Yoki Lai is a production, scenic and costume designer for various types of performing arts and commercial events, having created over 120 productions for various art groups both locally and internationally.  She earned her Master of Fine Arts from Yale University School of Drama in 2008 and her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the HKAPA with 1st class honors in 2001. She won the Donald and Zorka Oenslager Fellowship Award in Design in 2008 and The Eldon Elder Fellowship in 2007 & 2008 from Yale University; The Fellowship from Asian Cultural Council in New York in 2007. She won The Best Set Design in 2006 and The Best Make-up & Image Design in 2005.  Also, she got The Best Costume Design Nomination in 2005, 2013 and 2025, and The Best Make-up & Image Design Nomination in 2025 from Hong Kong Federation of Drama Societies. 

 

She was the Resident Designer for Chung Ying Theatre Co. in Hong Kong between 2003 to 2005, then she was engaged as full-time Assistant Set Designer for Santo Loquasto (production designer for many Woody Allen’s Films, Tony Awards winner) in New York City from 2008 to 2010, and co-worked with George Tsypin (Broadway “The Little Mermaid”, “Spider-man: Turn off the Dark” designer) in his studio in 2007. She was also appointed as Ming Cho Lee personal assistant in 2011 “World Renowned Prominent Set Designer Ming Cho Lee Design Retrospective” in Shanghai and Ningbo. She collaborated with leading veteran directors Travis Preston (Executive Artistic Director of CalArts Center for New Performance and Dean of the CalArts School of Theatre), Nicholas Muni (former Artistic Director of Cincinnati Opera, Professor of Opera at University of Cincinnati College-conservatory of Music), Stephen Barlow (opera director for Santa Fe Opera, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, The Metropolitan Opera, etc.), Ceri Sherlock (an honorary professor in drama at Kingston University and the University of Aberystwyth), Giandomenico Vaccari (Italian artistic manager and opera director, former artistic director of  Teatro Verdi in Trieste, Teatro Verdi in Salerno and Teatro San Carlo in Naples), etc. 

 

Her other collaboration with companies include: the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS), Asia Society and Fortune Live Media ( from 2017-2019, 2023 as a set designer) in the US; Vane Percy & Roberts Ltd, 59 Productions, Rose Theatre, Kingston and The Haymarket Theatre Co. in the U.K.; Queensland Conservatorium Theatre in Australia; Wild Rice in Singapore; Shanghai Theatre Above and Shenzhen Media Group in Mainland China, and Hong Kong leading theatre companies including The Hong Kong Repertory Theatre Co., Chung Ying Theatre Co., Opera Hong Kong, Hong Kong Grand Opera, Musica Viva Hong Kong, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Emperor Entertainment group, Hong Kong Ballet, City Contemporary Dance Co., Windmill Grass Theatre, City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, etc.

 

She was an Artist-in-Residence between 2012 to 13 and a part time lecturer between 2014 to 16 at HKAPA for MFA and BFA Theatre Design programs. She is the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Examiner and Hong Kong Dance Alliance Award Panelist.