After graduating from the Bartlett School of Architecture, Naihan Li first worked as an architect when returning to China in 2004. Under the influence of a rapidly growing contemporary art scene that she encountered in Beijing's Caochangdi Art Village, her interests gradually expanded into contemporary design and art.

Her work covers a wide range of format and media, with interests ranging from traditional craftsmanship to digital technology. A full understanding of traditional and contemporary aesthetic, culture and technology sits as the core principle of her creative career through both commercial and personal projects.

Her body of works span from architecture to art, though she might be best known for her design art furniture work, including the Crates Series, I am a Monument series, Leaning Mountain series, etc. Her works have been exhibited by M+ museum, Milan Design Triennial, Venice Architecture Biennial, London Design Musem, Sifang Art Museum and many other public and private institutions and collectors.

As designer and artist, she has worked with the Gwangju Design Biennial, UBS Bank, Yuzi Museum Shanghai, Himalaya Museum, Goethe Institute, Swarovski Lane Crawford and many international institutions. As creative director and initiator, she produced the Beijing Design Week Caochangdi Community, collaborating with leading Chinese contemporary artists, focusing on bridging contemporary art with design and technology.

11.06 Why have there been no great women architect?

From the time when the architect left its artisan root and became an independent profession, to our time of an ever rapidly growing built environment, to most people, the job of an architect is to build. The ambition of men, collectively and individually, found it's best way of expression in the action of building. We built monuments, churches, palaces, cities, for functional reasons and as a demonstration of our power to alter nature. Architects even consider themselves to be the closest to the role of god (a secret believe we were told at school). And this particular significance and motivation, somehow is the main reason women do not find themselves willing to battle through the intensively restless career path. Does that ultimately mean women can not be great architect?

The answer lays within the job description of Architect,originating from the Greek word "ἀρχιτέκτων" the role simply means "chief creator". The rich knowledge and architectural theories of today find itself expending to new territories, back, and forth into art, design, material technology, digital media and way more. The role of architecture has advanced into a new frontier, where we are now seeking to create reality itself.

Through my own practice in the field in China, from being a service providing builder to exploring possibilities through life encounters and creative pursuits, the world of architecture has opened up beyond the simple motivation of raising up a structure that defies gravity, to new systems which can produce endless creation. When the built environment is not simply erected but created, will this be the time great women architects emerge ？