Tie-Dye Artist
Zhu Xinwei was born in December 1954 in Shimen Town, Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province. In 1979 he began exploring how the folk craft of tie-dye might be brought into artistic creation, and he has since devoted more than forty years to the study of traditional printing and dyeing, above all tie-dye.
In April 1989 he held a solo exhibition of his tie-dye works at the National Art Museum of China, followed by numerous solo shows in Beijing, Hangzhou and elsewhere. He has also taken part in exhibitions including “Beyond History and Matter: Contemporary Chinese Silk Art” in Moscow. His works are held in the collections of the National Art Museum of China, the China Exhibition Corporation of the Ministry of Culture and the Beijing International Art Palace, among others.
Before his retirement, he taught traditional printing and dyeing for many years in the textile design program at the China Academy of Art. Since retiring, he has been invited to guide the textile programs of Nanchang University, Luohe Vocational Technology College, Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts & Technology and other institutions. In Luohe, Henan, he has established master studios at the college, municipal and provincial levels.
He is the author of “A New World of Tie-Dye” and, with Zhang Bo, co-author of “Unraveling Silk into Patterns.”
The Commercial Press has described him as “the first artist in China to use traditional tie-dye to express modern artistic ideas and forms.”
This is an intangible culture that comes down to us from the pre-Qin era. In the late 1970s I fell in love with this art that is made with the fingers, and I have been immersed in it for more than forty years now.
For Zhu Xinwei, what makes tie-dye so moving lies in these five qualities:
The shifting textures that tie-dye gives rise to carry a grain and form that can never be repeated.
Motifs and patterns made by hand carry their own singular variations and differences.
The spirit born of colors shifting and melting into one another is, by its nature, impossible to foresee.
Tie-dye joins naturally and closely with the development of contemporary culture and the changing tides of fashion.
In this way, one creates a new form of visual art, able to express the artistic feeling held within.
In ancient times, tie-dye was known as jiaoxie (tie-resist dyeing). Together with wax-resist (laxie), clamp-resist (jiaxie) and paste-resist (huixie), it is counted among the four great resist-dyeing techniques of ancient China. Handed down since the pre-Qin era, it has been preserved and passed on among the common people.
Zhu Xinwei’s work sets out from this ancient lineage: first returning to the traditional stitching and binding methods, then carrying them toward fashion, and toward art.
The works fall into two parts: foundational patterns, a small selection from the more than two hundred developed over years of practice; and artistic creations, chosen from the more than seventy works made since the 1990s.
Explorations in blue and white, beginning from needle, thread and binding. Dots, lines and planes grow within the indigo; every reserved white is a trace left by the fingers.
Polychrome tie-dye in response to the development of contemporary culture and the changes of fashion. Colors mingle and bleed across the fabric; no two pieces are ever alike.
Tie-dye as a visual language for the artistic feeling within: bodies, eyes, butterflies and spinning circles, brought to completion in unforeseeable washes of dye.
Tie-dye patterns applied to clothing: from hand-painted silk garments to tie-dye T-shirts, a traditional craft enters everyday life.
Born in Shimen Town, Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province.
Began exploring how the folk craft of tie-dye might be applied to artistic creation.
Immersed in needle, thread and dye, devoted himself wholly to his work.
Held “Solo Exhibition of Silk Tie-Dye Works” at the exhibition hall of Shijingshan Sculpture Park, Beijing, during Mao Dun Culture Week.
Jiaxing Daily introduced Zhu Xinwei and his tie-dye art in its profile column.
Held “Solo Exhibition and Retrospective” at the Juntao Art Institute in Tongxiang, Zhejiang.
Held the 11-day “Zhu Xinwei: Tie-Dye Art Exhibition” at the National Art Museum of China. Fifteen works, including “Jingwei Fills the Sea,” entered the collections of the National Art Museum of China, the China Exhibition Corporation of the Ministry of Culture, the Beijing International Art Palace, the Museum of Beijing University of Technology and others.
At the invitation of Chang Shana, President, and Li Mianlu, Vice President, of the Central Academy of Arts and Design, visited the Academy with CCTV director Yan Dong for a symposium on his work.
The solo exhibition was reported in succession by “Xinwen Lianbo” (national evening news) on China Central Television and China National Radio, as well as by Beijing Television and Beijing People’s Radio; China Daily, China Culture Daily, Beijing Daily, Beijing Evening News, Beijing Review, Literature and Art Gazette, Workers’ Daily and others ran illustrated coverage.
Issue 7 of Meishu (Art Monthly) published his works and reported on the solo exhibition.
The English-language edition of Women of China presented “Jingwei Fills the Sea,” together with his creative thinking and artistic journey, to overseas readers in a full-page color centerfold; the Japanese-language edition of People’s China introduced his works and exhibition on a full color page; the autumn issue of Fashion & Textiles published “Impression of the Sea”; and Tongxiang Television broadcast a special feature on his artistic journey, made in tribute to the 40th anniversary of National Day.
Invited to take part in the First National Arts & Crafts Excellence Awards and the accompanying exhibition of works by renowned artisans; received the Innovation Award.
Published articles on tie-dye and introductions to its techniques in five consecutive issues of Fashion & Textiles.
Developed hand-painted spun-silk garments for Zhongcui Fashion Company, a subsidiary of CITIC.
Collaborated with the research institute of Beijing Garment Company, applying his pioneering technique of hand-painting on spun silk to suits for personnel going abroad.
Joined the Zhejiang Arts & Crafts Research Institute to research dyeing and weaving, serving as deputy director of its experimental factory. That same year he led a month-long tie-dye T-shirt training course for technical staff of township enterprises in Xiangshan County; an export industry in tie-dye T-shirts later took shape there.
Taught in the Department of Textile and Fashion Design at the China Academy of Art.
Presented a three-year display of his artworks at the Hangzhou World Trade Center Grand Hotel.
Held a twenty-day solo exhibition at the library of Hangzhou Teachers College.
Returned to teach in the Department of Textile and Fashion Design at the China Academy of Art, where he founded its dyeing and weaving laboratory.
Received an award at “Pure Blue, Pure White: Blue-and-White Art by Folk Artists,” organized by the Zhejiang Folk Artists Association.
Four works were exhibited in Moscow, Russia.
Won First Prize for Heritage and Innovation in the Xixi Tourism Souvenir Creative Design Competition, organized by the China Wetland Museum and the Zhejiang Folk Artists Association.
Retired from the China Academy of Art.
Appointed Distinguished Professor and Tie-Dye Master at Luohe Vocational Technology College, where he established the Zhu Xinwei Tie-Dye Master Studio and took eight university teachers as his disciples.
At the China Academy of Art, gave a hands-on tie-dye class to thirty graduate students from Zhejiang University, the China Academy of Art, Zhejiang University of Technology and Zhejiang Conservatory of Music; took as his disciple Zhang Bo, then a master’s student at the China Academy of Art.
Took part in “Carrying On Intangible Cultural Heritage: Exhibition of Fine Traditional Zhejiang Costume,” organized by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and the Zhejiang Folk Artists Association.
Henan Province and the city of Luohe each established a Zhu Xinwei Tie-Dye Master Studio at Luohe Vocational Technology College.
Gave a lecture for the Fine Arts Department of Luohe Vocational Technology College and took three university teachers as his disciples.
His work “In the Spring Light” was shown in “Shaping the Future — 2018 Art Carnival: The First Large-Scale Multidisciplinary New Year Exhibition.”
At Nanchang University, gave the lecture “The Transmission and Development of the Four Great Resist-Dyeing Arts of Ancient China” for faculty and students of the Fashion and Apparel program.
“Unraveling Silk into Patterns,” co-authored with Zhang Bo, was published by The Commercial Press.
Gave the lecture “The Transmission and Development of the Four Great Resist-Dyeing Arts of Ancient China” at the Sino-French Joint College of Ningbo University.
Established the Zhu Xinwei Teaching and Experimental Base at the Jiufeng Mountain sketching base in Henan.
“A New World of Tie-Dye” was published by Elephant Press; a book launch was held in June at Damei Creative Park, Hangzhou.
Led a seven-day tie-dye training course at the Jiufeng Mountain teaching and experimental base, taking two disciples.
Appointed a member of the Steering Committee for the High-Level Specialty Cluster (Fashion and Apparel Design) in Higher Vocational Education of Jiangsu Province; that same month, served as an instructor for the provincial training program for primary and secondary school teachers.
Went to Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts & Technology to guide its fiber art courses and the technical skills of its teachers, taking five teachers as his disciples; returned for a further term in February 2023.
Went to the School of Architecture and Design at Nanchang University to guide fiber art teaching, and gave the lecture “Beginning with Fiber: The Road to Fashion.”
Holds the exhibition “From Antiquity — Through the Present — Into the Future: Tie-Dye Art by Zhu Xinwei” at the Nanchang University Art Museum.
Held the twenty-day “Welcoming the Asian Games — Zhu Xinwei Tie-Dye Art Exhibition” at Gaoqiao Zhongyi Cultural and Creative Park, Hangzhou.
His work was shown in the First Macao Abstract Art Exhibition.
Obtained a national invention patent in collaboration with Xu Lü of Shanghai University of Engineering Science.
Gave the lecture “Jiaoxie: An Intangible Cultural Heritage among the Four Great Textile Resist-Dyeing Arts of Ancient China” to incoming students at Hangzhou City University.
“A New World of Tie-Dye” was selected as one of the 100 recommended books of the 12th “Reading for All · Books for March 8th” campaign, and one of ten in the literature and art category.
Gave the lecture “Jiaoxie: An Intangible Cultural Heritage among the Four Great Textile Resist-Dyeing Arts of Ancient China” at Shanghai University of Engineering Science.
Began serving as a project consultant for the “Eighty Li of Splendid Jiangnan” scenic area in Tongxiang.
Gave the academic lecture “Intangible Cultural Heritage, Transmission and Innovation: Exploring a New World of Tie-Dye” as part of the “Campus of Books” classic reading series at the Xiangshan Library of the China Academy of Art.
Assisted the Zhejiang Folk Artists Association in establishing joint teaching and experimental bases between “Jinxiu Tiandi” and the textile and fashion programs of several colleges.
Taught an intangible cultural heritage tie-dye training course for surplus rural labor, jointly organized by Hangzhou Vocational & Technical College and Xucun Adult School.
CCTV “News Live Room” aired footage of the free public tie-dye course he taught at Jiufeng Mountain, Henan, in 2021.
His work was selected for the Zhejiang Folk Artists Association’s 2025 Members’ Exhibition, “Tides Surging on the Qiantang, Art Surging in the East,” and he received the Association’s 2025 “Nurturing Talent Award.” At the Jiufeng Mountain sketching base in Sishang Village, Ruzhou, Henan, he held a three-day free public course in plant dyeing and intangible-heritage tie-dye, taking four disciples; Henan Daily devoted a full-page feature to the event.
Gave the lecture “Intangible Cultural Heritage, Transmission and Innovation: Exploring a New World of Tie-Dye” at Zhejiang Financial College.
From the dyeing and weaving laboratory at the China Academy of Art, to university classrooms in Luohe, Nanchang and Wuxi, to the rural sketching base at Jiufeng Mountain in Henan, Zhu Xinwei has carried tie-dye into higher education — and back to the countryside.
Over the years he has taken on more than twenty disciples, most of them university teachers. At Luohe Vocational Technology College he has master studios at the college, municipal and provincial levels, and he has lectured at universities in many places on “The Four Great Resist-Dyeing Arts of Ancient China.”
On-site photographs are from public reports by Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Nanchang University and Luohe Vocational Technology College.
Zhu Xinwei and Zhang Bo · The Commercial Press · 2019
Taking Zhu Xinwei’s tie-dye works as examples, the book traces the historical lineage of tie-dye, its creative process and its sources of inspiration, and publishes for the first time more than two hundred modern tie-dye patterns of his own creation.
Zhu Xinwei · Elephant Press · 2021
Beginning with the tie-dye techniques of dot, line and plane, and drawing on the principles of design composition, the book offers a systematic introduction to creating with and applying tie-dye. In 2023 it was selected as a recommended book of “Reading for All · Books for March 8th.”
From antiquity — through the present — into the future
Beginning with traditional tie-dye — toward fashion — toward art