Danyan Liu

Danyan Liu has a keen interest in the relationship between environment, culture and humanity. As an artist from a Chinese cultural background, she explores the use of traditional oriental textile techniques to express her understanding of oriental philosophies within a contemporary narrative. She specialises in hand embroidery, hand drawing, screen printing, hand dye and digital print. She completed her undergraduate studies in textile(print) design at Chelsea College of Art.

AWARDS

-PriestmanGoode x RCA Colour Material and Finish Design - Finalist (2020)

SPONSORS

-Huzhou Changhe Silk Mill, China

Renew // Ruins and Growth

Renewing ruins by growing plants.

Renewing traditional techniques via a contemporary concept.

Reinforced concrete buildings are generally considered indestructible. However, without maintenance, they can completely collapse within 150 years. I enjoy witnessing the changes that man-made things like buildings undergo as they become ‘naturalised’, that is, brought into conformity with nature. In the face of nature, which can always heal itself, human power is insignificant; hence, as humans, we should rethink our relationship with nature.

I have specialised in traditional Chinese textile techniques, such as Chinese embroidery and Ronghua, as my main methods, using natural traditional Chinese materials, such as silk, as my main materials, harmonising contemporary concepts and Oriental philosophies to illustrate scenes of contradiction: ruin and growth, life and decay. These designs will work in urban public spaces in order to help urbanites relax and draw a greater emphasis to the circle of life.

Camellia on Wall — Ronghua and embroidery flower sample; Size: 40cm x 15cm x 15cm; Material: silk, silk filaments, silk threads and copper wires

Orchid on Wall — Ronghua flower sample; Size: 17cm x 15cm x 12cm; Material: silk, silk filaments, silk threads and copper wires

Showing dynamic changing movements is very important to this project. While I was taking photos with my samples outdoors, I accidentally discovered a way to create the most natural and dynamic effect, that is, interacting with nature by wind.

Medium:

Silk, silk filaments, silk thread and copper wires

Size:

In various sizes

My Watercolour drawings — My sources of inspiration

Medium:

Watercolour and paper

Colour Drawing Narrative Nature Ruins

Camellia Ronghua Sample - Detail — Ronghua(velvet flower) and silk embroidery sample; Material: silk, silk filaments, silk thread and copper wires;

Camellia on Concrete Wall — Ronghua(velvet flower) and silk embroidery sample; Sample Size: 20cm x 25cm x 10cm; Material: silk, silk filaments, silk thread and copper wires

Camellia on the Wall — Photoshopped ronghua(velvet flower) and silk embroidery sample; Real Sample Size: 40cm x 15cm x 15cm; Material: silk, silk filaments, silk thread and copper wires

Orchid on the Wall — Photoshopped ronghua(velvet flower) sample; Real Sample Size: 17cm x 15cm x 12cm; Material: silk, silk filaments and copper wires

Magnolia in the Underground Station — Photoshopped ronghua(velvet flower) sample; Real Sample Size: 40cm x 17cm x 14cm; Material: silk, silk filaments and copper wires

Flowers in the Underground Station — Photoshopped visualisation Photography: Jaromir Chalabala

Concrete Tiles — Another way to applicate these Ronghua samples; Orchid Sample Size: 17.8cm x 17.8cm x 12cm; Wisteria Sample Size: 33xm x 20xm x 9cm; Material: silk, silk filaments, copper wires and concrete

My flowers can be used in different scenarios and environments. To directly show the application and atmosphere that I wanted to create, I took my flowers to many different places, such as bridges, arches, Westminster station, and even walls in a car park. Although my flowers are not real, they are close to real size and have realistic colours. Compared to real plants, my flowers require less daily care and do not need a growing environment that requires soil and sunlight.

If my flowers are used as decorative products, I can also apply them in different ways. Composing them directly onto walls or surfaces or inserted them into concrete blocks or bricks. They harmonise with different kinds of surfaces and can be used in a range of spaces.

Medium:

Silk, silk filaments, copper wires and concrete

Size:

In various sizes

Craft Delicate Embroidery Handcraft Material Narration / Storytelling Nature Renew Textiles

Ronghua Making Process — How do I make Ronghua silk flowers

As Ronghua is an uncommon technique, I have focused on learning it within these last five months. Before starting, I needed to prepare the degummed silk filaments. I bought a tie of raw silk filaments and degummed it by boiling the filaments in lye (lai) water several times. Degummed silk has a much softer and brighter texture than raw silk, and only degummed silk can create the velvet texture of Ronghua.

Making Ronghua and embroidering silk are both time consuming. It can easily take one to two days to make a piece of a Ronghua flower. And it can take 1 to 4 weeks to make a set of flowers. To show how it is made, I recorded a video of the process.

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to Ms. Zhang Danhong for teaching me how to embroider with silk and helping me with my embroidery.

Craft Handcraft Handmade Process Textiles

Guided-tour