YICRAFTS is an east asian handcrafts studio based in north western London in Camden founded in 2019. Its focus is on the beautiful but vanishing traditional handcrafts and cuisine of China’s minority ethnicities. Intercultural sharing is constant and often unconscious throughout our daily lives, and hand crafts are the physical embodiment of culture and cultural sharing. Founder Yiran is a member of Bai ethnic minority, and she has experienced the great diversity within the UK and London, but I have found that the diverse cultures of China’s numerous ethnic minorities are underrepresented, with ‘China’ viewed as a single cultural source. The opportunity to introduce and share the unique and sometimes surprising customs, traditions and practices of her home province inspires her. It provides the chance to understand both commonalities and differences in culture, and to understand our shared history.

TEAM MEMBERS

Yiran Duan - YICRAFTS founder

Yiran is Mandarin Chinese and English bilingual with strong interests in crafts, textiles and their role in cultural communication and learning. She has built a broad experience of costume making, design and supervision in performance. She is passionate about exploring communication between the East and the West, and her practice has focused on how to combine embroidery and traditional elements from Chinese costumes with Western techniques to explore intercultural connections. As a member of southern China’s Bai minority ethnicity, she is interested in the conservation of ethnic minority craft techniques.

Albee Qin - Marketing manager

Born and raised in Beijing, China. Albee is a freelance playwright based in London.

Jialiang Dou- Studio manager

Jialiang Dou is a GISer graduated from the University of Leeds, but she joined YICRAFTS because of her research interests of GIS in cultural popularity index also because she grew up practising calligraphy, which is already in her DNA, and since joined YICRAFTS, she have gradually learnt more and more about crafts because of culture and arts, and she have gained her own insights into them. Currently, she is the studio manager, and also a calligraphy crafts teacher.

Yifan - Natural dye teacher

Yifan is a natural dyer based in Bedfordshire. Living by the River Great Ouse, her designs are inspired by local flora and fauna and the changing of seasons. The exploration of natural dyeing led her to Chinese crafts, a traditional culture she grew up with. Yifan desires to share the beauty of natural colours with more people.

Ke Bao - Chinese calligraphy & seal engraving teacher

Ke Bao is studying Design course at University of Goldsmith, and has been practice Chinese calligraphy and seal engraving since 8 years old. Ke has distinctive style and perspective of traditional Chinese calligraphy, he is good at sharing the traditional technique with a modern design eye.

Shuntao Li - Printing & paper cutting teacher

Originally from Xi’an, China, Shuntao Li is a London-based illustrator and graphic designer. She is also a printmaker working primarily with screen printing. Drawing inspiration from a wide range of artistic sources, she is known for her sense of humour, which infuses her creations with a joyful energy that resonates with viewers of all ages.