The Ancestral Futurist
Filipino designer Joshua “Joshi” Li explores how traditional craft and contemporary technology can come together in new forms.
Words Art+ Magazine Team
Photos courtesy of Joshi Li
October 10, 2026
Industrial designer Joshi Li
Filipino design has never been limited to one visual language. Traditional craft continues to shape the way we think about objects, materials, and making, while new technologies have opened up different possibilities for designers today. Somewhere between traditional and modern design is a growing group of creatives who are finding ways to work with both.
Filipino industrial designer Joshua “Joshi” Li is one of them. As an “Ancestral Futurist,” he draws from inherited knowledge while finding new ways to apply it. Through Moodi Design, the studio he founded, he explores how objects can carry stories and ideas. Digital fabrication and contemporary manufacturing give him the tools to experiment, but much of the inspiration comes from looking closely at existing Filipino traditions.
Sample digitally fabricated lighting pieces from his Pamana Collection Tanglaw
This approach is particularly clear in Pamana Collection | Tanglaw, Joshi’s latest collection of digitally fabricated lighting pieces. The collection consists of five 3D-printed lamps, each topped with a woven salakot. The designs take cues from different aspects of Filipino identity, including details associated with the Barong and Filipiniana.
Light plays an important role in the collection. Inspired by its place in the Filipino home, the lamps turn something familiar into a new kind of object. The pieces aren't intended to recreate traditional Filipino objects exactly. Instead, they reinterpret them. The salakot, clothing, and other references become part of a new vocabulary shaped by the tools available to a designer today.
Industrial designer Joshi Li
Heritage is often discussed in terms of keeping things intact. But traditions have always changed as they move from one generation to the next. For Joshi, contemporary technology provides another way for that process to happen. The goal isn’t to make traditional Filipino design look futuristic for the sake of it. It’s to understand what makes these traditions meaningful in the first place, then see where those ideas might go.
Joshi graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), where he was part of the team behind Aether 912, an award-winning concept vehicle recognized by the Red Dot Design Award. His work has also been recognized by The Rookies and the International Design Awards (IDA).
Known for his use of digital fabrication and contemporary manufacturing techniques, Joshi approaches design as both exploration and storytelling
He has worked with companies including The Coca-Cola Company and Kohler Co., contributing to products that were later patented. His background in industrial design and digital fabrication has given him a strong technical foundation, but his work has increasingly turned toward another area: understanding Filipino craft and finding ways to bring its ideas into contemporary design.
Pamana Collection | Tanglaw by JOSHI is available for viewing and purchase at the Ayala Museum and the website moodidesign.ph.
