GSD Alumnus Yen-Ting Cho Wins Second Successive Platinum MUSE Design Award
Yen-Ting Cho, GSD MDes ‘09 and Professor of Design in the Institute of Creative Industries Design, National Cheng Kung University Taiwan, has won platinum at the MUSE Design Awards for the second successive year.
Alongside his university work, Cho is co-director and lead designer of YEN TING CHO Studio (London and Taipei) which, since 2016, has produced unique artworks and contemporary designs for luxury fashion accessories and interiors. For the 2023 MUSE competition, Cho submitted his latest ‘Revive’ wool scarf collection comprising eight patterns. The collection looks optimistically to the future in the midst of epidemic and conflict in the modern world. The patterns tell a metaphorical tale of pre- and post-apocalypse with a story involving curious cellular experiments, mutation, reflection and, ultimately, reconstruction.
Cho creates original, innovative designs using his own digital software, which responds to body movement to reconstruct digital data (photos, videos), and reveals organic details not possible solely by programming. Asymmetrical and non-repeat, the patterns are very different from those created using traditional methods, such as mirroring or rotating. They are finished by hand to manipulate color and form, and then digitally-printed onto the finest natural materials. Digital printing reproduces the fine detail of Cho’s original designs and retains their movement and color combinations.
The challenge for 2023 was to produce patterns that confront the uncomfortable realities of disease and conflict in the modern world whilst remaining optimistic and hopeful for the future. Cho used storytelling as a device to engage with the present yet create a playful narrative that takes us into an imaginative space. After selecting the digital data, layered design was used to bridge the gap between the human and the abstract; the patterns articulate physical and philosophical struggles that are overcome by inner reflection and peace. In Cho’s fantastical narrative, we relocate to a dream-like planet to experience the first light of a new dawn that brings hope for the future of humanity.
This is YEN TING CHO Studio’s second consecutive platinum MUSE award, following success, also in the Fashion Design category, in 2022. “This unprecedented achievement serves as a tremendous motivation for our studio teams in London and Taipei,” said Cho.
Created in 2015, the MUSE Design Awards in an international competition for designers whose craft shifts paradigms; their ingenuity and thorough works leave others in awe, and in doing so redefine boundaries and scope – much like a muse. The theme of the 2023 MUSE Design Awards was “Unleash Yourself,” with a focus on creators who use their works to create dialogue in the face of adversity and uncertainty, and make a positive impact on society. YEN TING CHO’s entry perfectly resonated with the 2023 competition theme.
FURTHER INFORMATION
YEN TING CHO ‘Revive’ Scarf Collection
Spring/Summer 2023: https://yentingcho.com/en-gb/pages/2023-ss-revive-collection
Autumn/Winter 2023: https://yentingcho.com/en-gb/pages/2023-aw-revive-collection
About YEN TING CHO Studio
Founded in London in 2016, YEN TING CHO Studio produces unique artworks and contemporary designs for luxury fashion accessories and interiors.
We create innovative and dynamic patterns through human-computer interaction. Our patterns are crafted using digital technology pioneered by company founder and lead designer, Yen-Ting Cho. We manipulate curated data (photos, videos) into original patterns and radically play with structure and colour to create our signature style. We print our patterns onto the finest materials, such as elegant pure wool, silk and cotton for our award-winning scarf collections. Our work blurs the boundaries between art, design and fashion.
Our products are sold in galleries, boutiques, concept stores and design outlets around the world, and in museum stores such as San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the New York Museum of Arts and Design.
We are based in London, UK, and also have a growing team in our new design studio and showroom in Taipei, Taiwan.
For all enquiries about YEN TING CHO Studio, please contact Jamie Gilham (co-director) / jamie@yentingcho.com / + 886 (0) 933 454019
MUSE Design Awards
