Goldsmiths’ Craft & Design Council Awards 2025

Chelsea Xiaoyu Li (b.1998, China) lives and works in London. Li began her artistic journey with painting in childhood and spent years honing her skills through professional training. With over 8 years of experience in jewellery making, Li refined her craft and completed her Master’s in Jewellery & Metal at the Royal College of Art in 2023.

Li’s works have been featured in Marie Claire, ELLE, BAZAAR, CHINA GEMS, London Craft Week, and London Fashion Week. In 2025, Li was awarded the Gold Award by the Goldsmiths' Craft & Design Council in the UK.

Li’s practice honours the natural forms of stone, exploring the fluidity of culture and identity through carving, guided by the stone’s inherent form. By engaging with stone and its cultural lineages, Li’s work reflects a nuanced understanding of the histories and identities, embedded in vernacular craftsmanship. Informed by personal experience, historical memory, and diverse perspectives shaped by regional differences, Li’s works transcend geographical and cultural boundaries, evoking resonances between material and human experience. They explore the ambiguities of belonging and identity, offering a reflective meditation on the interplay between individual and collective selves.