David Chiu has taken his life long passion of design and graphic work and has created a career and life that keeps him happy and motivated for the future. 7 Days Theory recently caught up with David and asked him some questions about his artistic-lifestyle and how he became the designer he is today.

When did you start to realize that you enjoyed design?

As a small child I’ve always enjoyed drawing. When I was in elementary school, my classmates often ask me to draw for them. I remembered Garfield was a character that I could draw pretty well.

As I grew up during my teen years – become in love with pop culture. Started to have lots of interest in film and fashion.

I love everything about film, watching them, going to the theatre, to even the design of the poster. I collected movie posters, have binders full, and plastered all over my room.

As for fashion – I started looking at clothes as a form to express myself.

Both of these interests definitely had some impact of what I wanted to do in my life.

How did you evolve from a young interest into your career/life?

Going through high school, to be honest, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do or study in university. I had so many interests however I knew it would have to be something in the creative field. I thought about going into music, becoming a performer, being a fashion designer, and even being a photographer.

At that time, basing my decision on my interest and opportunities, I ended up attending the Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto and studied advertising design. Coming up with ads was fun! Learned to be a conceptual thinker and applying it to my design.

After graduating, I was hoping to get a job in the ad world and make ads, but somehow ended up finding a job working as a graphic designer. A few years later, I started up Hello! Stuff . The reason was my love for fashion, and interest for entrepreneurship.

I collected graphic t-shirts and figured why not create my own. I wanted the design to be fun and friendly, hence the ‘Hello’ being part of the name.

What were some of the biggest hurdles you had to overcome?

Some hurdles I had to overcome being a designer were learning all the design softwares (ie.Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.)

Since it wasn’t’ really taught to us when I was attending OCADU – I had to learn them myself.

How did you get past your hurdles?

Some hurdles when starting up my Hello! Stuff was of course the cost factor. It forced me to become creative with my design. I kept it simple and it kind of helped give a certain ‘look and feel’ to my stuff. That’s how the whole black and white colour theme came about – it was lower cost in both the production and material cost. I was very happy how it all turned out! Loved what one of my customer told me when seeing my stuff, “Even though it’s all black and white, it actually looks colourful”.

It all began with t-shirts and then grew to include accessories; tote bags, ties and paper products. I even learned the process of how to do silk screen printing and even hand printed some of my creations.

How do you deal with uncertainty?

Being a designer, like in any creative field – could be an unstable career. I am a self-starter and like to stay busy. Also, I’m someone who likes to prepare and plan ahead – so I always like to have something where I can fall back on. I guess, that’s where my Hello! Stuff and blogging comes into place.

What have been your favorite project that you have worked on since you have become a designer?

I would say my favorite projects thus far, would be my Hello! Stuff and more recently, my blog (I guess you can say, an extension to my brand) David Chiu’s Stuff. I know, that both are personal projects and nothing professional – but it is where I get the most freedom of creativity. I’m happy and have fun working on.

I especially love my blog – a place where I can express and a share everything I enjoy. It’s like a plate form where I can do all the things I thought of becoming when I was deciding what I wanted to do after high school.

What are looking forward to in the future?

Lots! Looking forward to see what kind of opportunities will bring, with all the interest I have. I would like to do more with my blog: gain more readers/followers and maybe even get some advertisers in the future. At the same time I would love to grow my Hello! Stuff business.

Where can people visit you online and buy your stuff?

People can go check out my Hello! Stuff website, there’s a link to my etsy shop and of course can make their purchase there. If they want to see the latest stuff I’m talking about, they can go to my blog David Chiu’s Stuff. A one-stop place, where they can find everything there!

Also find me at: Twitter:  • Instagram: 

Thank you David for such a candid interview. We hope your insights helps others who are like you and love to design and create things. Visit all of David’s links and buy a bunch of his “Stuff”.

“Live life with passion!”

-7 Days Theory