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My recognition of Xi Li with the Atelierul Award: The Iconic Ones at Cluster London highlights her unique ability to blend personal style with jewelry that resonates emotionally, creating a dialogue between past and present. Her work not only showcases artistry but also tells compelling stories that connect the wearer to their history, making each piece meaningful and timeless.

1. I know that you are currently pursuing a master’s degree at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design. How did you find your passion for design? Can you tell me a couple of words about yourself?

I first discovered my sensitivity to materials, textures, and “traces” during my undergraduate studies, where I was introduced to material exploration and mixed-media painting. This sparked a deep interest in material language that gradually shaped my creative direction. After graduating, I didn’t immediately return to academia. Instead, I spent two years working as an independent artist, collaborating with museums, jewelry design studios, and fashion magazines. These diverse experiences helped me develop my own distinctive style and reinforced my desire to tell stories that carry warmth and memory through design. Studying at Central Saint Martins now gives me the opportunity to systematically explore how to integrate cultural narratives, sustainable materials, and future-facing artistic forms, further pushing the boundaries of my practice.

Jewelry pieces created by Xi Li

2. You are a jewelry maker, an installations artist, and a painter that uses a variety of materials and techniques. How can you define your style for all your creations?

My creative style centers on sustainable materials, emotional storytelling, and cultural redefinition. Driven by a deep interest in sustainability, I aim to express a sense of fragmented vitality through my work. This often manifests in symbolic, theatrical, and surreal visual languages that explore the relationship between the body and nature, while addressing overlooked cultural and ecological issues. I am particularly drawn to merging traditional craftsmanship with futuristic imagination—transforming invisible emotions and memories into wearable or interactive artworks. From my early studies in printmaking and image-based storytelling, to my current practice of translating two-dimensional visuals into three-dimensional narratives through contemporary jewelry, I have been continuously exploring how adornment can act as a medium between the human body and the material world—triggering memory, evoking emotion, and expressing culture in a deeply personal way.

3. What are the values for your creations? What was the moment that defined your style?

Sustainability runs through my entire creative process. I see design not just as a means to present beauty, but as a way to respond to social and ecological issues. A core value of my practice is redefinition—using art and design to reinterpret familiar materials and ideas. For example, in my jewelry project made from elephant dung paper and intangible cultural heritage techniques, I explored overlooked cultural and environmental narratives in a way that is both playful and profound. That moment made me realize that materials themselves can be storytellers. My style is rooted in using unexpected materials to tell the most honest stories—revealing the powerful vitality hidden within what is often considered useless.

Jewelry pieces created by Xi Li

Jewelry pieces created by Xi Li

4. Congratulations on winning our award at Cluster London, I love your oversize creations! How did you find out about the award? How was your experience at Cluster London?

Thank you for your kind words! I have to admit I feel a bit sorry—I was seriously ill during the exhibition, so I wasn’t able to spend much time at the venue, including the award ceremony itself. I only discovered I had won when I returned for de-installation and noticed a “Talent Spot” label next to my work. The curator then informed me of the wonderful and unexpected news. While I was thrilled, I also regretted not being able to share that moment with everyone in person. Cluster London was a platform where I truly felt seen—not just visually, but intellectually. It was a space of exchange, where I met many like-minded creators who are equally passionate about pushing the boundaries of materials.

5. Can you tell me a little bit about your creative process for your jewelry creations? Where do you take your inspiration from, and how is a piece created? Do you have preferred podcasts, places, and/ or songs?

My inspiration often comes from the easily overlooked details and sensations in everyday life. For example, in the award-winning series, the material caught my attention because of a childhood memory—my family once managed an elephant sanctuary, and I remember how the staff worked hard every day to clean up large amounts of dung. Through research, I learned about elephants’ unique digestive system: despite eating 60kg of food a day, they only digest about 40%, leaving behind fibers and seeds in the dung. Surprisingly, it has little odor and feels more like soil than waste. Using it became my way of responding to the human-elephant conflict—transforming traces left by animals into cultural artifacts.

I enjoy creating by a quiet window, where I listen to music or ambient nature sounds that match the weather. This helps me immerse myself in my own world, while still feeling connected to the outside environment.

Jewelry pieces created by Xi Li

Jewelry created by Xi Li

Jewelry created by Xi Li

6. What stories do your jewelry pieces tell?

My works often feel like unnamed fragments of memory—without a clear beginning or end. They invite wearers to complete the narrative themselves. I’m drawn to overlooked moments and subtle cultural boundaries, using jewelry not to tell fixed stories, but to create portals that evoke inner emotion or reflection. I hope each piece allows the wearer to uncover their own personal meaning, as the most powerful connections often arise from shared resonance.

I also incorporate speculative design into my practice, treating jewelry as a trigger for critical inquiry. In my elephant dung paper series, for example, the material choice wasn’t meant to shock, but to question: Why do we dismiss certain materials? Must jewelry always be made from the “precious”? Can adornment become an act of reflection? Through such works, I aim to challenge assumptions and prompt new ways of understanding the relationship between body, material, and meaning.

Jewelry pieces created by Xi Li

7. How do you see jewelry in a more and more digitalized society?

In an increasingly digital world, I believe the longing for authenticity is growing stronger. Jewelry is not just a physical object—it is an emotional medium that maintains intimate contact with the body. I’m more interested in how objects can coexist with humans, rather than be replaced by technology. While virtual jewelry and digital design offer exciting new possibilities, what fascinates me more is how the virtual and the physical can coexist—how body data, for instance, might generate one-of-a-kind wearable pieces. I see this as a promising direction for the future, where personal identity, materiality, and digital language can merge in unexpected ways.

8. How do you deal with plagiarism? Did this happen to you?

Honestly, I have experienced plagiarism, and it was frustrating. I’ve come to realize that conceptual work is especially vulnerable to being borrowed without acknowledgment. In response, I’ve learned to document my creative process, conceptual reasoning, and material experiments as thoroughly as possible. At the same time, I aim to evolve my work to a level that’s harder to replicate—by embedding it with unique cultural contexts or developing highly personal making methods. Ultimately, I believe that the depth and sincerity shaped by lived experiences are things that copycats can never truly reproduce.

Jewelry pieces created by Xi Li

9. Do you have special designers that you follow or admire?

Gijs Bakker and Otto Künzli were my early inspirations in contemporary jewelry. Gijs Bakker’s Profile Jewelry transforms the wearer’s silhouette into the core of the piece, challenging the reliance on precious materials and conventional symbolism. It showed me that jewelry can go beyond adornment—it can hold identity and memory, and turn the body into a site of personal narrative.

Otto Künzli’s Gold Makes You Blind, where a gold bracelet is hidden inside black rubber, made me reflect on invisibility and belief. The viewer must trust the value inside, which questions our obsession with visible wealth. This concept deeply influenced me. I began to see jewelry as a medium that asks questions instead of providing answers. By using unexpected materials—like elephant dung or body data—I aim to provoke thought about value, identity, and how we define significance through what we choose to wear.

10. What do you think is the greatest challenge for a jewelry designer in 2025?

I believe the biggest challenge is redefining jewelry beyond luxury—toward objects with social meaning. In the face of environmental pressure, the rise of AI, and economic uncertainty, we must reconsider the role of jewelry today. Is it a form of expression? A data carrier? A symbol of identity? As digital communication accelerates and commercial aesthetics converge, I think jewelry designers must stay sensitive and honest in their expression—using their work to respond to real-world issues while preserving their unique creative voice.

Jewelry pieces created by Xi Li

11. Do you prefer online or offline interactions with your public? How would you define the public that buys your statement jewelry creations?

I truly value in-person interaction—it allows me to share the stories behind my work face to face, and hearing the audience’s reactions often inspires new ideas. Moments when someone picks up a piece, wears it, pauses, or laughs—those are the most vivid and alive for me. That said, online platforms have brought many “invisible connections.” They’ve allowed my work to reach a wider audience and introduced me to like-minded individuals across the world. People who purchase my work are usually those who are reflective, emotionally aware, or culturally sensitive. They’re not just buying an object—they’re choosing a shared value system that resonates with them.

All the images are sent by Xi Li, from her personal archive.