Embroidery artist Nien Pi-hua reinterprets historical techniques｜Taiwan News

Today, we are meeting Taiwanese embroidery artist Nien Pi-hua. She has dedicated herself to this art for nearly 40 years and she received the National Crafts Achievement Award in 2023. She is currently holding an exhibition in Taipei. FTV reporter Stephany Yang spoke to Nien to find out more about her work.

This work was inspired by an embroidery pattern from 1617. Embroidery artist Nien Pi-hua has utilized an appliqué method to complete it.

Nien Pi-hua
Embroidery artist
This is European embroidery from 1617. I selected it from an embroidery pattern in a church, and then transformed it through my own technique. The main thing is to showcase embroidery stitching techniques from the Middle Ages and their uses. During the Middle Ages, people liked to do embroidery on precious silk or velvet. However, these fabrics are too light, so I embroidered it on other fabrics first, then used an appliqué method to cut out the pattern and paste it on the desired place on the cloth. This piece was made that way.

Another work consists of nine embroidery works on wood. It features images of objects and scenery from Nien’s daily life.

Nien Pi-hua
Embrodiery artist
Nine pieces of embroidery were made on wooden boards. This is a mobile phone interface that I use every day, combined with my traditional embroidery and traditional embroidery stitches from around the world.

Nien received the National Crafts Achievement Award in 2023, becoming the first woman to win the highest honor in Taiwan’s crafts sector. She has dedicated herself to embroidery for nearly 40 years. Her style combines classical elements with contemporary innovation, merging different techniques. She also experiments with handicrafts and painting in her embroidery work and combines different materials for the recreation of wearable embroidery and metalwork jewelry. She hopes to preserve traditional techniques and also introduce innovative ways of embroidery.

Nien Pi-hua
Embroidery artist
I think embroidery should move from daily life to an ideal state. This ideal state is cultural heritage and should be passed down. So I work hard to preserve traditional embroidery. I hope to open up many different paths, so I also made embroidered jewelry. I thought that small things were easy to complete in the modern day of industrialization, so I created them. Each piece represents my mood or what I learned.

Her exhibit will be held at the Mongolian and Tibetan Gallery till May 18, 2025.

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