Alumni at Work:
Dream Job
Luke Van Duyn (’07) mixed modern and classical elements along with a few Asian accents to create a House of Yue-Sai look for the dynamic entrepreneur’s new home interiors business.
People magazine called Chinese-American Yue-Sai Kan “the most famous woman in China.” The owner of the largest cosmetics company in China, she recently turned her eye to the interiors of homes.
Yue-Sai hired Van Duyn to lead this new endeavor. Working with a staff of ten interns and designers, in seven days Van Duyn whipped together a tradeshow booth for the International Shanghai Interiors Expo. The show included companies such as Versace Home and Roche Bobois, so the Yue-Sai Interiors booth had to look good.
The results were spectacular for both the House of Yue-Sai and for Van Duyn. He and Yue-Sai have been featured on CNN, Luxury Items and Spaces, the Chinese program Young T.V., and an interview with GQ.
“Luckily,” Van Duyn said, “some of my connections in Shanghai include furniture manufacturers, so favors were definitely pulled.” It was all worth it, though, as both the public and the profession were impressed by the results. “Yue-Sai herself was blown away!”
