YU MEI HUANG

My knit practice is enclosed in textile materiality, multicultural backgrounds and the relationship between body and space.

Q&A

Artist Statement

Yu Mei Huang is a London-based textile artist focused on innovative knit practice. Coming from the East Asian heritage, her works reflect the multicultural background and interweaves different mediums with subjects including textile materiality, body and space, cultural mobility and displacement.Textile materiality and the visual information plays an important role in both concepts and physical forms, she creates a dialogue between visuals and the sense of touch by experimenting with various materials and producing a complex body of large-scale sculptures and installations that indulge in material tactility and the collective experience of space. Graduated from Royal College of Art in London, her practice examines the boundaries in different disciplines which allows her to work in an interdisciplinary movement from fibre art to installation and her work has been showcased at London Craft Week, London Fashion Week and exhibiting nationally and internationally in the past few years.

What craft do you work with?

I am a textile artist focusing on knitting techniques which include hand knitting, crochet, and domestic knitting. I started knitting when I was in college and have continued knitting for 12 years since. My expertise lies in the art form of knitting by focusing on the traditional object making method and the artisan making process with different types of material.

What inspires you to work with this craft?

“How ancient craft knowledge can shape our future?” researching the ancient handicraft knitting process by focusing on connecting the skills and deep material knowledge from the culture heritage and explores further modalities of this gradually ceased craftsmanship. Intend to find new and innovative ways of reinterpreting different material, deconstructing the perception of knit form and redefining what is the contemporary knit.My practice combines unconventional materials and allows different materials to shape the form and also emphasise creating extraordinary aesthetics out of ordinary material and creating a distinctive texture and poetic language.

How do you start your creative process?

I usually start from researching, sketching and material sourcing in each project. By visualising colours and texture through sampling with knitting techniques helps me to form and build the prototype of the final work. The most interesting part for me is to experiment with various materials through sampling, which can also be difficult as it takes time to get to the final piece over and over again.

How would you best describe your workspace and what tools could you not do without?

My studio is surrounded by different gauges of domestic knitting machines, linking machines and big shelves full of different yarns I work with. I find it quite handy to display all the yarn in the workspace in order to arrange different colour combinations. There’s also a desk space where I generate ideas through prototyping, pattern making and fabricating. And a rail of knit samples I can easily pick up for different projects.

Are there new techniques you would like to try?

I am really into gardening and would love to dig more into natural dyeing, especially in plant dyes which provide a great way to connect to the natural.

What have you learnt or the best advice you have received that you would like to share with fellow crafters?

The best advice I have received is to find your own voice in your practice. It is important to understand what you want to express through the artwork, and always be open to new materials, techniques and ideas.I would love to collaborate with a ceramist as I found the art medium is very different from textile and it would be interesting to see the combination and contrast in between. I wish to create a platform where artists from different disciplines are able to exchange ideas and stories and hopefully inspire more people to understand the stories behind each artwork.