Notting Hill gallery, Themes & Variations, is launching a new selling exhibition that focuses on contemporary Chinese designs.

“Chinese Design Today” celebrates the new Chinese renaissance in art and design that was once obliterated under the Mao regime. As China defines themselves as global players on the world stage, their design merits are being noticed and are fast becoming strong commodities in the market. The Chinese creative community has been establishing a unique voice and redefining their importance in the global cultural landscape. Artists are drawing from their heritage and traditional craftsmanship while incorporating modern ideas and Western influences.

This new exhibition will bring together established artists with emerging talent. One of the leading figures in the country, Shao Fan, whose work is a part of the V and A’s permanent collection, will be showing at “Chinese Designs Today”. His works meshes traditional Chinese furniture technique with a contemporary design vernacular and works also as a painter and a sculptor. He will be joined by July Chow, whose art lead him to imprisonment in the 1970s for anti-revolutionary activity. Like Fan, Chow reworks Imperial Chinese furniture with new materials. Artist Xiao Tianyu also re-imagining heritage furniture with a Western design lexicon that was once banned under Mao, combining the elegant backs of classical Chinese chairs with a soft, unstructured seats reminiscent of beanbags.

Award-winning artist Gu Yeli will also be unveiling designs that draw from discarded chairs and benches that she has reinvented with colorful wool embellishments. Second-hand furniture or clothes don’t have the same cache as they do in the West as the concept of “vintage” doesn’t resonate with the Chinese. Gu is paying homage to the hardships suffered by her countrymen during post-war China.

However, not all the Chinese designers have an overt political edge to their designs. Zhang Zhoujie takes politics and history out of design and embraces the new technological advances in the country with his futuristic tables and chairs that are created digitally.

“Chinese Design Today” runs from November 8 – December 8 at the Themes & Variations Gallery, 231 Westbourne Grove, W11 2SE