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Textiles (MA)

Kuan Zhu

Kuan is a multi-disciplinary design creator in a variety of fields including fashion design and textiles design, visualising emotional and expressions through iterative body of work.

He is interested in how to visualize the emotional expression to build a connection with fabrics, silhouettes, and the body.  He explored fashion and textiles’ fusion and boundaries with the relationship between art and design. He is visualising inspiration by range of design techniques and processes, showing the diversity of the design process and concept.

He is focusing on the expression of emotions and using the body of work to explore it, regardless of gender-specific. In his work, he is trying to express personal emotions by textiles design which is not monolithic, but diverse, as gender is fluid, textiles design can break the specific gender.

a faded purple tulips print

David Wojnarowicz said 'Don't ever give up beauty. We're fighting so that we can have things like this, so that we can have beauty again.'

The undercurrentof emotions are conveyed using the hermaphrodite flower as a medium. To expressed through transcription, deconstruction. To explore the fusion of structure and tactile. Trying to materialize fluid and vulnerable with fragments of hermaphrodite flowers.

This project explores the relationship between tangible and intangible, material and immaterial. The undercurrents of emotion are conveyed and expressed through transcription, deconstruction, around sensation, using the hermaphrodite flower as a medium.

I continue my interpretation of gender fluidity, personal emotional projection and the questioning of masculinity. Responding to Yves' words To feel the soul without explanation, without vocabulary, and to represent that feeling. I try to portray the core of gender fluidity with a metaphorical capture of emotion. I am trying to use the hermaphrodite flower as a metaphor to construct and deconstruct the material and print.

I have been influenced by the work of artists such as Derek Jarman, John Dugdale and Robert Mapplethorpe. This has influenced my use of materials for this project and I have experimented with different soft and hard materials to express the concept of gender fluidity and hidden emotions. I see a diversity of emotions in the way they interpret floral work. I try to express undercurrent of latent emotions.


Words / Manifesto, Kuan, 2022
Tangled Series, Ink on Acrylic, Metal Chain, 650x50mm, 2023
TULIP WHIP SERIES, PRINT ON POLYESTER/PVC, PLEATING, 630X20MM, 2023
TANGLED TULIP WHIP, INK ON POLOYESTER, 1550 X 40MM, 2023
FLUID TULIP EXPERIMENTS, PRINT ON PARCHMENT PAPER, KUAN, 2022
TANGLED TULIPS, PRINT ON ACRYLIC, 300 X 45MM, 2023
FLUID TULIP, PRINT ON POLYSTER COMPOSITION WITH PVC, KUAN, 2022
THE ABSENCE OF FLOWER, PRINT WITH POLYESTER, WRAP ON ROSE STÈM, KUAN, 2022
FLUID TULIP, CYANOTYPE WITH PRINT ON ACRYLIC, KUAN, 2022
CONSIDERING THE RELATION AND EFFECT OF COLOUR, CONSTRUCTION, MOTION, AND SPACE ON THE MATERIAL, AS WELL AS CHANGES TO THE MATERI
DRIPPING TULIPS, ACRYLIC, UV PRINT, 210MM×297MM, KUAN
Distorted Tulips, Ink on Acrylic, 2023
Distorted Tulips, Ink on Acrylic, 2023
Distorted Tulips, Ink on Acrylic, 2023
FADED, FRAGMENTED, FALLING HUMANWEAR / TEXTILES DESIGN 2021
LIKE SHADOW, LIKE US HUMANWEAR DESIGN 2021
WITHOUT EMBODIMENT, THE WANDERING EMOTIONS HUMANWEAR DESIGN 2021