Meet The Maker: Fei Fei
I’m Fei, a printmaker and designer working in Beijing. I make cards, prints, and run workshops in the city.
I have a day job as a brand designer, and I use my spare time to grow my printmaking practice.
Describe your printmaking process.
I start with simple sketches in my head or on my sketchbook, if an idea keeps coming back, I will realize it by creating it into a design. I then transfer the best design onto a piece of lino block, and start carving. Usually the majority of the heavy-lifting is done at sketching stage, so I let myself enjoy the comfort of carving, often with a podcast and a pot of tea next to me.
How and where did you learn to print?
I studied printmaking and illustration at university. It felt natural to me, using a gouge, pushingmy way through the material.
Why printmaking?
It felt like the sweet intersection of control and spontaneity. Printmaking loves to create
unexpected shapes, textures, and surprising results, it's a lot like watercolours, you need to havefun with it, if you control it too much it will lose life, if you accept the flow of the medium, itrewards you with abundant amazingness. I never get tired of seeing what the result/processoffers me, no matter how much I plan every step, there is always surprise.
Where do you work?
I work in Beijing, China.
Describe a typical day in your studio.
I divide my process into carving days and printing days. In printing days I would first cut paper, Iuse rolls of luscious Japanese hand-made printmaking paper 90cm by 70cm, I make editions of8-10 prints, size 50x50cm, so I spend almost a day just cutting paper. Then I would pull out thebig roller, hand print and burnish every edition. I stop after all the paper is finished or there's no wall space left in my small loft studio.
How long have you been printmaking?
8 years or so of constant effort.
What inspires you?
I'm inspired by textures, odd shapes, organic, rough-on-the-edges things and un-finished things.Such as odd looking gourds, uneven pottery, etc.
What is your favourite printmaking product?
I recently created a piece about my neighborhood, I live in a metropolitan of 22M people, it'shome to countless ancient archetectures with rich history. One of the historic sites is Drum &Bell towers around where I live. They are more than 750 years old, that's how people used to telltime by listening to the drum and bells ring. This piece is my favourite because I did the leastamount of planning, I just painted with an ink brush onto the lino, then started carving. It felt like something unique to me. It shows how my mind thinks, filled with visual details, nature and man-made objects blending into each other, losing their boundaries.
What have you made that you are most proud of?
This relates to my printmaking practice, but not a printmaking product. Sometime ago I spent afew days in south west of China, learing yet another of my favourite techniques, batik dye. It wasa 7-day course condensed into 3 due to lack of time. I spent the first 2 days learning how toindigo dye using threads, then the 3rd day the teacher introduced me to batik. I felt something erupting out of my chest due to excitement. I love drawing, so I lost all concept of time and sense of self, batiking from morning to late night.
Where can we see your work? Where do you sell?
My instagram is @feifeiart, I sell mostly in China, but if you see something you like on my page,
my DM is open.
What will we be seeing from you next?
Probably more batik :P, and larger scale prints.
Do you have any advice for other printmakers and creatives?
Art is a devotional act. Your purpose is to produce the best work you can and leave others to judge. Feel stuck? Look within, you have the answer, you are just looking at the wrong place.
To see more from Fei follow her on Instagram