Shao Qi Tan (b. 2000, Singapore) is a porcelain and glass designer based in London and Singapore. She holds an MA in Ceramics and Glass from the Royal College of Art, and a First Class Honours degree in Ceramic Design from Central Saint Martins. 

 

A material-driven investigation of the fragile yet enduring nature of porcelain — Tan’s practice is a study of its whiteness, luminosity and translucency. She embodies the inherent properties of the material, alluding to the quiet and fleeting hybridity of light and nature. Her designs reflect notions of fragility and impermanence in the ever-changing. 

 

To record nature in a delicate state of flux, the floral motifs preserve the subtle tension between strength and fragility. Her techniques emulate the qualities of soft light filtering through foliage, overgrown local weeds and glistening dewdrops, often immaterial and overlooked in the urban landscape. The design objective is to preserve a state of flux — the momentary movement of changing states — between fluidity and solidity. The collection is a series of sculptural porcelain installations: wall, floor and hanging, inviting viewers in a quiet observation of the transitory moments found in the mundane.

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Her work has been exhibited in Singapore, London, New York, Greece, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Taiwan. She has worked on projects with Kohler Co., Iris van Herpen, and designed an installation in Singapore Changi Airport commissioned by Louis Vuitton. She is the recipient of the MullenLowe NOVA Award, the FRANZ International Porcelain Design Scholarship and the William Atkinson Scholarship. She was listed in FEMALE Magazine’s 10 Emerging Talents Bringing A Fresh Perspective To SG’s Creative Scene and PRESTIGE 40 Under 40 2024.