Exeter Cribs: Inside Justin Li's Aesthetic
By: Hanzi Zhu
Any Exonian who has walked by Williams House after dark will recognize the vibrant neon glow emanating from the room of senior Justin Li. “I really wanted [there] to be a pink, viby, just really dreamy atmosphere in here,” Li said.
He has certainly met his goal. Bold meets chic in this modern apartment-esque third floor dwelling. Two neon wire signs and a Nanoleaf, a geometric configuration of LED panels, flood the room with rich fuschia hues.
The room layout itself is L-shaped, with an alcove and provides Li with three different areas for lounging, studying and sleeping. The doorway opens into the main sitting area furnished with a marble coffee table, velvet sofa and a lush Swiss cheese plant.
“I built that table myself, which I’m really proud of because I have absolutely no skills when it comes to that kind of stuff,” Li recalls. Tucked into the alcove, Li has his bed aligned with a large window overlooking Spring Street. A chain of photographs adorn the corner over his pillows.
An avid artist, Li views his room as a canvas—another place to embrace and experiment with his passion. “Something I really like to focus or play around with is color,” Li says. Additionally, he pays mind to composition and “making sure everything is placed very purposefully.” A knitted plush kitten on his bed serves as a playful touch to his white sheets. The decorations on the wall are placed proportional distances apart. On his dresser? A white orchid plant. On the tabletop? Cinnamon sticks in a jar. Referring to a sign that says “It was all a dream,” Li says, “Something that I always struggle with is living in the moment, and [the sign is] kind of an homage to that...everything happens in a dream here [at Exeter].”
The blend of nature and artificial lighting in Li’s room combines serendipity with audacity, resulting in an ambiance that is both gentle and conspicuous. Whether it is our environment that dictates our lifestyle or our lifestyle that curates our environment, it is obvious that Li has taken it upon himself to make his room a living canvas for his perceptive and adventurous artistic worldviews. Seated on the rose-colored sofa, with the neon reflecting off every nearby surface, Li seems to blend into the curious balance of color around him.