Artist, architect, designer, creative prodigy – Yu Jordy Fu is arguably one of today’s most promising young Chinese creative talents writes Nikki Busuttil.

Yu Jordy Fu, known to her friends as ‘Jordy’, held her very first solo exhibition at the Beijing Capital Museum when she was only 6. Then at 16, she was accepted to St Martin’s College of Art and Design, London, where she obtained a first-class degree in Spatial Design. “I felt a kind of awakening there – no limitations anymore,” says Jordy.

Realising she wanted to use her artistic talent to benefit others, Jordy turned to architecture, graduating from the Royal College of Art, London, with an MA in Architecture. By the age of 20, Jordy had already published 2 books of her work.

Project with dwp – FTV F Hotel Concept, Diamond Guestroom.

Her CV covers an impressive list of top-notch design firms, including Future Systems, SOM, Ralph Appelbaum Associates and, today, dwp, where she serves as creative director for their Thailand office.

Project with dwp – Lilanz Creative Centre, China.

Her current projects with dwp, which span the globe, include the Lilanz Creative Centre project in Jinjiang, China (see our coverage here), in which Jordy says her aim was to “integrate and fuse art and architecture”.

Project with dwp – Xtep masterplan, China.

The 29-year-old has also occupied some of the world’s most influential art spaces and exhibitions: the Tate Modern, Venice Biennale, Milan Furniture Fair, 100% Design London, Brit Insurance Design Awards, as well as other installations in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and currently Bloomberg London, just to name a few.

‘Cloud Passerelle’ at the Brit Insurance Design Awards.

One of Jordy’s most recognisable (and frequently featured!) works is her collection of large- and smaller-scale handcrafted paper-cut chandeliers, including the famous Cloud Lamps, all of which are made using recycled paper. Depicting parks, shopping malls, playgrounds and cities, each hand-cut piece is unique.

Cloud Lamps

‘Family’ Project at the 2006 Venice Architecture Biennale.

For Jordy, art and architecture are inextricably intertwined. “Most people think artists only produce works that go into someone’s home or a gallery, while architects build boxes. I aspire to build beautiful things that can engage emotions, like artworks do.”

For more on Jordy’s work, visit www.jordyfu.com.