Elaine Yan Ling Ng, founder of THE FABRICK LAB, brings together textiles, electronics, biomimicry, interiors and installations. Elaine is a British Chinese visionary multi-media artist and a graduate of Central Saint Martins in London where she earned her MA Design in Textile Futures with distinction. Elaine, also known as the ‘techno fairy’ by Elle Deco, is a TED fellow and is globally recognized, having worked with international design companies such as Nissan Design Europe and Nokia Design Beijing with multiple design awards. In 2015, Elaine became the recipient of the Swarovski Designers of the Future Award, which acknowledges emerging studios and designers who are actively expanding design culture through experimentation with cutting-edge technologies. As part of the collaboration with Swarovski, Elaine unveiled “Sundew” at last year’s Design Miami/Basel, a kinetic creation inspired by the exotic and carnivorous Sundew plant. This incredible installation was also exhibited in Art Central Hong Kong 2016. Her magical approach towards materials has been described by Wired UK as ‘The Chinese designer creates materials that move and grow like trees – but faster.’

 

Her work has been exhibited at V&A and Science Museum in London, and Textiel Museum, Tilburg, Harbour Front Centre in Toronto, Espace EDF Art Foundation in Paris and Wuhao, Beijing, and Moleskine global galleries. Her art and design research has been widely featured internationally including Wired UK, Elle Decoration China, Surface Asia, AD Italia, AD China, China Daily, Yazter and Core 77 and many more.  Elaine has as well been invited to present at some of the world’s most prestigious conferences including TED, DOIT (Delivering Innovation for Tomorrow) Taiwan, Shape Shifting in New Zealand, as well as Nature Now Symposium, Ctanz, TePaPa Museum 2016. Her distinctive design approach is continuously being documented in various books including Digital Jacquard Design, Material exploration and Fashion Processes.

 

As a grant recipient of Hong Kong Design Trust, her feature project includes creating an on-going textile experimentation, a synergy between traditional craft and modern understanding of material. Through visiting Guizhou in South China, working with local weavers, Elaine is designing an efficient work model with the Guizhou villagers. This in return aims to achieve the final goal of skill exchange and can help the villagers to create a sustainable way of living through making exquisite craft for the urban consumers.