Xinyi Chen

(b.1992. June, China)

United Kingdom

 

Xinyi Chen is a designer maker working with e-waste materials and silver to create wearable art jewellery. She decided to return to the studio as a maker as her lifelong career after working as a fashion buyer, senior jewellery consultant, and photographer. She used to be the founder of an e-commerce shop in China with 70,000 newsletter subscribers. She gained a BA in Art design in China, specializing in jewellery and silversmith and started pursuing contemporary jewellery by making her extravagant collection ‘New Era Of Crown’. Two years and a researcher at Central Saint Martins, then launched her brand collection 'Data Garden.' She has been exhibited internationally such as Goldsmiths' Fair, London Museum Dockland, London Crafts Week, Lisbon's Royal Treasure Museum, Munich Jewellery Week and Friedrich Becker Prize Exhibition.

 

Electronic components have a special place in my heart, which I call 'Artificial Intelligems’. I'm fascinated by their shapes, textures, colors, precise structures, digital spirituality, hidden beauty and draws from my childhood memory by my computer practitioner mother.

Through a combination of traditional hand skills and contemporary jewellery-making techniques including CAD, laser cutting and electroplating, Xinyi alters the fate of discarded electronic components, transporting them from landfill to jewellery boxes.

In addition to commenting on our climate of waste and excess, Xinyi’s jewellery also references the boundary between the virtual and physical worlds, seeking to comment on our relationship with smartphones, social media and apps in particular. “I hope that people can return to this earth’s reality from the virtual, rethinking what it means to live in this rapidly changing world, and reflect upon the essentials of who they are,” she explains. 

 

Award (selection)

2024 Emerging Business Bursary, The Goldsmiths' Company, London, United Kingdom

2024 Winner, Preziosa Young Design Competition, Florence, Italy

2024 Finalist, Emerging Jewellery Brand of the Year, Professional Jeweller Awards, London, United Kingdom

2023 Rising Stars 30 Under 30, Retail Jeweller's, London, United Kingdom

2023 Second Award and Special Prize, Venice Design Week Jewellery Selection, Venice, Italy

2023 Honorable Mention of the Cheongju International Craft Competition, Cheongju, Korean

2023 Finalist, Friedrich Becker Prize, Germany

2023 Finalist, Emerging Jewellery Designer, UK Jewellery Award, London, United Kingdom

2023 Finalist, Designer of the Year, The National Association of Jewellers, United Kingdom

2023 Finalist, Talente Masters of the Future, Munich, Germany

2022 Winner, Bright Young Gems, Eco-Heroes , London, United Kingdom