About Spring Creators
‘Spring Creators 创造·春’ is TONG Global’s annual program dedicated to supporting five young Chinese talents around the world in their personal projects across music, fashion design, art, digital animation and more. Each creator receives £500 in funding. Throughout the year, we will be keeping in close contact with our creators as they manifest their ambitions. Upon completion at the end of the year, TONG will provide a platform to showcase all projects alongside opportunities to work on commercial briefs.
As an organisation that informs and connects others with Chinese society and culture, we understand that many at the beginning of their journey are currently facing challenges and setbacks.
Introducing our 2023 Spring Creators:
Leyu Li
Leyu Li is a multi-disciplinary and critical designer, currently based in London. Her research crosses the boundaries between Design, Sociology and Gastronomy. Food and Future drive and define her critical and interaction design practice. She utilises food as a medium to raise questions about greater issues, challenge people’s existing perceptions and provoke public dialogue and discourse about future food. She graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London’s BA Design in 2022 with a First-Class Honours Degree.
Her “cM Donald’s” was featured in the design publication DAMN° Magazine and independent food platforms Finger Food Mag. She was also invited to exhibit Donald’s at design company ARUP and academic institutions like Goldsmiths and RCA. As an extension of the cM Donald’s project, the Mulus Guide rebrands “Food as medicine”, integrating Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) belief with fine dining. Through designing alternative exquisite dishes, cM Donald’s brings TCM to the fast food restaurant experience.
Yuwei Jiang
Yuwei Jiang is a multi-media independent filmmaker and artist born in Wuhan, China. In 2018, she attended FAMU in Prague and directed her first experimental film Fishbowl. She received her B.A. joint major degree in Theater and Film from Middlebury College in the US in 2019. She received a “Distinction” in M.A. Directing at Metfilm School in London in 2022. As an actress, she starred in Changfeng Town (2019) and Virgin Blue (2021). Both films received awards and nominations from various international festivals. She recently received another “Distinction” in MA Interaction Design at the University of the Arts London.
The second theme of her work reflects on the zeitgeist of global neoliberalism and China’s role in this age. Her recent performance art project Baimax (2022) explores the relationship between anonymity and violence in the context of China’s public health strategy in the Covid-19 pandemic, where protective suits and face masks grant public health personnel an anonymity and therefore an extra power, resulting in the abuse of violence on citizens.
We are living in a post-truth era. People only want to believe the truth they want to believe, whereas the so-called “truth” is easily tampered with by digital techniques. However, Yuwei’s works challenges this common critique and the vulgar pursuit of the singular “truth”. She hopes that in the same work, different audiences can discover different truths for themselves.
Tianan Ding
Tianan creates with experimental thinking. The multicultural experience of being born in China but studying and living in London has influenced her designs. Through constructing garments and materials as an art language, she deconstructs the street culture and menswear narrative from the perspective of a Chinese female. She designs Humanwear. With her brand ALA TIANAN set up during the global pandemic and the identity movement, Tianan’s work focuses on ‘Humanity’ – cultural identities, mental health issues, opinions – the brand is a sharing story written by all the wearers.
Tianan’s work is “vision and audacity beyond the concept of fashion branding, where responsibility, creativity, awareness, craftsmanship and passion combine to form a unique artistic project.” – Sara Sozzani Maino, Deputy Director, Vogue Italia
Ke Peng
Ke Peng(PK) is a London-based multidisciplinary artist who is currently pursuing an MA in Information Experience Design at the Royal College of Art. Ke’s artistic practice encompasses a range of mediums, from audiovisual installations and performances to digital arts, aiming to make the invisible manifest – pushing the boundaries between physical and digital realms.
Her fusion of art and science explores the complex interplay between materiality, motion, sound, vibration, and light. Ke’s work has been exhibited and performed at international events, including The Centre Pompidou IRCAM Forum, IKLECTIK Artlab, Media Art Nexus, and Strawberry Music Festival. Influenced by the philosophical concepts of new materialism, vibrant matter, and interconnectedness, Ke’s work delves deep into the invisible world of science phenomena and active matter, creating an otherworldly sensory experience that reveals the hidden patterns and movements of the world around us.
Through her art, Ke aims to make the invisible manifest, challenging our perception of the world and pushing the boundaries between physical and digital realms. Her work is a fusion of art and science, elegantly exploring the complex interplay between materiality, motion, sound, vibration, and light. Her work has been exhibited and performed at various international events, including The Centre Pompidou IRCAM Forum (FR), OXO Tower (UK), IKLECTIK Artlab (UK), Cromwell Place (UK), Ten Square (SG), Media Art Nexus (SG), SXSW (US), and Strawberry Music Festival (CN).
Fang Canyu
FANG CANYU (Jacob) is a graphic designer based in Guangzhou, China and London, UK. Jacob is currently studying Ba(hons) Graphic and Media Design at the London College of Communication, UAL. Jacob, currently in his fifth year of studies, works with type-based graphic design including typography, editorial and typeface design. His work takes inspiration from rich story backgrounds and materials.
