2023 Tea Towels- Part 1
2023 Tea Towels / Yao Cheng Design
NEW TEA TOWELS are here!
It has been a few years since I’ve refreshed my Tea Towels. When I did start putting a new group of designs together though, it was a delight! It felt like waking up to sunshine. As I held these printed fabrics in my hands, I was reminded of how spectacular, how familiar it felt to work with fabrics again. There is a soft sheen from the linen fibers (hard to depict on screen but worth seeing it for yourself) that shines and breathes life to each design…
At one point, I had them all in my studio before they were cut and sewn into finished dish towels. I thought back to what it was like for me when I first wanted to make tea towels back in 2014 and all the ways people have loved them since…this art business is absolutely a journey, and after a long week in the studio, it’s always nice to reminisce a bit and talk about each of these beauties.
Floral Tea Towels / Yao Cheng Design
florals:
I am always jazzed about new floral designs. They give me the chance to paint the rainbow! Although, I do then balance it out with more subtle patterns like Eucalyptus in case you are looking for something calmer for your kitchen.
Anyway, there are many designs to choose from, but if I had one that I think is really stellar, it would be Peony Dance. There is something particularly beautiful about this combination of lilacs, pinks and yellows. When I painted this pattern, I was thinking about my summer garden when the pink peonies come to bloom, followed by cosmo flowers that sway in late summer.
Peony Dance / In Progress / Yao Cheng
Peony Dance / Painting / Yao Cheng
Roses / In Progress / Yao Cheng
Roses, Foliage in Multi / Tea Towels / Yao Cheng Design
Floral / Tea Towels/ Yao Cheng Design
2023 / Tea Towels / Yao Cheng
Lavender Field / In Progress / Yao Cheng
sewing each towel:
Each towel is hand cut, sewn, and hemmed here in Ohio with a lot of attention to detail. We add loops to the top for easy hanging and specially-hemmed corners to create a product where every part of usability and durability are considered.
Back when I first envisioned this product, I wanted functionality and art to be on equal footing. I spent many months researching for a printing process that could retain the saturation of color after many washes. And in the end, these items are beautiful works of art, but you can also use them! They can be laundered, ironed and used again and again. In fact, the more they are washed, the more absorbent and soft the fabric becomes!
“...I wanted functionality and art to be on equal footing.”
Festive Blooms / Tea Towels / Yao Cheng
holiday:
I always love releasing seasonal towels- they add to the fun of decorating our homes for festive occasions! While I have painted many holiday-themed designs, Festive Bloom is by far my favorite. I’m a bit timid when it comes to adding dark grounds to my watercolors- I always think their colors shine best when its set against a white ground. However, I wanted this pattern to really stand out and be bold. So I ventured into a place that’s uncomfortable, but ultimately more interesting! (This happens a lot with my work, I like to set arbitrary “rules” for my art and then go to break them).
Anyway, for Festive Bloom, I was looking at poinsettia flowers and wanted to highlight the boldness of their red petals. Set against a ground of foliage, acorns and berries, I really love how the flowers pop!
Still, for those of us that doesn’t want something that says “Wow, that’s a lot of Christmas”, I added an alternate design that compliments next to this but also is a towel that you can display into the new year or all year long! So that’s what Cheery Mingles is. It was inspired by mountains, trees, and dancing triangles.
Holiday Set of 2 / Tea Towels / Yao Cheng Design
Holiday / Tea Towels / Yao Cheng Design
Indigo Hash is Back!
As one of my most popular designs, Indigo Hash Tea Towel is now back in my shop plus I’ve added a new accompaniment- Indigo TriHash.
Indigo Hash / Tea Towels / Yao Cheng Design
indigo hash:
I have to say, this design is such a simple concept. (And often, those reveal themselves as some of my best work…) Through the years of this pattern, it has been seen in many different forms. From office stationery to dinner napkins, Indigo Hash is likely to remain as a permanent part of my portfolio.
I originally conceived of this idea when I wanted to bring more of my geometrics to my work. They are so important to the surrounding work by sitting back and creating areas of calm. Math and geometry influence a lot of my ideas, in large and small ways. They inform my patterns and create structure where I want them, but I can also deconstruct it where I don’t want them. I call it “grid-no-grid”, where I am both adhering to and abandoning from a structure. I love the unpredictability of it, and the openness that results!
“I call it “grid-no-grid”, where I am both adhering to and abandoning from a structure.”
Indigo Hash Pair / Tea Towels / Yao Cheng Design
Notebook / West Emory for Target / Yao Cheng Design
Indigo Hash / Dinner Napkins / Yao Cheng Design
Indigo TriHash / Tea Towels / Yao Cheng Design
indigo trihash:
This design is a throw-back, actually, to the very early days of me starting my design studio. In those early months, I was also freelancing for a surface pattern agency to bring in some income. That was when I created the earliest version of Indigo Trihash. Then and now, I was inspired by the classic blue and the motion of quick movements.
2012 / Freelance / Yao Cheng Design
2023 Indigo TriHash / Pattern / Yao Cheng Design
Triangle Grids / Art Prints / Yao Cheng Design
other grid-no-grids:
This concept has been something I’ve thought about since I was in college. I was influenced by Daosim and its philosophy that empty space is just as important as the objects surrounding it. It has informed a lot of how I think about “negative” space, which can really be taken for granted. But in my “grid-no-grid” work, I consider it to be more important than the painted shapes. This type of system allows me to break down the grids and allow the negative space to flow in for a more dynamic painting.
As one of my first Art Prints, “Triangle Grids” was my way of exploring kaleidoscopes, triangles, and color palettes all at once. If you’d like to order this as a print, fill out a custom request!
Kaleidoscope no. 1
Coming soon as an Art Print, this artwork explores the same “grid-no-grid” concept that’s in Indigo TriHash.
Want to order it before it releases? Click below!
There is still so much to say about this collection, stay tuned for Tea Towels, Part 2…
2023 / Tea Towels / Yao Cheng Design
