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Craft and Digital Technology Combined: YenTing Cho’s Stunning Textile Designs Make Waves on the International Stage

2018-10-15
Craft and Digital Technology Combined: YenTing Cho’s Stunning Textile Designs Make Waves on the International Stage

▲ Photo credit: Yen-Ting Cho.

What products are selected for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s (SFMOMA) renowned retail Store? We live in the digital age, and digital is also the trend of art and design today. Taiwanese artist and designer Yen-Ting Cho, founder of YenTing Cho Studio and eponymous brand YenTing Cho, designs stylish accessories with patterns that are generated through his own interactive software. The YenTing Cho luxury scarf collection has been sold through the Museum of Art and Design (MAD) Store in New York since 2017, and was first retailed by the SFMOMA Store in San Francisco this summer!

▲ Photo credit: Yen-Ting Cho.

The SFMOMA Store initially ordered 12 scarves in three YenTing Cho patterns. A month after going on sale in August 2018, two patterns sold out, and so the Store has ordered 30 more scarves for retail. It took YenTing Cho Studio a year from first meeting SFMOMA buyers to actually selling YenTing Cho scarves in the Store. And this wait is worth it.
Meanwhile, the New York Museum of Art and Design highlights the uniqueness of the product, with emphasis on craftsmanship and unique design. In addition to the product display, the store will introduce the designer, Yen-Ting Cho.

▲ Photo credit: Yen-Ting Cho.

In addition to the invitation of the renowned SFMOMA and MAD stores in the USA, YenTing Cho Studio is actively developing export opportunities across the world and also seeking opportunities for brand exposure. Yen-Ting Cho, the founder of the Studio and design director of the brand, said that, whilst in Paris at the end of summer 2018, he met the owner of an exclusive fashion accessory boutique located in the Marais district of Paris. YenTing Cho scarves were introduced to the Paris boutique and they sold out within a week, leading to two subsequent reorders to coincide with Paris Fashion Week (September/October 2018) and the 2018 fall/winter season.

▲ Photo credit: Yen-Ting Cho.

The unique feature of YenTing Cho products is the application of digitally-designed patterns. All of the patterns used by the brand are created with the ‘MovISee’ software researched and developed by Dr. Cho. The software disassembles digital data (for example, photos, films) selected by the design team, and then creates special patterns by arranging parameters. With the help of this digital software, YenTing Cho Studio elegantly abstracts images and interprets the visual image in a completely different way. The patterns are currently applied to pure wool and silk to produce luxury and highly individualistic scarves suitable for both women and men.

▲ Photo credit: Yen-Ting Cho.

In order to generate international design and business collaboration and partnerships, the YenTing Cho brand has busy design studios in both Tainan and London. The head office in London primarily conducts product development and marketing, whilst the studio in Tainan combines design and business operations with teaching and knowledge transfer from Yen-Ting Cho, who is a Professor of Design at NCKU. Several students from the NCKU Institute of Creation, Architecture, and Engineering have joined the YenTing Cho team to learn design practice and brand management.
For future product development and design, the YenTing Cho Studio will adopt the theme of series research and development, investigate international culture and general style, let buyers and consumers directly understand the story behind different patterns, and explore emerging markets for export.

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