Meet the 2025 Semi-finalists

Yi Ding

Redress Design Award

  • 2026
 Finalist

Meet The Designer

“With my unique feminine perspective, I aim to translate ancient cultures, embracing technological innovation while taking on long-term social responsibility and a mission for cultural dissemination.”
Yi Ding
“With my unique feminine perspective, I aim to translate ancient cultures, embracing technological innovation while taking on long-term social responsibility and a mission for cultural dissemination.”
Yi Ding

Bio

Yi Ding is a Finalist of the Redress Design Award 2026. She holds a master’s degree in Knitwear Design from Institut Français de la Mode, Paris, France.

Region

  • Chinese Mainland, France

Collection

  • Womenswear

Design Techniques

  • Zero Waste

Redress Design Award Collection

Yi’s Redress Design Award collection, ‘Faded Paper’, transforms Chinese paper-cutting from a symbol of patriarchal control into a statement of strength. Her collection reinvents folk motifs through 3D suspended jacquard knitwear and zero-waste paper cutting, offering a tribute to past and present. Yi uses recyclable and deadstock yarns, dyed using water-free technology. Her ‘paper-cut’ knit designs are created through integrated computer programming, then hand-cut to achieve a three-dimensional paper-cut visual effect, generating no waste during the cutting process.

Q&A with the designer

For me, sustainable fashion is a rational starting point to show my mission behind the story, going beyond personal perspectives.

I always start my toile-making with materials from street markets or vintage shops, instead of buying new fabrics. After I finalise the shape, I’ll look for deadstock yarns, degradable yarns or natural-fibre yarns as materials for knitting, and use leftover materials to make my accessories.

I use partial knitting for all my skirt patterns. It’s like a zero-waste way to knit everything in one piece, following the idea of geometric paper-cutting folding methods, bringing the fragile paper artwork to vivid life.

I hope to find my audience and bring more fun visions to the fashion industry. And I hope to continue evolving my design language by infusing a new feminine perspective into the modernisation of intangible cultural heritage crafts. As a knitwear designer, I believe that sustainable design is not just about employing smart, eco-friendly practices; it also demands a long-term, forward-looking vision and a commitment to cultural sustainability.

My smartphone—it saves quite a lot of fun memories inside.

My project is called ‘Faded Paper’. It transforms Chinese paper-cutting from a symbol of patriarchal control into a statement of strength. By inventing a 3D suspended knitwear vision and zero-waste paper-cutting methodology, I create a strong, nostalgic, and dreamy narrative of the women’s spirits from my childhood memories.

Inspired by my mother's resilience and the fight for independence, I reinvent folk motifs through 3D suspended jacquard, where lace-like cuts appear to float untethered. Each thread, hand-cut and layered, challenges tradition while honouring its roots. A tribute to past and present, bound by craft but never confined.

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