We recently connected with Zhuang Han and have shared our conversation below.

Zhuang, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I think the first time I truly knew I wanted to pursue an artistic path was in 2021, when I started creating my Eden series. That was when I began to find my own creative language. I started using LEGO bricks as my main medium — the same toy I used to play with alone as a child — to search for my “lost parents.”

In 2023, I began developing The Lab of Eden, a project that builds on this idea. Through the concept of a laboratory, I use fictional gene-matching experiments to imagine finding my parents and even designing the “perfect” genetic blueprint for my next-life family. From there, I began designing and creating my own LEGO bricks — Twinsted LEGO bricks, using them as a way to explore memory, inheritance, and identity.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is HAN Zhuang, I’m from Liaoning, China, and I’m currently based in Paris. I’m a multidisciplinary visual artist and a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris. Much of my work draws from personal memories — especially those shaped by childhood and family dynamics. I explore how family structures, kinship systems, and identities can shift and multiply, and what these transformations might reveal about where we come from as human beings.

In 2023, I initiated my long-term project The Lab of Eden, a conceptual and poetic experiment that uses “genes” as a metaphor. Through the modular logic of LEGO bricks, I construct a fictional genealogy and an emotional laboratory. Within this project, I invented a conceptual “gene-editing” system called TILAN — Twisted Irregularly Lego Interlocking Norepeats. It simulates the mutation and reconfiguration of genetic material through the distortion and recombination of LEGO structures. Four rows of “genetic modules” store complex family information, while a single “gene chain” connects intergenerational memories and transmissions.

If science seeks to optimize genes, then The Lab of Eden operates as a poetic counter-experiment — one that attempts to rewrite the logic of heredity and reimagine the blueprint of family. The project invites viewers to step into a “genetic world” that is both personal and collective, where identity is constantly being generated, displaced, and reborn.

The project’s origin is deeply tied to my childhood. My parents were often absent for work, and my home was filled with conflict. As a “left-behind child,” I spent most of my time alone, playing with counterfeit LEGO sets made in China. They became my first language — through building, dismantling, and rebuilding, I found a way to symbolically repair and reconstruct my family. Over time, these bricks evolved into the core “genetic units” of my artistic practice, tools for reimagining kinship, identity, and personal history.

In The Lab of Eden, LEGO bricks serve not only as a material but also as a symbolic chromosome — a narrative structure through which I construct twisted genetic networks using 3D printing and digital fabrication. These networks expand into a speculative genealogy, continuously asking one fundamental question:
Where do we come from?

This question points not only to biological heredity but also to the cultural and mythological stories of creation. From the Western tale of Adam and Eve to my own family’s roots in Northeast China, my work moves between these frameworks — tracing and questioning dominant origin myths, while redefining the boundaries of kinship and identity.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding part of being an artist is when I step out of my comfort zone — taking risks and challenging the rules I’ve set for myself again and again. Each time I do that, I feel like I’m discovering a new layer of who I am.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Yoga philosophy has had a profound influence on me. Since I began practicing Ashtanga yoga and meditation in 2023, it has continuously shaped and inspired me — not only in my personal life but also in the way I approach my creative work and self-development.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.labofeden.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lab_of_eden/
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/han-zhuang-266038372

Image Credits

Profile photo by Lin Yuteng.
Other photos courtesy of the artist （HAN Zhuang)