





Yichen Li 李依宸
Wood sculptor
Shanghai, China
Contemplative walks through carved spaces
- Yichen's carved screen partitions turn garden aesthetics into walkable spaces
- She was a finalist for the UK Heritage Crafts Woodworker of the Year Award in 2023
- By restoring antique fragments, she keeps traditional handcraft memory alive
Yichen Li transforms salvaged Ming Dynasty wood into carved screens that act as architectural bridges between space and human movement. She received her MA in sculpture from the Royal College of Art and is currently a practitioner of Intangible Cultural Heritage wood carving. "My practice treats wood as a silent chronicle of time," she explains. Reinterpreting classical concealment and revelation, her screens evolve from shielding to porous openness. Her work has been exhibited worldwide and is held in collections including LVMH Group, X Museum and Luozhongli Museum. Yichen also received the 2025 V Magazine China Extraordinary Artist of the Year Award and the 2024 NEXT Prize Runner-up Award in Sculpture Design.
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INTERVIEW
My inspiration stems from childhood memories. Standing behind screen partitions, I watched light pass through gaps and figures blur beyond. This sheltered yet connected state became the origin for my exploration of space and the dialogue between hidden and revealed.
I hope to translate the logic of screens and gardens into interactive spaces that shift with people's movements. I use openwork carving to open gaps, allowing light and shadow to move through the room. By cutting and reassembling fragments of old wood, I allow history and cultural memory to breathe with a renewed force and quiet radiance.
In a noisy world, I use the indirect concealment of screens, together with the slow swaying of swings and wooden horses, to carve out a shelter where one can pause. With a quiet, skeletal strength, my work reflects moments of fracture and uncertainty. I want to invite viewers to pause, move through the space, and reconnect with their most truthful selves.
I love the hard work of giving shape to raw, wordless feelings. It gives me the ability to hold onto something tangible as time slips away. With every cut, the wood resists with a resilient disobedience that makes me feel vividly alive. I am drawn to the moment when the final layer of lacquer reveals the grain beneath.
Yichen Li 李依宸
Wood sculptor
Shanghai, China
ADDRESS
Address upon request, Shanghai, China
AVAILABILITY
By appointment only
LANGUAGES
Chinese, English
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