Skip to content
Yitong Zhang - Contemporary Metal Artist, Jeweller and Researcher

About

Yitong Zhang is a multi-award-winning object maker, craft practitioner, researcher and poet in metal.

Prior to her doctoral study, Yitong graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2022 and the Glasgow School of Art with first-class honours in 2020, also travelling for an academic exchange to the California College of the Arts. Yitong’s artistic practice and research have spanned over 6 countries through exhibitions, curations, lectures, symposiums and workshops. In 2021, Yitong held a transdisciplinary exhibition in collaboration with 6 well-known Chinese poets, ‘Jewellery is a Poem’, in Beijing, which sparked her research interests in questioning the extent to which the principles and methods of poetry might offer insights for contemporary metal art practice.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

2024-   PhD, Design, The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK

2020-2022   MA, Jewellery & Metal, Royal College of Art, London, UK

2017-2020   BA (First-class Honours), Silversmithing & Jewellery, The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK

08-12/2018   Exchange, Jewellery & Metal Arts, Ceramics, California College of the Arts, USA

2016-2017   Foundation, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China

HONOURS & AWARDS

2024   Nominated for Contemporary Cutlery Design Award, The Cutler’s Company, London

2023   Goldsmiths’ Craft & Design Council Award, Silver Award (3D Smallworkers section), London

2022   Nominated for Graham Hughes Award, Royal College of Art, London

2021   Behrens Foundation Bursary Award, Royal College of Art, London

2021   MA Dissertation Distinction, Archived by Royal College of Art Library

2020   New Designers: Goldsmiths’ Company Silversmithing Award, London

2020   Finalist for Visual Arts Scotland Graduate Showcase 2020, Glasgow

2020   Goldsmiths’ Craft & Design Council Award, Bronze Award (2D Smallworkers section), London

2019   Nominated for Outstanding Student of the Year Award, The Incorporation of Goldsmiths, Edinburgh

2018   Travel Bursary Award, Friends of the Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow

2017   International Foundation Course Programme Scholarship, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

11/2025   Vertical, Horizontal and Spiral – Puyuan International Contemporary Jewellery Art and Design Biennale, Puyuan Town, CN

11/2025   Re-inspired

09/2025   Pangolin London, UK

03/2025   Munich Jewellery Week, Museum Mineralogia München, DE

04/2025   St Michael’s Church, Linlithgow, UK

11/2024   A Poem to be Worn, Jinjing Gallery, Shanghai, CN

09/2024   Alloy – Contemporary Craft Exhibition, Alsolike Gallery, London, UK

06/2024   Hybrid, the Haberdashery, Glasgow, UK

10/2023   Art within Reach, APSMuseum, Shanghai, CN

09/2023   Whispers of Objects – ‘Fear & Love’ International Exhibition for Contemporary Jewellery, International Contemporary Jewellery Centre, Shanghai, CN

05/2023   The Awards Exhibition, the Goldsmiths’ Centre, London, UK

03/2023   Ever Changes – Contemporary Metal Crafts, China Guardian Auctions, Changzhou, CN

03/2023   The Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council Awards Exhibition, Goldsmiths’ Hall, London & Birmingham Assay Office, Birmingham, UK

12/2022   Longbai No.16 Club, Xinse Art Museum, Shanghai, CN

2022–24   Silver Triennial International

10/2023   Museum Zons, Dormagen, DE

08/2023   DIVA Museum for Diamonds, Jewellery and Silver, Antwerp, BE

04/2023   Silberwarenmuseum Ott-Pausersche Fabrik, Schwäbisch Gmünd, DE

02/2023   Inhorgenta Munich, Messe München, Munich, DE

10/2022   Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus, Hanau, DE

06/2022   RCA 2022 Graduate Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK

05/2022   Absent Traces, Barge House, London Craft Week, London, UK

04/2022   In Process, Pump House Gallery, London, UK

11/2021   The 25 Stories, B.R. Gallery, Beijing, CN

10/2021   Beijing International Jewellery Art Exhibition, Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, Beijing, CN

09/2021   Jewellery is a Poem – Contemporary Poetry and Jewellery Exhibition, Amazing Words Bookstore, Beijing, CN

07/2021   The Extraordinary Ordinary – Contemporary Craft Exhibition, AN+ Art & Design Centre, Shenzhen, CN

06/2021   Integration: Ancient & Modern – China International Contemporary Metal Art Exhibition, World Handicraft Industry Exposition Park, Shanghai, CN

04/2021   Beautiful!? – Contemporary Jewellery and Object Exhibition, B.R. Gallery, Beijing, CN

01/2021   WIP Show, Royal College of Art, Online

01/2021   Graduation Works Exhibition of Chinese Students from the Glasgow School of Art, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, CN

12/2020   Art and Design Education: FutureLab, Art West Bund, Shanghai, CN

10/2020   National Intangible Cultural Heritage Heqing Silverware Forging Skills Exhibition, Prince Kung’s Mansion, Beijing, CN

09/2020   Metal Narrative – International Metal Art Exhibition, Beijing Design Week, The China Millennium Monument, Beijing, CN

07/2020   Graduate Showcase 2020, Visual Arts Scotland, Online

05/2020   The Glasgow School of Art Degree Show, Online

02/2020   The Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council Awarded Works Exhibition, Goldsmiths’ Hall, London, UK

11/2019   Itami International Jewellery Exhibition, The Museum of Arts & Crafts Itami, Itami, JP

04/2019   Splendour, The Reid Gallery, The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK

04/2018   Facets, Art School, The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK

05/2017   Launching, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, CN

CURATION

02/2026   Transforma(c)tion: Matter Dialogues, Inhorgenta & Munich Jewellery Week, Museum Mineralogia München, DE

09/2024   Alloy – Contemporary Craft Exhibition, Alsolike Gallery, London, UK

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

06/2025   Presenter, School of Design Doctoral Studies Symposium, The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK

03/2025   Presenter & Representative of the Glasgow School of Art, International PhD Day, Munich Jewellery Week, Handwerkskammer Rheinhessen & Galerie Handwerk, Munich, Germany

12/2024   Presenter, Research Degrees Training Program Symposium, The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK

10/2024   Guest Lecturer, Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts of Shanghai University, China

2023-2024   Artist in Residence, The Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, UK

11/2022   Guest Lecturer, Shenzhen Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, China