Yingzhu Chen started her design journey studying fashion design for her undergraduate degree at Donghua University, China. She then worked for three years as a knitwear designer before embarking upon the two-year MA in Textiles at the Royal College of Art. She is currently based in Shanghai and London.
Yingzhu is an observer of life and loves to draw inspiration from details in the world around her, people’s behaviour, and the material itself.
RELEASE // Destroy for Joy - The suppression and liberation of destruction
“Destroy for Joy” is a human experience-related project that attempts to release stress and bring joy by releasing the suppressed desire for destruction.
Like many others during the pandemic, the artist felt limited in domestic environments. During this time, she was inspired by the unexpected relaxing response from the process of unraveling knitting and destructive ASMR videos (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response). Yingzhu explored the concept of “destruction” by experimenting with balancing resistance and release. Intensifying the practice with a humorous, playful, even ridiculous approach.
In her work, she constructed a fragile knitted structure with affordable and approachable domestic materials, such as balloons and spaghetti for easier playful destruction. These materials enable an approachable and playful destruction with strong visual and auditory impact.
Through the interaction with her work and the arising experience, the artist encourages people to face their desire for destruction and use it as an active, playful, non-explosive method of decompression.
Using approachable domestic materials to construct a new reusable structure with knitting for destruction.
Adding more reasoning and playfulness to destruction.
