YDMD Studio: unexpected encounters with materials, functions, technologies and meanings

YDMD is a Beijing based studio that co-founded by four graduates from Royal College of Art - Min Zhong, Meng Yang, Ming Zhao and Chong Shi. Materials, functions, technologies and meanings encountering, they make the unexpected expectations. Their works are filled with combination, critical thinkings, humour and speculation. Traditional materials and crafts are post positioned as secondary tools for concepts here, while the functionality of objects become ‘jokes’, letting their works filled the possibilities of the future of craft with fantastic ideas.

The Ruin Collection - Candlesticks No.1, brass/brick, 2017

Interdisciplinary backgrounds endow YDMD with creative and surprising approaches to making. They solve problems in the meantime of making new ones. They are interested in both highly experimental artistic explorations and the exciting potentials hidden in industries and social rules.

The Ruin Collection - Vase No.1, brass/brick, 2017

YDMD established their work 'Lost One of the Pair' in 2014, it was inspired by a single Victorian candlestick, through a 3D scanning, 3D printing, and casting process, Lost One of the Pair was made to create a dramatic dialogue in between of modern technologies and the tradition of daily functional objects. The work was shown as part of our showcase at GRASSIMESSE 2019.

Lost One of the Pair, pewter/brass candlestick, 2014

YDMD keeps itself active in both domestic and international stages. Their works had won Goldsmiths’ Craftsmanship & Design Awards twice, shortlisted by Inches Carr Scottish Craft Awards, Theo Fennell x Royal College of Art Best in Silver Award. Their works have been showed in exhibitions including Grassimesse, Three Paths-Academic Nominated  Exhibition of China’s Contemporary Craft, London Design Festival, London Craft Week, London Jewellery Week, Schmuck, Beijing Design Festival, Beijing CIGE Expo.

Besides, YDMD has also been invited to many international universities and art institutions for lectures and workshop teaching include: Sheffield Hallam University, Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design, Edinburgh College of Art, the Goldsmith Center, China Ministry of Culture Talent Center, the Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, Nanjing University of the Arts, Hubei Academy of Fine Arts, Yunnan Art University, China University of Geosciences and Beijing University of Technology.

Image Source: YDMD Studio