While the craft of weaving needs no introduction these days, its current evolution is worth noting. Cue the renewed interest in woven textures at Bottega Veneta under new creative director Matthieu Blazy. And as technology fuses more and more with fashion, it is not unusual to find these highly tactile fabrics incorporating materials like optical fibres that can make garments glow.
READ MORE: 10 Crochet Accessories To Complete A Crafty Chic Wardrobe
For the almost three-year-old textile label Tanchen Studio, its focus on artisanal workmanship is coupled with an investigative approach taken by its co-founders. One of the label’s signature pieces is the 0/0 wine bag. The hand-knotted bag stretches to reveal and take on the shape of the object it holds – be it wine or other items. It’s quite the fashion statement too – a quick look on the brand’s Instagram page shows how the versatile piece is easily paired with most OOTDs.

Sanchia Tan (left) and Amber Chen of Tanchen Studio.
Another popular item is its series of colourful coasters, which serve as playful additions to any table setting. These are hand-dyed and handwoven in small batches by a small village of female weavers in China, with each coaster made using cotton warp and linen weft.
READ MORE: Not Your Grandmother’s Crochet
The brand is the brainchild of Nanjing native Amber Chen, 30, and Singaporean Sanchia Tan, 28. The former studied at Singapore’s Raffles Institute of Design and now lives in Shanghai. The duo met at art college Central Saint Martins in London, where they studied textile design, specialising in weaving.

Tanchen Studio’s rugs and coasters enliven the living space.
After graduating in 2016, Chen pursued her Masters at London’s Royal College of Art studying woven textiles, while Tan worked for a menswear weave studio there. In Sep 2019, they decided to team up and launch Tanchen Studio. “The name is a play on both our surnames and is actually pronounced ‘tension’ − a common terminology used in weaving,” explains Tan who is based here.
READ MORE: 3 Hand-Dye Practitioners Bringing An Artisanal Touch To Singapore’s Slow Fashion Scene
The studio’s first-ever project was a commissioned piece for Wang Haoming, a fashion designer in Shanghai. The duo upcycled over 100kg of his deadstock fabric from past season collections, by cutting them into strips to be woven as weft. They then spent three months creating a 3m by 6m woven tapestry, which was then shipped and installed as a changing room at Wang’s flagship store in Beijing in Jan 2020.

Tanchen Studio create functional textiles that can be used as autonomous and spatial elements within a living space.
The studio’s first-ever project was a commissioned piece for Wang Haoming, a fashion designer in Shanghai. The duo upcycled over 100kg of his deadstock fabric from past season collections, by cutting them into strips to be woven as weft. They then spent three months creating a 3m by 6m woven tapestry, which was then shipped and installed as a changing room at Wang’s flagship store in Beijing in Jan 2020.
READ MORE: 7 Places In Singapore To Recycle Your Old Clothes At
Since then, Tanchen Studio has seen even more success, with collaborations and original works now part of their portfolio. “We have studios in both cities, so we’re constantly communicating and designing together remotely (mostly via video calls). It gets quite tricky sometimes and that’s why we spend a long time creating each collection,” says Tan.
Here, she chats with us about the duo’s passion for weaving, their approach to textiles and how they incorporate a circular philosophy in their work