Designer Story - Victoria Tang Owen

Through her recently launched project Victoria Tang Studio, the Hong Kong-based multidisciplinary creative pays homage to Chinese art and craft with modern collaborations that reinvent the idea of ‘Made in China’

Victoria Tang-Owen is one of those creatives whose talents stretch beyond labels. A Central Saint Martins graduate, Tang studied disciplines ranging from photography and fashion to animation and graphic design. After several years working in different roles, the London-born, Hong Kong-raised designer took over the creative direction of her father’s brand Shanghai Tang, overseeing the development of all products from home accessories to children’s clothing. In 2015 she founded multidisciplinary agency Thirty30 Creative with her husband and business partner. ‘When people ask me what I do, I say that I’m a creative person,’ Tang says. ‘I love to create no matter the outlet, that’s my nature.’

When she left her role at Shanghai Tang in late 2019, she had big projects of her own in mind. Called upon by Dior Men’s artistic director Kim Jones — her friend and mentor for many years — Tang collaborated with the French label on a portion of its 2021 pre-fall collection. Over a year, she worked with Dior’s design team to create and produce a series of menswear pieces embroidered with artworks by LA-based artist Kenny Scharf. The process, she explains, involved everything from choosing the right embroidery technique to finding the Chinese artisans who worked on the pieces. ‘We worked with 30 embroiderers who have a combined experience of a thousand years,’ she says. ‘Dior really takes craft to the next level. If it’s not perfect, it’s not couture.’

Made by hand using a 2,000-year-old Qing Dynasty embroidery technique traditionally employed for royal garments, the pieces co-produced by Tang were crafted using almost 300 colours of woven silk yarn and took up to 7,000 hours of work per piece. ‘A lot of people say that ‘Made in China’ is bad quality, but it’s really not,’ says Tang. ‘What I and many of my Chinese designer peers want is to break that stigma.’

The collaboration marked the debut of Victoria Tang Studio, a new collaborative platform the designer launched in 2020. ‘My interest really lies in creative conversations. I love to work with different people, working with different brands and understanding their ethos,’ Tang says. ‘I’m always learning and will always want to learn, but I know that I won’t be able to learn on my own, and I don’t want to.’

Focusing on projects that highlight and repurpose ancient Chinese techniques for contemporary design, Tang’s new initiative is driven by her heritage and areas of expertise. ‘I’ll always reference Chinese art, culture and craft in my projects because that’s where my interests lie,’ she says. ‘It’s my point of difference, my experience and where I think I can add value.’

Tang’s recent Christmas tree collaboration with Hong Kong hotel The Upper House echoes the same philosophy. Every year, the hotel works with a designer to create a unique Christmas tree display in its lobby. Drawing on her creative background, Tang designed an installation made of seven triangular panels that reinterpret the shape of a traditional Christmas tree. Each wood-framed silk panel is embroidered with patterns made using a centuries-old hand-twisted gold thread technique that was once used to embellish the robes of Chinese emperors. ‘I had a very clear vision of the feeling I wanted to convey with the final product. I wanted something tactile and textured that speaks to Chinese tradition but that wasn’t traditional — a tree that lives beyond just Christmas and becomes something sustainable,’ she explains. The piece was auctioned after the Christmas period, with all proceeds going to the Hong Kong Down Syndrome Association, of which Tang is the president.

With Victoria Tang Studio, the designer has created a platform dedicated to projects she’s passionate about. But her underlying motive, she says, is rooted in the collaborative power of design. ‘It’s not about me, it’s about the creative community that we all live for,’ she says. ‘I don’t think my voice is loud enough to make a difference on my own, but collectively, as a creative hub, I think it’s something much more powerful to inspire people.’

Text / Nina Milhaud