In June, I arrived at Sung Tieu’s Berlin studio on the second floor of a gated complex in the city’s northern Wedding district. It was 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 degrees Fahrenheit), the start of a punishing European heatwave, and the vast space was flooded with sunlight from large windows overlooking a green courtyard. The studio is divided into two rooms: one for “messy work”, with tools, wide tables and raw materials; the other is a more office-like space that doubles as a library. Tieu...