One of Liu's books from her pocket-size series published by Taschen.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"She tries to open our eyes to developments that affect us every day, but that we are often unaware of."

Liu was born in Beijing in 1976 and grew up in old-style courtyard houses of the city.

During an interview with the paper at her Berlin studio in October, Liu appeared elegantly dressed and said that she played a lot of tricks in her school days.

But her talent was evident even back then. Once at an outdoor sketching class, when others drew springtime flowers, she felt the view was more complex.

"I squinted. I saw blurry green and a spot of red, so I painted that and my teacher liked it," she said.

At the age of 13, Liu moved to Germany with her parents. Around then, her passion to become a designer was also ignited, partly influenced by her fashion-designer mother.

"I felt I could gain nothing from middle schools so I decided to apply to universities," she said, adding that she moved out of her parents' home to live independently at the age of 15.

She sustained herself by painting portraits and working at a carwash while preparing for college by spending long hours in libraries and at museums.

Liu was enrolled at 17 by Berlin University of the Arts. By the third year there, she already had found her first regular client for design.

After graduation, she traveled to London and New York before opening her Berlin studio in 2004.

It was sometime in 2003 when she was in New York doing corporate designs that she began to work on a "visual diary".

"At the time, I had lived exactly 13 years in China and 13 in Germany," she said.