enSoie

For this limited edition of our iconic Carry All tote bag, we collaborated with type designer Xiang-Xiang Lee. Inspired by enSoie’s Vichy check pattern, Lee translated its distinctive grid into typography using her monospaced serif font. The motto “Love Rules Forever” is subtly integrated through silk-screen printing, revealing itself only on closer inspection.

Edition of 50.

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enSoie: How did you approach the design of the Carry All bag, and how did you translate enSoie’s visual language into your own typographic language?

Xiang-Xiang Lee: My idea started from enSoie’s iconic Vichy check pattern. As a type designer, I wondered how I could translate its visual language into typography. The equal-sized grid naturally led me to monospaced typefaces, with my own monospaced serif typeface as a starting point. Its fixed-width characters create a typographic grid that echoes the woven structure of the Vichy pattern. I explored how typography could become part of the pattern itself, arranging letters into striped and block-like compositions inspired by enSoie’s textile language. Rather than using different fabrics on each side, I developed two typographic arrangements based on the same underlying grid. The brand’s philosophy, “Love Rules Forever,” is subtly embedded within the grid. From a distance, it reads as a pattern; up close, fragments of the words begin to appear.

enSoie: What are your very first memories of making something creative?

Xiang-Xiang Lee: I was always drawing and making cards as a child, but my stronger memory of truly making something by hand began around the age of ten. I became fascinated with fashion design and started sewing clothes for my Barbie dolls. I even attempted draping, which in hindsight feels slightly overambitious for a ten-year-old.
Looking back, I realise I have always been drawn to making things with my hands. I just didn’t expect the path to shift from garments to letterforms. The material changed, but the instinct to construct something carefully from the ground up stayed with me.

enSoie: Which materials, textures, or formats do you love working with most?

Xiang-Xiang Lee: For many years, fabric shaped how I thought about design. Even though my practice has evolved and I rarely work with textiles now, I still value the physical experience of touching a material and observing its weave, weight, and movement.
Today, I’m more sensitive to paper. Weight, opacity, edges. I love formats that unfold slowly, like books or printed matter that reveal themselves over time. 
Silver has always attracted me as well. There is something about its coolness and subtle reflectivity that feels precise but emotional at the same time. I have not yet found the right way to integrate it into my work, but I suspect it will appear eventually.

enSoie: What detail makes a project feel “well thought out” to you?

Xiang-Xiang Lee: Consistency of intention. When every decision, even the smallest detail of spacing or the choice of a thread colour, feels connected to a larger idea. It does not need to be perfect, but it needs internal logic. I appreciate when a project feels coherent from the inside, even if the audience cannot immediately explain why.

enSoie: Who were your early creative icons?

Xiang-Xiang Lee: Martin Margiela was, and still is, and probably always will be important to me. I was drawn to his refusal to follow rules and his instinct to question systems from within. There is a certain attitude in his work, a quiet but firm sense of “this is how I want it to be.”
Of course, typography is less dramatic than deconstructed tailoring. But I try to bring that same mindset into my work. Even within a highly systematic discipline, there is room to question norms and introduce subtle tension. I’m interested in adopting a position: creating with intention, challenging conventions, and accepting that not every decision needs to be explained.

enSoie: How do you think about longevity in your work?

Xiang-Xiang Lee: I think about longevity as a question of structure. For me, it’s not about being timeless in a nostalgic way. It’s about creating work that can still feel honest and relevant years later because its foundation is clear. If the internal logic is strong, the form can evolve without losing integrity.

enSoie: What is the “signature” element in your work?

Xiang-Xiang Lee: I think it’s tension. A balance between elegance and slight disruption. Something that feels controlled at first glance, but reveals small, unexpected details when you look closer.