Isabella Liu: A rising star in design
- By Rory Howard
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E-mail China.org.cn, May 8, 2015
"A rising star" is the phrase already used to describe Isabella Liu, the award winning China-raised, London-based artist and jewellery designer. Still young and fresh on the jewellery design scene but already winning awards from Italy, Spain, and from the prestigious 2015 Goldsmiths' Craftsmanship & Design Awards (amongst others), it is no wonder that Liu is currently busy giving talks at The Golden Pin Design Awards in Beijing as an industry leader, or that she is set to display her work at the BMW Henley Festival starting on the 8th of July.
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Isabella Liu [Photo/China.org.cn] |
I got together with Liu to find out more about her work, inspirations, and the future for herself and other Chinese designers.
Asked about her award winning works -- Party! Party! Party, Scar is no more a scar, and Mending -- which won gold and silver awards at the prestigious Goldsmiths' Craftsmanship & Design Awards (March 2015) -- Liu describes the works as being conceptual, fashionable, and having an artistic connection with her own history. Shy and self-conscious from a fireworks injury when she was only 12 years old, Liu has learnt over the years and through personal growth that there is beauty in broken but confident people and in mended objects. Her scars may have mended, but they still inspire a philosophy that she puts into her designs.
"Scar is no more a scar," a lustrous silver set with layers of silk ranging from vivid reds to dark purples, won Liu awards. The pieces are inspired by her own scars from that unfortunate fireworks incident, yet are confidently beautiful and fashionable, a reflection of how Liu likes to think of her inner self.
Growing out of the notion of broken but beautiful, Liu's recent award winning series -- mending -- marries the Chinese and Japanese art of kintsugi (broken pottery mended with molten gold) by bringing together imitation broken pottery and wearable gold jewellery that is functional, conceptual, and works as a gallery piece when not being worn.
Liu's popularity comes from the modern look and simplicity of her designs. As a Chinese person, there are aspects of the orient in some of her works, but they largely owe themselves to personal and researched ideas of aesthetics and less to rehashed China and orient-inspired works.
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