Shishi San Tufts Chinese Vase Forms Into Fuzzy Sculpture

Brussels-based artist Shishi San turns antique Chinese vase forms into plush, tufted wool sculptures — and visitors to Venice's Homo Faber craft festival this past September couldn't resist wanting to touch them. One vessel, its mouth opening like a blooming flower, sat on display while onlookers fought the urge to run their fingers across the pile. San's largest work to date, Malachite Vase, stands nearly four feet tall.

"I'm interested in that tension between the softness of textiles and the rigidity of ceramics," San told AD. Her tufted vessels read as fuzzy, stylized renditions of historical vases, mixing traditional Chinese pottery, stained-glass floral motifs, and Art Nouveau swirls.

How does she make them?

The method is hands-on. San stretches cloth onto a frame, draws patterns directly onto the fabric, then applies colorful pile with a tufting gun (a tool that punches yarn through backing fabric to form loops). She assembles those 2D surfaces onto a structure and sculpts the yarn by hand with scissors.

"It allows me to bring together drawing and color," she said.

San studied visual arts and architecture, but she built many of her skills outside the university classroom. A childhood neighbor taught her to sew; she then taught herself embroidery, knitting, and crocheting. She picked up rug tufting in 2019 and started applying the technique to three-dimensional forms a few years later.

What do the works reference?

Her sculptures draw on antique phoenix-tail vases, ginger jars, flasks, and other traditional Chinese silhouettes. For San, the forms carry a global history.

"These forms circulated widely from across Asia and were interpreted differently by local cultures," she said.

Her versions exaggerate proportions and amp up the color palettes. Sometimes she sets a vessel atop a carved-wood pedestal. "They give the pieces a little more presence and create a subtle connection to the way these objects have historically been presented," she explained.

Why the East-West layering?

San was born in Vietnam and adopted by a Belgian couple. Her work nods to that heritage while emphasizing visual resonances among Asian countries. Her pieces picture chrysanthemums, hibiscus petals, and maneki neko (beckoning cats).

"Different references meet within one piece," she said.

Malachite Vase compresses that biography into one object: blooming lotus flowers and Art Nouveau–style leaves and scrollwork draw connections between her Eastern roots and Western upbringing. "It's a way of creating something personal rather than simply reproducing tradition," she said.

What's next?

San is preparing for a summer 2027 solo show at EDJI Gallery in Brussels. Until then, her festival appearances, including Homo Faber in Venice last September, show how craft techniques usually reserved for rugs can carry the weight of ceramic history — and a personal one at that.