By: Edwina Lam | Photo by: Sanchia Lau
Sanchia Lau is a post-90s Macau artist who studied oil painting at the Central Academy of Fine Arts for eight years, during which time she had the opportunity to observe a wide variety of art and meet many talented artists.
“I got a lot of inspiration whilst studying in Beijing,” she says. “My knowledge of fine arts helps me have a different perspective on fashion design; my designs can be more artistic and avant-garde . . .”
While studying fine arts Lau discovered her enthusiasm for fashion design.
Elsa Schparellli is one of her favourite fashion designers, she says, and is the person who influences her design philosophy a lot, adding: “ I’m fascinated by the time Elsa Schparellli collaborated with Dali.”
To perfect the skills of fashion design, she went to the UK to study textile and fashion design at the world renowned Central Saint Martin’s College.
While studying in the UK, she learned more creative techniques, observing: “Teachers there pay more attention to our personality and experience, then encourage us to explore our unique angle and possibilities. It’s like there’s a ball which we get used to facing in the front but with their guidance I started to discover different angles.”
After studying art and design, Sanchia found that she loved to present her own perspectives on art by combining different forms of art, saying: “Not many people can afford a one hundred million dollar sofa made by Picasso, but we can have it on the clothes we wear.”
Since then, she started to devote her enthusiasm to cross-disciplinary art. “I was impacted by an idea from Cristobal Balenciaga, that a fashion designer should be a kind of sculptor and painter who uses textiles and colours to create art,” she says. “I want to combine the different characteristics of different artists and textile design to create a new angle of fashion design.”
To date, this young artist has held many cross-disciplinary art exhibitions in London, Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau and various other cities which have been well received by the public. Her Barbie collection – Erotic Dream in the Garden – inspired by sculpturing was listed as one of most important competition entries of RAHAM & Brown I – dott. This collection is based upon the different love states of girls, taking inspiration from love songs and poems. The artist reduces the size of her children’s garments collection and puts them on Barbie dolls.
In order to express her unique perspectives on fashion and art, Lau founded her own fashion brand Sanchia Lau.
“Clothes are not only wearable textiles but an important way to present urban culture and fashion,” she believes. The concept of the brand, in fact, is to employ different textiles to present female’s emotions and urban art. “I want to use the clothes and textiles of these mediums to combine urban artistic elements to express hidden emotions from females’ angles.”
Now the brands comprise of outfits, handbags, tableware and an array of lifestyle products.
In June, she collaborated with 10 artists to launch an array of events in the first coastal cultural centre of Zhuhai – Coastpark – featuring exhibition, workshops and lecture.
This young artist is also enthusiastic about children’s education, and last week she delivered a lecture with artists Lu Zhengyuan and Cai Guo Jie sharing their professional experiences about crossing borders art forms. On the same day, Sanchia showcased her latest crossing border work featuring a beautiful afternoon tea set. Featuring screen paintings, flowers and her designed plates and cups, she has conjured up a feast certain to satiate both the palate and the eye.
