Recently, “The 13th International Pattern Creative Design Competition (ICPDC)” concluded successfully at the China Academy of Art. Jin Yiyi, a 2021 doctoral candidate from the Department of Textile and Fashion Design at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, won the “Best Application Award” for her series Joy in Bloom. Professor Zhang Baohua from the Academy was awarded the “Award for Distinguished Teaching Guidance.”
Certificates for the Award-Winning Work and Distinguished Teaching Guidance
The International Pattern Creative Design Competition (ICPDC), initiated in 2010, is jointly organized by the Hangzhou Municipal Government and the China Academy of Art. The competition propagates culture and art through the lens of patterns and serves as a professional platform for cultivating innovative design talents.
Poster of the Competition
This year’s competition, themed “Patterns Narrative,” invited submissions globally, attracting enthusiastic participation from universities, design institutions, and independent designers both in China and abroad. The judging process consisted of preliminary and final rounds, with a prestigious panel of professional designers, industry experts, and university professors ensuring rigorous and standardized evaluation. After multiple rounds of scrutiny, the competition awarded 2 “Best Conceptual Creativity Awards,” 3 “Best Application Awards,” 5 “Excellence Awards,” and 15 “Finalist Awards.”
Experts Evaluating Works at the Exhibition Site (Source: Official ICPDC Promotion)
Scene of the Judging Panel (Source: Official ICPDC Promotion)
Jin Yiyi’s award-winning series, Joy in Bloom, centers on the theme of “Chinese joy culture,” integrating traditional drawn-thread embroidery techniques with modern visual language to explore innovative expressions of traditional culture in a contemporary context. The designs blend botanical elements with the form of the Chinese character “喜” (joy), creating patterns rich in symbolism and intricate in composition. The overarching design features upward-flourishing floral forms, symbolizing celebration, blessings, and the continuity of good fortune.
One of the Works from the Joy in Bloom Series
Detail of the Work
The second piece in the series employs the “red-blue visual illusion” technique. Composed of multiple layers of images, the work reveals a floral pattern when viewed through red lenses and the character “喜” when viewed through blue lenses, offering viewers an interactive and playful aesthetic experience.
The Second Work from the Joy in Bloom Series
The series primarily utilizes the traditional drawn-thread embroidery technique. This craft involves extracting and weaving warp and weft threads from the base fabric, creating a translucent visual effect that embodies both technical beauty and decorative elegance. It breathes modern vitality into drawn-thread embroidery, a form of intangible cultural heritage. Since 2016, Jin Yiyi has been dedicated to researching drawn-thread embroidery, deeply mastering techniques and patterns from different regions. By combining traditional Chinese auspicious motifs with contemporary design concepts, she has created a series of works that are both culturally profound and visually compelling.
The Creative Process of the Work
