Yixuan Hu

About

My name is Yixuan Hu, a knit and mixed media designer from China. Much of my creative inspiration stems from a deeply personal experience—growing up alongside my grandmother, who was born with a visual perception disorder. Living closely with her, I witnessed how she navigated the world through touch, sound, and memory. This intimate relationship shaped my understanding of perception and sparked my long-term interest in how design can support and amplify non-visual ways of experiencing the world.

My practice focuses on the sensory experiences of people with visual impairments, seeking to combine textile design with functionality to bring real, tangible comfort to their everyday lives. Through my work, I hope to foster greater public understanding and respect for this often-overlooked community, and to create design that functions not only as a tool, but as a bridge between different sensory worlds.

Currently, I am developing a tactile picture book for preschool children with visual impairments, titled The Color of Wind (project name: windtint). The book explores the abstract concept of wind through fiber-based storytelling, using techniques such as knitting, embroidery, and flocking to render wind as a tactile experience. Through touch, children can “read” the texture of wind in different emotional and environmental states—breezes, gusts, storms—thus forming an intuitive, multi-sensory connection with the world around them.

I believe design can be a language that is felt rather than seen, and that textiles, in their softness and material intimacy, hold the power to communicate beyond sight. Going forward, I am committed to expanding the possibilities of textiles as both a functional medium and a poetic one—grounded in the body, open to all.