Tender, 2023-2025
Crocheted and melted nylon, glass marbles, ramie
Sculpture: 20cmL x 21cmW x 40cmH
Video: 1’34”
This vessel was completed in 2023 and rested for 2 years before destruction in 2025.
“Living people
are soft and tender.
Corpses are hard and stiff.
The ten thousand things,
the living grass, the trees,
are soft, pliant.
Dead, they’re dry and brittle.
The hard and great go under. The soft and weak stay up.”
- Hardness (1997), Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, interpreted by Ursula K. Le Guin
Our ability to be soft and feel pain is our strength.
Self, 2025
Crocheted and melted nylon, broken kendi vessel
21cmL x 21cmW x 32cmH
Qiān Jīn: Yi 乙, 2024
Crocheted and melted nylon
52cmH x 20cmW
This vase is part of the installation Qiān Jīn, featuring 4 vases inspired by ceramic glaze and the willow-leaf shaped vase. They are named after the first 4 of 10 Celestial Stems, the ancient Chinese ordinal system.
This vase features an openwork pattern, inspired by those found in celadon ceramics.
Studio photography: Clarence Aw
Qiān Jīn: Jia, 2024
Crocheted and melted nylon
52cmH x 20cmW
This vase is part of the installation Qiān Jīn, featuring 4 vases inspired by ceramic glaze and the willow-leaf shaped vase. They are named after the first 4 of 10 Celestial Stems, the ancient Chinese ordinal system.
The original willow-leaf vases in ancient China were often plain, with a focus on their elegant shape and beautiful glaze colour. This vase has only slight textures on its base and neck, to bring attention to the different reds blooming on its surface.
Studio photography: Clarence Aw
Qiān Jīn: Bing 丙, 2024
Crocheted and melted nylon
56cmH x 25cmW
This vase is part of the installation Qiān Jīn, featuring 4 vases inspired by ceramic glaze and the willow-leaf shaped vase. They are named after the first 4 of 10 Celestial Stems, the ancient Chinese ordinal system.
Creating an impression of stacked layers, the number of stitches in each horizontal row is counted and manipulated to form ‘diamond’ line ‘patterns’ on the surface.
Studio photography: Clarence Aw
Qiān Jīn: Ding 丁, 2024
Crocheted and melted nylon
56cmH x 20cmW
This vase is part of the installation Qiān Jīn, featuring 4 vases inspired by ceramic glaze and the willow-leaf shaped vase. They are named after the first 4 of 10 Celestial Stems, the ancient Chinese ordinal system.
Inspired by relief patterns on Chinese vases, this vase employs a simple cable pattern, similar to those found on knitted garments.
Studio photography: Clarence Aw
Kakomu 囲む, 2025
Crocheted nylon and wool
39cmL x 23cmW x 50cmH
“Hollowed out,
clay makes a pot.
Where the pot’s not,
is where it’s useful.
Cut doors and windows to make a room.
Where the room isn’t
there’s room for you.”
- The Uses of Not (1997), Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, interpreted by Ursula K. Le Guin
This quote suggests the importance of ‘absence’, or the void. Excavating material can create a void; the same shape can be created by building with an awareness of where the void must be. While the final effect might be the same, the process of creation is different as the latter considers a void as a ‘presence’. How do you create ‘emptiness’? This sculpture questions if the ‘hole’ we see is a void, or simply an enclosure of space. A closed loop passes through this space, playing with the idea of dimension; a change in perspective and an open passage might turn solid. Locked around each other, the intersection of two enclosed ‘voids’ question ideas of space and emptiness.
“Nothing is— Look, and it is.”
- We Do Not Work Alone (1953), Kawai Kanjiro (translated by Ueda Yoshiko)
かげ Kagé, 2024
Crocheted nylon and wool, broken kawara tile
32cmL x 17cmW x 35cmH
Inspired by readings of the book ‘In Praise of Shadows’ by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, this work was created to be seen in the dark, revealing its silhouette with light tracing its curves. Where the shadow falls, the mind perceives. The asymmetrical silhouette encourages viewing from different perspectives, suggesting that what we see might not be an entire truth.
Created in Kyoto during a residency, Kagé was filled with broken Kawara (clay roof) tiles of the studio before burning, to give it weight and shape. Having visited the House of Kawai Kanjiro, a potter who co-founded the mingei (folk art) movement, I wanted to create a vessel that had beauty in its imperfection, defying the usual expectations of an ornamental vase.
“Fire in my hand,
A cold ball of Fire,
Fire which has changed its shape
Hidden in the clay
...Pottery”
“The prayer of fire,
T o melt, to melt!
That is the prayer of fire.”
- We Do Not Work Alone (1953), Kawai Kanjiro (translated by Ueda Yoshiko)
Fire that gave life to humankind baked Kawai Kanjiro’s clay vessels; that same flame burns this crocheted vessel all over, setting its final form. The fire devours nylon with its nature, but is meek against the inner wool layer.
In Japanese, ‘Kagé’ can be read as 「影」or 「陰」. Meaning ‘shadow’ or ‘yin’ (in yin-yang) respectively, it hints at an ‘other’ self that always exists within a whole.
Hold, 2024
Crocheted raw silk
This bowl holds nothing but light.
The wild silk used was from a third-generation silk workshop based in Tokamachi, Niigata, which makes silk threads used in kimono fabric. This particular yarn is made from silk of wild silkworms by artisans, and appears gold under light in a dark environment.
100, 2023
Crocheted silk noil and wool, soil from Cognac
18cmL x 18cmW x 40cmH
Commissioned by LOUIS XIII as a multi-media artwork, presented with video
This sculpture is the culmination of 100 transformations. The same yarn used to crochet the 100 iterations before this sculpture takes on character and age over time, the multiple unravellings resulting in the painted portions of yarn spreading out from the core of the sculpture. The paint ‘marks’ certain stitches, and we see where it has travelled away from the stitches beside it, or reunite with them again in different iterations. This reminds me of chance encounters with seemingly random people in our lives.
Linked, 2024
Crocheted ramie dyed with shulang (薯榔), woven shell ginger (月桃)
20cmL x 7cmW x 35cmH
Created during my Art Ripple Taitung residency with Abus Bunun Traditional Weaving Workshop
‘Linked’ is an exploration of breaking and rejoining. Even when the form splits in two, it ultimately joins back into the same one sculpture seamlessly, giving the impression that the holes have worn through the middle as they do in coastal rock formations. The two separate materials seem to have grown around each other with time.
This work was inspired by how Austronesian people still share common roots, despite having walked down different paths and becoming separated by distance and language.
Dignified, 2022
Crocheted and melted nylon
50cmH x 25cmW, Base: 100cmD
From the Unbecoming series, featuring prints and film
Named 'Pompous' before it goes through the melting process, this vase becomes 'Dignified' as the image it creates for itself- symbolised by the outer layer- melts away, revealing an inner core. Embracing its history and true inner being, becoming proud of who it has become- 'Dignified' represents growth and self-esteem.
The silhouette of the vase was inspired by the Korean Maebyeong (plum vase) of the Goryeo dynasty, while the gradient effect created by switching solid yarn colours was inspired by the celadon glaze so sought after in the 10th and 11th century.
Photography by Clarence Aw
Committed, 2022
Crocheted and melted nylon
40cmH x 27cmW, Base: 50cmL x 35cmW
From the Unbecoming series, featuring prints and film
These vases were crocheted separately and then torched by a flame. Intending them to ‘hug’ when the nylon melted and fused, the organic forms were made to lean into each other. Instead, the 2 vases started pulling away from each other with the heat.
Slowly, unexpectedly, one leaned forward, and the other back, looking almost like a pair of lovers tilting imperceptibly as they move into a hug.
Named ‘Clingy’ before the melting process, these 2 organically-shaped vases do end up fusing together in the end, after their romantic dance with the flame- turning into ‘Committed’.
Photography by Clarence Aw
Carefree, 2022
Crocheted and melted nylon
44cmH x 19cmW, Base: 70cmD
From the Unbecoming series, featuring prints and film
Named ‘Frivolous’ before the melting process, this vase seems almost architectural with the strong lines. The excessive folds represent a stubborn desire to be as one pleases, which might be seen as vanity (frivolous), or unapologetic individualism (carefree).
Photography by Clarence Aw
Steadfast, 2022
Crocheted and melted nylon
44cmH x 30cmW, Base: 60cmW x 70cmL
From the Unbecoming series, featuring prints and film
Aptly-named ‘Stubborn’ before the melting process, this anthropomorphic vase could embody both a positive or negative quality; ‘Steadfastness’ can easily be seen as ‘Stubborness’ from a different perspective.
The hole in its shoulder seems almost like a battle wound; a gaping void.
Photography by Clarence Aw
Demure, 2022
Crocheted and melted nylon
42cmH x 21cmW, Base: 96cmD
From the Unbecoming series, featuring prints and film
With its elegant, long neck and textural openwork, Demure is almost reminiscent of Nefertiti; a symbol of feminine strength.
Named ‘Aloof’ before the melting process, this vase could seem distant; yet it could be because it exudes an air of coyness. The doily for this piece features a lot of open work, resulting in a sensual, lace-like effect. After melting, the vase tips to the side, almost as if it was shying away from something; someone.
Photography by Clarence Aw
Vessels of Time, 2021
Crocheted handspun calendar yarn
Set of 3 sculptures
Small: 22cmD x 26cmH
Medium: 28cmL x 12cmW x 30cmH
Large: 17cmW x 42cmH
The yarn was spun out of paper from tear-away calendars, a traditional item in Singapore that is coloured in red and green. These passed days were stripped and spun, held together only by twist. This was first used in the project Fort of Leaves in 2019, then repurposed again into these vessels. Unlike my other nylon vessels, these are slowly crumbling away with the passing of time, as natural fibres do.
Time is a Commodity, 2021
Crocheted nylon yarn
Set of 3 sculptures
Yellow: 13cmW x 23.5cmH x 13cmD,
base: 29cmD x 10cmH
Black: 24cmW x 11cmL x 30cmH,
base: 25cmL x 21cmW
Blue: 15.5cmW x 14cmH x 15.5mmD,
base: 24cmL x 20cmW
First exhibited in Singapore at Art Encounters 2021
