During a residency in Schloss Hollenegg in the summer of 2020, Nienke Hoogvliet and Tim Jongerius noticed that the collection of Schloss Hollenegg contains many objects and artworks that were made in China. Especially the Chinese objects created in the 18th century were considered to be symbols of wealth and refinement. While today the label ‘Made in China’ often has negative associations, with questionable working conditions and large-scale factories. The designers wanted to challenge this assumption and see how something of high quality craft could be produced in full transparency, in China.
Inspired by the Chinese silk tapestries in Schloss Hollenegg (Austria), they designed a wood and silk cabinet. The cabinet is Made in China, literally as well as figuratively. It consists of a mulberry wood frame and embroidered silk organza panels. The cabinet is a transparant representation of the process through which it was made and the seemingly abstract design of the embroidery is, in fact, a map of where silk production takes place.
The production of silk can be sustainable and circular: silkworms eat only mulberry leaves that cannot be sprayed with insecticides or pesticides; the silkworms are eaten; the mulberry wood is suitable for woodwork, and it is also used to produce the heat needed for silk processing.
The designers used only materials from the silk production chain to produce the cabinet so that even byproducts would have value.
The Made in China cabinet is part of the permanent collection of Schloss Hollenegg and was part of the exhibition ‘East to West‘ in May 2022.
We thank the following people who helped to realize this project:
Alice Stori Liechtenstein (Curator)
Hezhi Wang 王贺之 (Chinese project coordinator)
Li Zhang 张丽 (General Coordinator of The Embroidery)
GaiQin Zhang 张改琴 (Embroidery)
YanLi Han韩艳利 (Embroidery)
YingGuo郭英 (Embroidery)
YanYan Liu刘艳艳 （Embroidery assistant）
Junfeng Shi 石俊峰 （Embroidery assistant）
Baiping Liu 刘栢萍 （Silk thread Consultant）
Li Jian 张建 (General Coordinator of The Carpentry)
Changhan Zhou 周长寒 (Carpenter)
Chaohai Che 车朝海 (Carpenter)
Guobing Xiong 熊国兵 （Carpenter Consultant）
Yonghong Shi 史永红 （Carpenter Consultant）
Weihong Li 李卫红 (Painter)
Man Yang 杨曼 (Translator)
Xiaoyan Fee 费晓妍 （Translator）
Peijin Tang 唐培金 （International Freight Agent ）
Lei Zeng曾磊 （Internal Transport Coordination）
Pengfei Zhu 朱鹏飞 （National Transport) (48小时内-2000公里 48h-2000km）
Zhengtao Li 李振涛 （Transportation Consultant）
Zhizhong Xue 薛智中 （Transportation Consultant）
Tao Wei 魏涛 （Embroidery & Carpentry Assistance）
Zhihui Zhang 张志辉 （Embroidery & Historic Culture）
Xujing Zuo 左旭晶 （Embroidery & Historic Culture）
Nienke Hoogvliet (Designer)
Tim Jongerius (Designer)
Laura Ajola (Process movie)
Cedric Alfonsi (Designer)
Nienke Boonekamp (Project management assistance)
Sofie Byriel (Research and embroidery design)
Mathilde Chazal (Concept research)
Evy Cornelissen (Research and embroidery design)
Juliette Corrieu (Research and embroidery design)
Annelie Dalglish (Research and exhibition design)
Adriana Duarte-Costa (Concept research)
Aafje van Grieken (Research and design)
Lorenzo Pedini (Technical design assistant)
Marle Schoustra (Concept research)
Lotte van Uittert (Product photography)
Lianne Vreezen (Research and exhibition design)
