CURIO CRAFT NYC
  • Home
  • Gallery
  • About
  • Contact
  • Sign In
  • Create Account

  • Orders
  • My Account
  • Signed in as:

  • filler@godaddy.com


  • Orders
  • My Account
  • Sign out

CURIO CRAFT NYC

Signed in as:

filler@godaddy.com

  • Home
  • Gallery
  • About
  • Contact

Account


  • Orders
  • My Account
  • Sign out


  • Sign In
  • Orders
  • My Account

About the artist

Hazel Yan (b. 1993, China) is a craft-informed artist who primarily works with leather and skins as her materials. She holds an MA/MS in Innovation Design Engineering from the Royal College of Art, UK, and has been trained in traditional Florentine cuoietto leather molding techniques as well as leather bark tanning methods. Through her works, Hazel explores ways to amplify the intrinsic complex connotations associated with skins through a contemporary approach to sculpture and object-making. Her artistic practice and research center on themes such as powerlessness and indifference, identity struggles, and modern cruelty. 

Techniques

Inspired by the "cuoietto" techniques passed down through generations of Florentine craftsmen, I treat leather with water, heat, and wax to achieve structural strength and a buttery shine.


Creating each piece requires a delicate balance of time, humidity, and heat control. Combined with the subtle structural difference in leather fibers, each process has a level of unpredictability where nature takes over.

Materials

Vegetable-tanned (veg-tan) leather refers to animal hide tanned using extracts from plant materials such as oak bark and spruce bark, rather than harsh chemicals like chromium salts. This is one of the oldest and most traditional methods of tanning leather.


The natural beauty of veg-tan leather requires minimal surface coating, making it more breathable and suitable for techniques like wet molding. Over time, veg-tan leather develops a beautiful patina, with marks that make each piece truly one of a kind.

Instagram

Copyright © 2025 Curio Craft - All Rights Reserved.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions

Powered by

This website uses cookies.

We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.

Accept