29, which is a leap day, and we didn’t want to wait another 4 years to do it.
E: For the outfit, Liz suggested not going with the traditional look, like a female wearing a white dress or a male wearing darker colors. So we decided to go with the complete opposite.
CREATIVE LIFE
You’re both creatives. How do you work and share your life together?
L: I used to work right next to Enle’s desk. Ever since I started illustration, I realized I needed a much bigger desk and working space. I’m one of those creatives that need to scatter everything around me in a visible distance to remind me of their usage.
E: We realized how annoying it was to peek at each other’s screens.
Even though you’re not in the same industry, how does living with each other inspire you? Do you bounce ideas off each other?
L: I think we are still in the same industry. There’s a fluid scale of creative service, how much creative freedom is offered in certain jobs.
E: I find it really inspiring because we keep each other honest. We know each other’s abilities well enough that it is easy to tell if one of us is not working to our full potential. Liz is straight forward with her opinion and creative suggestions and that really help me expand my horizon.
Liz’s luminous and dream-like illustrations
Where does both your work intersect and where does it differ?
L: I tend to look at the bigger picture and the mood of a piece while Enle is very good with detailed execution. He’s very hard-working which I need to learn more from.
E: Liz is full of ideas, it inspires me everyday. At the same time we’re both obsessed with the details and high expectations. Yet, we have different approaches to the creation of our work, in terms of process, taste and the way to look at art.
What does your day look like?
L: During this pandemic our schedule has been very different. I love staying up late…I wake up late and I have a giant cup of ice water and eat whatever we have. Enle will make me coffee and I start working. I’ll have a smoothie break around 3pm and walk Charley at 5pm. I think we both lost the 9-5 working time. We work whenever we have time and on weekends too.
E: I usually wake up 3 to 4 hours before Liz (LOL). My mornings are usually pretty consistent. From walking Charley, browsing morning news, and ending with basketball news.
Enle’s wonderfully surreal animations and illustrations
How do you share your space together, especially as we are sheltering in place now?
L: I’m in my little cave in our bedroom now. We did get new furniture after we started quarantining. The biggest life changing thing I started doing is making the bed every morning. It is so cliché but it changes your mindset. Maira Kalman (an amazing illustrator, among other things) once said she would iron her underwear and bedsheets. I will never reach there but it does inspire me.
Are there things you do to draw a line between work and life?
L: LOL work is my life now. And I don’t really think of it as work. I love drawing. Partially because I realize I’m not bad at it. Every finished piece does feed into my confidence. But also I think it’s so self-expressive and it gives me motivation when people like it, or tell me they are touched by it. It’s just a drawing if it stays in my sketchbook, but it’s art when it’s seen and heard.
E: I think our work and our lives are fully integrated now. Especially when personal projects transitioned to one of our hobbies. But overall, I enjoy having the integration. [This is] one of very few fields that allows you to have that.
What are current or future projects you are excited about?
E: We have a personal project that has sat around for a while now, and neither of us are in [a rush to] get started because we both feel like we’re not in the mindset to fully commit our time. But I’m in high spirits that we’ll soon be ready.
You both also share Charley (what a cutie!). How is it being dog parents? What have you learned about one another through this?
L: It’s a huge change in our life. Charley came in our life when I desperately needed an animal companion and therapy.
E: Having a dog really reflects who you are as a person and I think we are really proud of being great parents to Charley.
What little quirk do you love about your partner?
L: While I’m a hyper-sensitive person, I love that Enle’s a bit of a happy “fool.” It’s the highest form of mental state I think anyone can achieve (LOL). A monk might take his whole life to achieve that. We are on different frequencies sometimes but he inspires me from every way every day.
E: Her queer, dark sense of humor surprises me everyday. It can happen anywhere at any time.
Liz and Enle’s first creative collaboration, a concrete poetry animation experiment
MV titles for Daniela Andrade by Liz and Enle