Yangning Zhang - China

Yangning Zhang

Designer biography:

Born in China and graduate of the London College of Fashion, I use jewelry as a medium to explore the expressive possibilities of multi-material compositions and the profound connections between "collective memory" and "the rituals of adornment." Beyond crafting wearable treasures, I design public art installations that facilitate a dialogue between body and space, transforming jewelry into fluid symbols of emotion. My work challenges traditional notions of adornment, inviting interaction and redefining the relationship between object, wearer, and community.

Collection concept: 

Everyone wonders what the future holds. "Free Will and Future Foretelling" is an exploration of the paradoxical relationship between free will and precognition. Using jewelry as a visual language, I conducted an experiment where participants drew cards simulating uncertain futures, then were told their "predicted" outcomes—despite possessing free will. Their responses were categorized into four types, with extracted visual motifs later translated into jewelry design, embodying the tension between choice and destiny. Traditionally, jewelry evokes images of wearable circular adornments. To challenge this within a free-will framework, I encased my pieces in blind boxes—symbolizing autonomy, where the wearer decides the jewelry’s final form. Conversely, transparent boxes represent foresight, revealing how preconceptions rigidify our vision of adornment. The Blind Box Jewelry and Revealed Jewelry series thus become my dialectical interpretation: one celebrates the chaos of self-determination, the other critiques the illusions of predictability.