Nanyi Li
Nanyi Li is a Chinese-born conceptual designer and artistic researcher based in Berlin and Halle (Saale). Working across fashion, objects, and material practices, she approaches upcycling as a way of thinking rather than merely a reuse technique.
Through long-term material experimentation and cross-cultural observation, her work examines how materials carry cultural meanings, histories, and systems of value. Rather than presenting fixed interpretations, her practice establishes situations of encounter, allowing meanings to emerge through the interaction between objects, materials, and viewers.
By testing her methods through teaching and self-initiated practice, she explores how design can function as a tool for cultural sustainability, reflection, and transformation.
ACADEMIA
Since 2024 Oct. Artistic Associate, Fashion Department, Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle, Germany
EDUCATION
2022 M.A. Conceptual Fashion Design, Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle, Germany
2017 B.A. Product Design, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
AWARDS
Nomination, German Design Award 2025 – Newcomer, Germany
Shortlist, Wilhelm-Lorch-Stiftung Promotion Award 2024, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
3rd. Prize, Apolda European Design Award 2023, Apolda, Germany
Winner, The funding project “Fashion X Craft” 2023, Fashion Council Germany in partnership with the Swarovski Foundation and The King’s Foundation, Germany & the United Kingdom
Best Sustainability Concept, Neo. Fashion Award 2022, Berlin, Germany
Winner, Academy Award 2017, School of Fine Arts, South China Normal University, China
Outstanding Work, Guangdong Cutting-Edge Jewelry Designer Contest 2016, Guangdong, China
Finalist, Guangdong Cutting-Edge Jewelry Designer Contest 2016, Guangdong, China
EXHIBITIONS (selection, collective)
2024 Oct. Exhalation, Exhibition and Performance about Textile Waste and Future Utopias, Berlin, Germany
2024 Feb. Der Berliner Salon, Berlin Fashion Week AW2024, Berlin, Germany
2023 Oct. This jewelry is 100RMB, VONMO Gallery, Beijing, China
2023 Jan. Der Berliner Salon, Berlin Fashion Week AW2023, Berlin, Germany
2022 Dec. Neo. Fashion, Aachen, Germany
2022 Oct. Neo.Fashion & GoTextile, Berlin, Germany