Why Yanxiong Lin is in the Design 100

Yanxiong Lin trained first in product design at the China Academy of Art before moving to London for a master’s in design at Central Saint Martins, graduating with distinction. His practice works almost exclusively in wood, washi paper and urushi lacquer, a combination rooted in childhood memories of making paper lanterns with his grandmother in rural Fujian, and that personal logic still runs through everything he makes.

The debut collection it produced, A Window to the Past, traced a life cycle from birth to death across a family of furniture, and recognition followed quickly: The Times named his Last Dance chair a Global Talent of the Year in 2022, and his Birth cabinet was chosen among the top twenty pieces marking Collect’s twentieth anniversary in 2024. Represented by Charles Burnand Gallery, Lin has since carried the same material research into heavier, carved and burned pieces such as Serpentine and Elephant.