Jie Wu, born in China, is a London based innovative material designer, who is adventurous and passionate in exploring the realm of contemporary craft. She graduated with a BA in Textile Design from Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2016, and an MA in Textile Mixed Media from Royal College of Art in 2018.

The designer’s works explore the perceived values of natural and manmade materials in the anthropocene era – the geological age that started when human activity became the dominant influence on the world’s climate. The central premise to her creative practice is to elevate our perceptions of synthetic materials and their potential, arguing that man-made materials can be considered ‘sustainable’ if valued and useful for decades to come.

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Wu’s creative process includes casting a unique type of rosewood in colourful resin. She seeks to preserve the preciousness of this material, by sourcing it from antique works. This wood is found in a remote village in China and has a prolonged growth cycle. Used by the community who did not understand the preciousness of this material, rosewood was used for FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) and wood-burning, since making it a very rare material. Wu casts the rosewood pieces in her chosen material of resin, with distinct marble-like patterns emerging out of the wrestling dance of the organic and the plastic.

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