Yiyang Yao

 I have studied textile design with specialty in knitting at both Royal College of Art (2-year MA Course) and Chelsea College of Arts (3-year BA Course), University of the Arts London (UAL) in the past 5 years. I have always been interested and working in the context of fashion and am passionate about craftsmanship.  

The project about how can we translate the qualityof painterly look into the language of knit. I got inspirations from own photos taken in Morocco. And this has made the project more personal. I then translated them into knitted samples which are combined with fabrics like organza and silk. Testing out different colour combinations and creating different textile surface effects through sampling, working with both domestic and hand knitting. It is almost like drawing with yarns on the domestic machine. I have used lots of techniques such as drop stitched and layering, and crochet. Challenging the boundaries of ‘normal’ knitting surfaces/effects, as well as between art and textile.