Yao Huifen was Born 1967 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province to a family of embroiderers. She has been a profession embroiderer for the last 40 years. She is representative of Su Embroidery and is known as a Su Xiu artist. This style of embroidery is included in China’s State-Level Non-Material Cultural Heritage List. Suzhou or “Su” embroidery is one of the oldest embroidery techniques in the world, with origins stretching back more than 2,000 years.

Yao Huifen was awarded as Master of Chinese Embroidery Art and she is also a fourth generation embroider of Shen Shou “the god of needles”. She has been awarded dozens of times on a national level in art and craft sector and had won the highest Shanhua price in Chinese folk-art award. Her works have been collected by The British Museum; University College London Art Museum; Boston Children’s Mueum; The China National Silk Museum; Suzhou Museum as well as private collectors such as the former US president George W. Bush and Chinese-American architect I.M.Pei.

Yao Huifen along with her younger sister Yao Huiqin formed her own embroidery team named “Xiu Niang Tuandui”. Collaborating with many artists, she has invented her own signature embroidery method: Jian Xiu Zhen or simplified embroidery needles. In 2017, Yao and her team’s 34 contemporary Su Embroidery works were selected and exhibited in the “China Pavilion of the 57th Venice Art Biennale”. She currently lives and works in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.

The White Rabbit Collection is one of the world’s most extensive and significant collections of contemporary art from China. With a focus on works created since the year 2000, the Collection contains almost 3,000 works by over 750 artists and continues to expand. Note that when you click on the link below you will be forwarded to the White Rabbit Collection website.

Explore the work of Yao Huifen in the collection database