Tanchen Studio Takes An Investigative Approach To Textile Making
Plus: expect an upcoming collaboration with Shushu/Tong from this Singapore-based and Shanghai-based textile studio.
While the craft of weaving needs no introduction these days, its current evolution is worth noting. Cue the renewed interest in woven textures at Bottega Veneta under new creative director Matthieu Blazy. And as technology fuses more and more with fashion, it is not unusual to find these highly tactile fabrics incorporating materials like optical fibres that can make garments glow.
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For the almost three-year-old textile label Tanchen Studio, its focus on artisanal workmanship is coupled with an investigative approach taken by its co-founders. One of the label’s signature pieces is the 0/0 wine bag. The hand-knotted bag stretches to reveal and take on the shape of the object it holds – be it wine or other items. It’s quite the fashion statement too – a quick look on the brand's Instagram page shows how the versatile piece is easily paired with most OOTDs.
Sanchia Tan (left) and Amber Chen of Tanchen Studio.
Another popular item is its series of colourful coasters, which serve as playful additions to any table setting. These are hand-dyed and handwoven in small batches by a small village of female weavers in China, with each coaster made using cotton warp and linen weft.
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The brand is the brainchild of Nanjing native Amber Chen, 30, and Singaporean Sanchia Tan, 28. The former studied at Singapore’s Raffles Institute of Design and now lives in Shanghai. The duo met at art college Central Saint Martins in London, where they studied textile design, specialising in weaving.
Tanchen Studio's rugs and coasters enliven the living space.
After graduating in 2016, Chen pursued her Masters at London’s Royal College of Art studying woven textiles, while Tan worked for a menswear weave studio there. In Sep 2019, they decided to team up and launch Tanchen Studio. “The name is a play on both our surnames and is actually pronounced 'tension' − a common terminology used in weaving,” explains Tan who is based here.
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The studio’s first-ever project was a commissioned piece for Wang Haoming, a fashion designer in Shanghai. The duo upcycled over 100kg of his deadstock fabric from past season collections, by cutting them into strips to be woven as weft. They then spent three months creating a 3m by 6m woven tapestry, which was then shipped and installed as a changing room at Wang’s flagship store in Beijing in Jan 2020.
Tanchen Studio create functional textiles that can be used as autonomous and spatial elements within a living space.
The studio’s first-ever project was a commissioned piece for Wang Haoming, a fashion designer in Shanghai. The duo upcycled over 100kg of his deadstock fabric from past season collections, by cutting them into strips to be woven as weft. They then spent three months creating a 3m by 6m woven tapestry, which was then shipped and installed as a changing room at Wang’s flagship store in Beijing in Jan 2020.
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Since then, Tanchen Studio has seen even more success, with collaborations and original works now part of their portfolio. “We have studios in both cities, so we’re constantly communicating and designing together remotely (mostly via video calls). It gets quite tricky sometimes and that’s why we spend a long time creating each collection,” says Tan.
Here, she chats with us about the duo’s passion for weaving, their approach to textiles and how they incorporate a circular philosophy in their work
How would you describe your practice?
"Tanchen Studio is a collaborative project that focuses on textiles as the basis of our practice. From our studios based in Singapore and Shanghai, we create functional textiles that can be used as autonomous and spatial elements within a living space. We always aim to source and design mindfully, as we celebrate the potential of materials, craft and techniques."
Why did you both decide to set up the studio?
"We initially wanted to be more project-based and do larger scale installation pieces. But when the pandemic hit, we had to rethink and adapt. So we started having a bit of fun, experimenting and creating smaller objects. This was all with the intention of creating accessible, functional textiles."
You’ve described yourself as weavers on your IG, but I understand you incorporate other textile-making techniques as well. What do these include?
"We are trained as weavers but we love exploring all aspects of textile-making and manipulation. With each product we create, we try to highlight a textile technique. Our 0/0 wine bags are hand-knotted, our coasters (pictured) are hand dyed and handwoven and our SandDrift rug collection is hand tufted."
What do you love about weaving?
"Its endless possibilities and that it is constantly a learning process. It’s so methodical yet fluid at the same time. A unique quality about weaving is how it lives simultaneously as both an image and object, because you’re constructing an image and constructing the substrate that holds it simultaneously. As opposed to screenprinting or painting where the image is applied on top of a surface, we’re bound by a framework that naturally makes a grid from warp-and-weft crossing."
How would you describe the textile-making scene in Singapore?
"Pretty exciting and definitely growing! There has been a surge in studios that specialise in hand tufting workshops as well as needle punch and indigo dyeing. We really like what Project Coal is doing − they create beautiful textiles that explore natural dyes and fibres. We also really admire Ng Si Ying’s (@atinymaker) investigative process of rattan as material."
Tell us more about your ‘process-based’ approach to textiles, which you mentioned on your site. What exactly does this entail?
"Everything we design at Tanchen Studio starts with an observation on materials. We follow our curiosity by conducting hands-on experiments with various materials and textile-making techniques. We start to build up a library of ideas and methods which are tested, analysed, and archived. Sometimes we find ourselves headed in a different direction from where we started, and that’s okay. We hit dead ends and leave ideas on the shelf for future projects and development.
Behind each object we create is a combination of material experiments and countless handmade prototypes (before production). We’re also usually working on a few projects simultaneously and therefore we’re always in the process of conceptualising, adjusting and fine-tuning various products in different stages, from prototype to the final product."
Who or what inspires your work?
"Ultimately, we want to create functional textiles and objects that people can enjoy using and touching. We aim to showcase the beauty of traditional craftsmanship through modern and playful reinterpretations. We’re inspired by the everyday, common materials and we try to subvert whatever is expected of it – mixing the familiar with a bit of unfamiliarity.
Anni Albers and Gunta Stolzl are two female Bauhuas weavers we really look up to. Their mastery of double cloth and complex weave constructions is truly amazing.
Also, textile designer Hella Jongerius. Her work investigates the cultural and spiritual meanings of weaving and explores how to design a sustainable future through this traditional craft. She is always pushing the boundaries of weaving and her exploration of three-dimensional weaving is really inspiring."
You also incorporate the ethos of sustainability into your work. Tell us more about that.
"Our guiding principle is to create objects that last. We believe that circular practices can be realised in daily life as much as in our creative and production processes.
We start off all our prototypes by using deadstock or recycled materials that we source from trimming markets. Our yarns are also measured and cut to ensure that there is minimal wastage of scraps during production. We reuse our scrap yarns to tie on all our labels and they’re used in our packaging as well.
We also try to source our materials mindfully. For example, we use 100 per cent New Zealand Wool for our hand-tufted rugs. Its natural and biodegradable qualities make it a sustainable alternative to synthetic fibres and it’s also extremely durable."
One of your highlight collections is the 0/0 wine bag. How did that idea come about?
"Chen and I are both wine lovers and we noticed that there were so many single-use plastic or paper bags lying around whenever we went to a friend’s place or hosted dinner parties. So we decided to make our own reusable bag.
We started conducting workshops to teach people how to hand knot a bag and eventually people started asking if they could buy one. Each bag takes about four hours to make and consists of over 200 knots!
Apart from wine bottles, our 0/0 bag (pictured) basically takes on the shape of whatever vessel you put in it, such as a water bottle, fruits or beer cans. During the recent Chinese New Year period, we saw many of our customers reusing their bags by putting oranges in it."
What are some of your other favourite products/ collections?
"We spent about eight months creating our SandDrift rug collection (pictured) because we wanted to capture the irregular contours and colours of the desert through transitional shades and tones. It remains very special to us because it was conceived during the first lockdown here in Singapore, and it was quite a fun challenge to give a three-dimensional feel to an otherwise flat surface."
Amongst your commissioned pieces and collaborations, which ones stood out?
"A collaboration we were really excited about was with Gut Oggau, one of our favourite natural wine producers from Austria. We created an exclusive 0/0 bag in both 0.75l and magnum sizes for them in May 2021.
Another fun project was our collaboration with WallpaperStore*. We designed two exclusive SandDrift rugs for them for the opening of their flagship store in Shanghai in January 2022."
You’ve also done workshops on weaving in the past. Any plans to bring them back?
"Our last weaving workshop in Singapore was actually in January 2020 at Singapore Art Week. Workshops have been ongoing in Shanghai; we did one with (fragrance brand) Diptyque launching their holiday collection in December, and a couple more with other brands and
publications last year. We’re definitely planning to conduct more workshops in Singapore this year."
What are your future plans, in terms of new collaborations or product launches?
"We are about to launch a new product soon. It’ll be our first furniture piece, the Mazha Stool (pictured). Inspired by scenes of the elderly gathering along the streets in Shanghai, we designed it to capture the communal spirit of afternoon tea in the city. It is made out of a foldable aluminium frame with a detachable handwoven seat pad, making it compact and portable.
We’ll also be showing at the Tube Showroom during Shanghai Fashion Week 2022 in March. We have a couple of interesting collaborations lined up this year too, with Noa Hotel and Shanghai-based fashion label ShuShu/Tong."
Where can people find your products?
"All our products are available on our website, and we have a WeChat store for buyers based in China. We’re also stocked in a few physical stores in Shanghai, like WallpaperStore*, The Tavern, Tsutaya bookstore, The Editor, Proche, The Wine Detective and more. Our showroom is open by appointment only, but we have open studios from time to time."