Xinyi Chen

About

Xinyi(CC) Chen is a textile and fashion designer specialising in knitted creations. Her current design practice focuses on small-scale work, aiming to make both the knitting process and the finished product playful by exploring colour, technique, and materiality. She is currently investigating how knitting can be integrated with mixed materials to create innovative outputs, including installations, garments, and more.

The ongoing project “Cover” is inspired by Xinyi’s observation of protective covers on household items such as sofas, televisions, air conditioners, and washing machines in China. The concept of multi-layered overlapping is proposed. This project seeks to advance the textile series through the continuous exploration of various combinations of openwork knit textiles.

By covering inexpensive balloons with intricate knitting techniques, the project aims to create a contrast of value and convey the desire to protect and adorn objects through visual language. Additionally, it strives to provoke thought and empathy by reinterpreting this traditional practice within a contemporary context.

In another project, part of her MA stage, she uses knitting to recombine meaningful but unused objects from her life, transforming them completely from their original forms into new and interesting products. Some of the finished products are interactive, such as marbles, translucent, and foldable, providing a means to relieve anxiety and offer companionship.