About Rui xu

Rui Xu is a British-Chinese fashion designer, doctoral researcher, painter and multidisciplinary artist. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the China Fashion Association and the China Fashion & Colour Association. Xu’s works bridge multiple disciplines, including her involvement in the development and engineering of sustainable materials as well as being known for implementing music and choreography at her shows. Xu obtained her MA, Professorship, and later served as the Head of the Fashion Department at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts until 2016. When she continued her postgraduate studies and research at the Royal College of Art from 2014 to 2015, she founded Ruixu Studio (stylised in all capitals) in London which quickly garnered a distinguished clientele for her bespoke pieces and wearable accessories. Amongst her clients were his majesty King Charles III, Queen Camilla and Dame Zaha Hadid. Xu is also an avid supporter of green technology and production, particularly in the fashion industry; most of her designs are made with recycled or recyclable material.

Xu held solo exhibitions and avant-garde multidisciplinary performances across Europe, Asia and North America. Her shows, “Dethroning of Divine Beasts”, at the Christie’s Art Auction House in London (2019), “the Sky in Their Eyes” at the V&A Museum (2017), “Beauty on Fire - For Zaha” at the Zaha Hadid Design Gallery (2016), “Chant of Breath” at the Saatchi Gallery (2015), “From Xuan to Blindness“ at the Royal College of Art in the same year, as well as multiple shows at the Aalto University in Finland, the University of Michigan and the University of California, all received wide critical acclaim. Xu’s couture collection Xiang Wang Yi and its catalogue, which Xu published as a book of the same name, won a Red Dot Design Award in Berlin (2013), the Gold Award at the Design of Asia Awards in Hong Kong (2013), the Most Beautiful Book of China in Shanghai (2012), as well as an Outstanding Design Annual Award of the Tokyo Type Directors Club in Japan (2011). Xu was also the Chief Fashion Designer for the 60th Miss World Final (2010) in Sanya, China. Xu’s works have been collected by esteemed institutions and museums worldwide, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Zaha Hadid Design Gallery, Clarence House and the China Silk Museum. Xu’s Qi Pao design was featured on Vogue Italia and the Christophorus Magazine by Porsche.

Photo courtesy of Porsche AG © 2017 by Niklas Haze