Craft Platforms: Case studies 李艳刺绣艺术工作室-Li Yan Embroidery Art Studio

李艳刺绣艺术工作室

Li Yan Embroidery Art Studio

HIGHLIGHTS

  • 李艳工作室走的是两条路。一块是收藏品，一块是产业化的刺绣产品。其中李艳负责收藏品的制作，往往要花上几年的时间才能绣成一幅。而其女儿昌妮和昌妮的丈夫主要负责刺绣产品。
  • 找昌妮要手工和机绣的对比图。
  • 他们认为他们既受益于传统（知名度等），也被传统局限（材料、形式、受众等）。
  • 一方面，李艳工作室在微信号中积极宣传自己的产品。另一方面，“李艳”在湘绣行业甚至手工艺行业中是一个比较出名的品牌，所以主动来寻求合作的数字平台是比较多的。
  • 李艳的女儿昌妮是做产品设计出身的，昌妮的丈夫也比较擅长产品制作和宣传。所以在李艳工作室，传统的刺绣技艺和现代的创新设计结合是做得比较好的。
  • Li Yan’s studio follows two paths. One is a collectible and the other is an industrialized embroidery product. Among them, Li Yan is responsible for the production of collectibles, which often takes several years to embroider into a single piece. And her daughter Chang Ni and Chang Ni’s husband are mainly responsible for embroidery products.
  • They believe that they benefit from (Reputation)and are limited by tradition (materiality, form, audience, etc.).
  • On the one hand, Li Yan Studio actively promotes its products in WeChat. On the other hand, “Li Yan” is a relatively well-known brand in the Hunan embroidery industry and even the handicraft industry, so there are many digital platforms that actively seek cooperation.
  • Li Yan’s daughter, Chang Ni, was majored in product design, and Chang Ni’s husband is also good at production and promotion. Therefore, in Li Yan’s studio, the combination of traditional embroidery skills and modern innovative design is better.

BRIEF INTRODUCTION

图1: （左）李艳工作室的标志，（右）李艳本人和她的作品

Figure 1: (Left) Li Yan’s studio logo, (Right) Li Yan herself and her work

李艳是中国工艺美术大师，湘绣非物质文化遗产代表性传承人。现有三幅作品陈列于中华人民共和国人民大会堂。作品多次作为国礼送给来华访问的异国元首并多次获得中国百花奖金奖。

李艳刺绣艺术工作室，由李艳女士创办，是集湘绣的创新研发、工艺设计、传承保护、高级定制为一体的专业工作室。工作室成立于2017年，现为湖南省工艺美术协会常务理事单位，具有领先行业的专业力量，现有中国工艺美术大师2人，湖南省工艺美术大师4人，省级高级工艺美术师6人，中级工艺美术师15人，专业刺绣人员40余人。

工作室的实体店铺位于湖南省长沙县开元西路湖南湘绣城E1栋101门面。有一个工厂。

 

Li Yan is a master of Chinese arts and crafts and a representative inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Hunan Embroidery. Three existing works are on display in the Great Hall of the People. The work has been given as a national gift to foreign heads of state who have visited China many times, and has won the China Baihua Award.

Li Yan Embroidery Art Studio was founded by Ms. Li Yan. It is a professional studio integrating the innovative research and development, process design, heritage protection, and advanced customization of Hunan Embroidery. The studio was established in 2017 and is now an executive member of the Hunan Provincial Arts and Crafts Association. There are currently 2 Chinese arts and crafts masters, 4 Hunan arts and crafts masters, 6 provincial senior arts and crafts artists, 15 intermediate arts and crafts artists, and more than 40 professional embroidery staff.

The studio’s physical store is located at 101 Facade, Building E1, Hunan Embroidery City, Kaiyuan West Road, Changsha County, Hunan Province. There is a factory.

图 2:（左）工作室一览，（右）李艳的女儿昌妮

Figure 2: (Left) Studio overview, (Right) Li Yan’s daughter, Chang Ni

DIGITAL ‘TOUCH POINTS’

Use of Digital equipment

产品制作过程中均为纯手工。但是在刺绣之前的工作会用到一些数字设备。

  • 手绘板、ipad。用于手绘图案、插画等。
  • 手机。用于拍照、拍视频等。昌妮说“我一般做产品的时候都会有意识去拍一些过程的图。
  • 德国非接触式扫描仪。手画图案以后进行扫描，得到高清数字版图片。
  • 用数字设备把图样印在布料上面。

 

The production process is purely manual. But before the embroidery, some digital equipment is used.

  • Hand-painted board, iPad. Used for hand-drawn patterns, illustrations, etc.
  • Mobile phone. Used for taking pictures, videos, etc. Chang Ni said, “When I make a product, I usually consciously take pictures of some processes.”
  • German non-contact scanner. Scan the hand-drawn pattern later to get a high-resolution digital version of the picture.
  • Print the pattern on the fabric with digital equipment.

图3：昌妮在用电脑辅助产品制作

Figure 3: Chang Ni is using computer to help design product

Use of Digital technologies

  • 激光刻字。有一些毕业季、集团性的送礼，需要带有定制的logo。之前有方法是绣到画面上，但是一方面会增加成本，另一方面有时候logo比较复杂的情况下绣不好，并且双面绣的话字在背面看是反的。所以在框上激光雕刻的方法方便、快捷。

 

  • 挑战：（1）跨专业之间的合作需要沟通和对彼此的了解。（2）有一些手工完成的部分无法用数字化、机械化替代。例如：有一家绣伞的工作室因为伞的量很大，手工绣成本过高，于是找了机绣，结果伞全部都皱了，因为机器的用力不是人工控制的，拉的紧一点料子就会皱。

 

  • Laser lettering. There are some graduation seasons and group gifts that require a custom logo. Previously, there were methods to embroider on the screen, but on the one hand it would increase the cost, and on the other hand, sometimes the logo was not embroidered well when the logo was more complicated, and the double-sided embroidery was reversed when viewed from the back. So the method of laser engraving on the frame is convenient and fast.

 

  • Challenges: (1) Inter-professional cooperation requires communication and understanding of each other. (2) There are some parts completed by hand that cannot be replaced by digitalization and mechanization. For example, there is a studio for embroidery umbrellas. Because of the large number of umbrellas and the high cost of manual embroidery, they looked for machine embroidery. As a result, all the umbrellas were wrinkled, because the force of the machine was not manually controlled, and the material was pulled tight Will wrinkle.

Use of Social Media

  •  微信号（刚做不久，5000多粉丝），微信公众号，抖音（只发过2条）。
  • 挑战：（1）受到粉丝数量的局限，传播范围小，需要流量推广，而传统手工行业的工作人员不具备这种能力。（2）目前产品量少价格高（一千元以上），不适合在数字平台推广。昌妮说：“我们的重点目前在开发产品，在产品更完善之后，才开始推广。”重点在开发400元以下的产品，比较适合网络推广。
  • 机会：（1）昌妮说“ 社交平台对于推广手工艺、产品来说还是很好的，得发一些有意思的内容，其实有兴趣的人还是比想象中的多。而且现在他们00后喜欢汉服，他们对这种古典的文化还是很有兴趣的，所以点击量还是挺高的。比起看产品，他们更希望的是看过程，怎么绣的他们比较感兴趣。”（2）有很多网红想来与手工艺人合作直播。他们有粉丝有流量，手工艺者有内容吸引别人，双方是互补的，可以寻求合作。
  • WeChat (just recently, more than 5,000 fans), WeChat public account, Tiktok (only sent 2)。
  • Challenges: (1) Limited by the number of fans, the spread of communication is small, and traffic promotion is required, but the workers in the traditional artisanal industry do not have this ability. (2) At present, the product volume is small and the price is high (more than one thousand yuan), which is not suitable for promotion on digital platforms. Chang Ni said: “Our focus is currently on developing products, only after the product is more complete, and then start promoting.” The focus is on developing products under 400 yuan, which is more suitable for online promotion.
  • Opportunities: (1) Chang Ni said, “Social platforms are still very good for promoting handicrafts and products. They have to send some interesting content. In fact, there are more interested people than expected. And now they like Hanfu after 00. , They are still very interested in this classic culture, so the traffic is still quite high. Compared to looking at products, they are more interested in watching the process, and they are more interested in how to embroider. “(2) There are many nets Red wants to work with craftsmen to broadcast live. They have fans and traffic, craftsmen have content to attract others, and the two sides are complementary and can seek cooperation.

图4:  （左）微信个人号，（右）微信公众号

Figure 4: (left) WeChat personal account, (right) WeChat public account

图 5：朋友圈部分内容展示

Figure 5: Display of some content in wechat

图5（左）为一篇介绍作品（一幅双面全异绣）的朋友圈。

图5（中）为新品介绍。包括材质、用法、价格介绍，实拍细节图和模特图。

图5（右）为部分定制产品的制作过程。

Figure 5 (left) is a circle of friends who introduced the work (a double-sided full embroidery).

Figure 5 (middle) is the introduction of the new product. Including materials, usage, price introduction, real shot details and models.

Figure 5 (right) shows the manufacturing process of some customized products.

图 6：朋友圈部分内容展示

Figure 6: Part of the content in wechat

图6（左）为李艳工作室入驻湖南省博物馆的一则小视频。

图6（中）是参加公益活动，为脑瘫儿童运送爱心物资。

图6（右）为参加“大绣中国——寻绣之旅”活动的过程。

Figure 6 (left) is a small video of Li Yan Studio’s entry into the Hunan Provincial Museum.

Figure 6 (middle) is to participate in public welfare activities to deliver love materials for children with cerebral palsy.

Figure 6 (right) shows the process of participating in the “Daxiu China-Journey of Embroidery”.

Online sales platform

网络销售平台：

  • 微信朋友圈推广；淘宝店铺；其他平台合作—例如京东的中工美（中国工艺美术（集团）公司）官方旗舰店和中国工商银行的工行易购购物平台。
  • 昌妮的老公：“我们其实是跨很多平台合作的。我们自己的运营团队运营淘宝店，同时把我们的产品授权给其他有运营团队的平台让他们去运营。跟他们有协议价，然后统一销售价。现在大的概念就是平台商在找优质的内容来带动流量。现在更专业了，做平台的只做平台，想办法把流量带进来。做内容的做内容，满足平台商吸引流量。因为流通就是传承，流量就是经济价值。签了一个（手工艺人）之后，他们就在整个平台扩散。现在通过网络的形式一键代发很方便。”
  • 昌妮：“现在更多的是平台主动来找我们。我们也会筛选，因为我们自己也做品牌，我们不是加工工厂。“李艳”都是收藏级别的东西，但是“艳”这个logo是我们注册的商标、品牌，所以我们还是要挑选平台，我会点进去看跟平台合作的人的水准。因为要发高清的图过去，现在同行之间抄袭非常严重。像我现在做的这种首饰盒已经漫天飞了。”

Online sales platform:

  • Promotion on WeChat circle of friends; Taobao stores; cooperation on other platforms—such as JD.com ’s official flagship store of China Industrial Art (China Arts & Crafts (Group) Company) and ICBC ’s ICBC e-commerce shopping platform.
  • Chang Ni’s husband: “We actually cooperate across many platforms. Our own operating team operates Taobao stores, while authorizing our products to other platforms with operating teams for them to operate. Have an agreement with them and then Unified sales price. Now the big concept is that platform vendors are looking for high-quality content to drive traffic. Now they are more professional. They only do platforms as a platform and find ways to bring in traffic. Do content and content to satisfy platform vendors to attract traffic .Because circulation is inheritance, and flow is economic value. After signing a (craftsman), they spread across the entire platform. It is now convenient to issue it through the network in one click. “
  • Chang Ni: “Now more platforms actively come to us. We will also screen because we also make brands ourselves. We are not processing factories.” Li Yan “is a collection-level thing, but the logo” 艳 “(yan) It is our registered trademark and brand, so we still have to choose the platform, I will click to see the level of people who cooperate with the platform. Because it is necessary to send high-definition pictures in the past, plagiarism between peers is very serious. Like I do now These jewellery boxes are flying around. “

图 7：（左）微信号朋友圈推广产品，（右）淘宝店铺首页

Figure 7: (left) WeChat friends circle to promote products, (right) Taobao shop homepage

图 8：京东购物平台的中工美官方旗舰店中售卖的李艳工作室的产品

Figure 8: Li Yan Studio’s products sold in the official Gongmei flagship store on JD.com’s shopping platform

Use of digital software

  • 平面类设计软件。所有的手稿都是手画。而在产品设计、宣传、包装等方面大量的运用了平面的软件。扫描图稿清晰，作品更加的精致。
  • 3D类建模软件。运用于产品外形的设计，例如果盒、冰箱贴等。产品的弧度、角度等在技术层面进行标注，和厂商沟通时就会更加方便，减少时间成本、沟通成本。
  • Graphic design software. All manuscripts are hand drawn. In the product design, publicity, packaging, etc., a large number of plane software is used. The scanned artwork is clear and the work is more refined.
  • 3D modeling software. It is applied to the design of product shape, such as boxes and refrigerator stickers. Product radians, angles, etc. are marked at the technical level, which will be more convenient when communicating with manufacturers, reducing time costs and communication costs.

The challenges of applying digital platforms

  • 局限性。社交平台的传播在于你有多少粉丝量、好友。发一篇文章也就只有那么多人看，也不是每一个人都会帮你转，传播的范围不是特别大。这取决于我们本身有多少粉丝、对我们的内容本身感兴趣的有多少。现在网络推广大部分都是流量，有很多运营公司他们做的这些高成本的流量推广，一是我们传统的手工艺行业也没有具备这种条件，二是我们的产量还是比较局限，局限在我们自身的客户量。比如说微博只有一万粉丝，就只有这么点人看。

 

  • 知识产权。同行之间抄袭非常严重，防不胜防，所以李艳工作室的理念是不停地创新、开发新产品，先申请专利，保留追究的权利。在中国维权很困难，为这点事情去维权，花的精力不成正比。

 

  • 缺少平台帮助手工艺人对接厂家，从而满足自己小批量生产的需求。阿里巴巴有。国内的工厂喜欢做没有挑战的、大批量（500以上）的单，他们习惯了。所以李艳工作室做产品包装都是找朋友做。

 

  • This means that social platforms care about how many fans and friends you have. When you post an article, only so many people will read it, and not everyone will help you turn it around, and the scope of spread is not particularly large. It depends on how many fans we have and how interested we are in the content itself. Now most of the network promotion is traffic. There are many operating companies that do these high-cost traffic promotions. One is that our traditional craft industry does not have this condition. The other is that our output is still relatively limited and is limited to us. Of customers. For example, Weibo has only 10,000 followers, so there is only such a point of view.

 

  • Intellectual property. The plagiarism between peers is very serious, and it is impossible to prevent it. Therefore, Li Yan Studio’s philosophy is to continuously innovate and develop new products, apply for patents first, and reserve the right to investigate. Protecting rights in China is difficult, and the effort spent on defending them is not proportional.

 

  • Lack of platform to help craftsmen to connect with manufacturers, so as to meet their needs for small batch production. Alibaba has. Domestic factories like to make large-scale (over 500) orders without challenges, they are used to it. So Li Yan’s studio does product packaging with friends.

MORE DESCRIPTIONS

  • 销售情况：50岁以上的顾客购买以挂件、摆设为主。50岁以下的顾客买实用产品比较多。很多年轻人偏好功能性强一点的实用产品，例如：商务礼品、婚庆用品、自用家居装饰品等。
  • 如何在网上解释、传播你们的手工艺产品的价值？三个点，一个是我们的东西原创，二是图稿有授权，三就是手工、工艺。
  • 你们在店里可以给顾客看手工和机绣的区别，你们在网上是怎么推销的？昌妮的丈夫：“其实我们一般避开这个点不谈，就是主打我是手工的，我不用去和别人对比。”
  • 如何看待数字化对手工艺的影响？昌妮：“能更快、更便捷地被人了解。你要抓住一个年轻人向他宣传手工艺，他早就跑了，但在网络上年轻人会自己主动点开去开。做宣传上还是得特别，第一点要吸引他的眼球。”昌妮的丈夫：“对，追求的就是好看，在视觉上先抓住你，好看有意思你才会点进去看。我们做推广也是这样的，好看才能吸引人，这样他才会点进来了解。数字技术包括摄影、平面的传播给我们提供了便利。”

 

  • Sales: For customers over 50 years old, accessories are the mainstay of purchases. Customers under the age of 50 buy more practical products. Many young people prefer more functional and practical products, such as business gifts, wedding supplies, and home furnishings.
  • How to explain and spread the value of your craft products online? Three points, one is our originality of things, the other is that the artwork is authorized, and the third is manual and craftsmanship.
  • You can show the difference between handmade and machine embroidery in the store. How do you show this online? Chang Ni’s husband “In fact, we generally avoid this point and leave it alone, because the main thing is that I am manual, and I don’t need to compare with others.”

 

  • How do you think of the impact of digital on craftsmanship? Chang Ni “It can be understood more quickly and conveniently. You have to catch a young man to promote crafts to him. He has already run away, but on the Internet young people will take the initiative to open it. It’s still special. The first point is to attract his attention. “Chang Ni’s husband ” Yes, the pursuit is good-looking, first catch you visually, you will click in to look good and interesting. The same is true of our promotion , Good-looking can be attractive, so he can click in and understand. Digital technology, including photography and graphic communication, facilitates us. “

SUMMARY

  • 李艳湘绣艺术工作室一方面在保护、传承和发扬非物质文化遗产湘绣，另一方面也在积极探索新事物，紧跟时代潮流，设计开发能够融合湘绣的现代创新产品。
  • 李艳湘绣艺术工作室对于数字设备、数字技术和社交媒体的运用是非常广泛的。在产品设计、制作、宣传、售卖等方面都有比较完善的流程。

 

  • On the one hand, Li Yan Embroidery Art Studio is protecting, inheriting and carrying forward the intangible cultural heritage of Xiang Embroidery. On the other hand, it is also actively exploring new things and keeping up with the trend of the times.
  • Li Yanxiang Embroidery Art Studio has a wide range of applications for digital equipment, digital technology and social media. There are relatively complete processes in product design, production, promotion, and sales.

CONTACT

WeChat personal account：embroidery_yan

WeChat public account：国大师李艳刺绣艺术工作室

Link to the latest article in WeChat public account：https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/QowcyXHQXfiYWUqnRb7NMA

 

Contact Us

Craftplatforms.org has been produced by the project research team at Queen Mary University of London, UK, and Hunan University, China.

Contact E-mail: contact@craftplatforms.org

For more information or to speak to the craft research team, please contact:

Prof. Nick Bryan-Kinns

n.bryan-kinns@qmul.ac.uk

School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science
Queen Mary University of London
London E1 4NS

Prof. Hao Tan

htan@hnu.edu.cn

School of Design, Hunan University
Yuelu Mountain, Changsha