Didi NG Wing Yin Wood to incite textile folds
Pleats vase no.7 by Hong Kong-Bern, Helsinki-based artist Didi is one of the finalists for NG Wing Yin 2025 Layeve Crafts Award. Spazio presented by nobile and currently looks as part of the nature of the wood group exhibition, the work combines the work Woodcraft, statueAnd functional design surface and material in an integrated expression of honesty.
The vase is part of the artist’s large pleats collection, including benches, chairs, a side table, a screen and a umbrella holder. Each piece is carved by hand with solid wood, often shaped into pieces of ash or cedar selected from local finish sources, and sculpture furniture pieces that cause tenderness of cloth folds. Instead of manipulating wood through steam or bending, the surface itself becomes a site of change. The sister creates the presence of plates by carving directly into the material, manifesting the inner grains and reversing the normal external form of the wood.
Didi NG Wing Yin, Plates Wase No. 7, Lowe Craft Prize 2025 | Image etiquette Lowewe foundation
The Plate Collection: A Celebration of Wood Grain
With pleats collection, artist Didi began with a simple observation of irregular beauty of the split surface of the splitting surface of the sister NG Wing Yin. Drawing from the origin, pleats highlight the grains working in the collection that is usually hidden, arranging it outwards as a primary visual and touch element. By brushing the surface and arms, using Indian ink diluted in layers, Didi deepened the opposite and movement within the pleated form.
Despite their clear delicateness, ships have strength and integrity. The thin planets of wood are divided, aligned by grains, originally involved, and assembled in hollow forms. Inner walls are given hand carvings to lose weight and increase transcendence, causing a calm interaction between density and air. The light and draped that appear is really solid and accurate, which is of size through continuous physical engagement and acute spatial control.
Didi NG Wing Yin, Plates Wase No. 7, Lowe Craft Prize 2025 | Image courtesy lowe foundation
Traditional methods for contemporary sculpture
Sister NG Wing Yin requires constant caution for the resistance and flow of wood for the subtraction and carving manual method. Their equipment are traditional, but pleated forms feel contemporary, occupying the edge of art and design. The rhythmic folds hold the light at different angles, while the brushed grains add the front layers of the visual depth. Some surfaces are left almost raw, while others are gradually toned to draw attention to the curvature of the grain.
The result is a visible rhythm that feels alive, each vessel echoes a gesture in the middle-math. The design lies in the decision to rely on intelligence material and allows its subtlety to guide the process. For Didi, it is a focused dialogue with wood.
The artist’s background spreads the East Asian crafts tradition and the Nordic material sensitivity, and their work brings these lineage into conversation. Their process embraces ‘naturalness’, a word that he uses to describe the spontaneous balance between control and surrender. This tension between hardness and tenderness is central for pleats collection, while each fold detects its construction.
Didi NG Wing Yin, Plates Wase Collection, 2025 | Image © Didi NG Wing Yin
Didi NG Wing Yin, Plates Wase No. 6 (Extension), 2025 | Image © Didi NG Wing Yin
Didi NG Wing Yin, Plates Wase No. 7 (Extension), 2025 | Image © Didi NG Wing Yin
