Global Call for Entries: 2025 “Yi Embroidery Breeding Creativity” Trendy Chinese Art-Inspired Design Competition

I. Introduction to the Competition

Yi embroidery is both a historical gem and a cultural treasure

While fashion is considered a trend of the times and an expression of individuality

Yi embroidery brings together fashion, design, home furnishing, art, and Chinese animation

—it is cross-platform, cross-scene, cross-brand, and cross-dimensional

It is also a cross-border linkage that inspires collaboration and re-creation around the world

Their combination not only breathes new verve into this intangible cultural heritage

But also makes the millennium-spanning Yi embroidery a sensation in the cross-realm creative design community

Let’s draw inspiration from this gem to create an endless stream of creative, cross-realm products that are novel, insightful, and heartwarming

2025 “Yi Embroidery Breeding Creativity” Trendy Chinese Art-inspired Design Competition launches globally!

II. Introduction to Liangshan’s Yi Embroidery

Liangshan’s Yi embroidery, an ancient and gorgeous art, is recognized as one of the National-level representative projects of intangible cultural heritage, which has been passed down from generation to generation through both fingertips and hearts. This art, characterized by intense colors, bold techniques, harmonious patterns, and a full, unrestrained style, embodies the Yi people’s reverence for nature, passion for life, and pursuit of beauty, and projects the Yi people’s totem worship and folk customs. It shimmers with national wisdom and culture. Yi embroidery is a part of the Yi culture that has been inherited through history. With its diverse cultural and ecological landscapes, it is a unique embroidery art amongst ethnic groups.

The patterns that Liangshan’s Yi embroidery adopts are predominantly inspired by nature and daily life. Common animal patterns include the horns of goats, sheep, and buffaloes, along with eyes of animals, birds, and beasts; its botanical patterns feature a variety of flowers, grasses, trees, and seeds; and nature-inspired patterns are designed based on mountains, rivers, thunder, and lightning. In addition to these elements, Yi embroidery contains geometric lines and shapes. In terms of colors, Yi embroidery presents strong chromatic contrasts by combining a black fabric background with vibrant colors such as red, green, and purple. Noted for its large size, high density, and meticulous craftsmanship, Yi embroidery is also a decoration of traditional Yi attire—including headscarves, floral embroidered hats, collars, epaulettes, attire fronts, cuffs, sashes, capes, and skirt trims, as well as daily necessities like crossbody bags, triangular pouches, sewing kits, and sachets. Hence, this art form is praised as an artistic rarity among ethnic embroideries.

III. Theme of the Competition

2025 “Yi Embroidery Breeding Creativity” Trendy Chinese Art-Inspired Design Competition

IV. Scope of Works

Works demonstrate the aesthetic essence of Yi embroidery; explore and refine the artistic elements of Yi embroidery in a comprehensive and multi-dimensional fashion; be designed based on Yi embroidery’s patterns, colors, cultural connotations, and other related elements; emphasize the in-depth development of the competition’s theme and innovative thinking of cultures; stress design’s originality, fashionable nature, comprehensiveness, and cross-realm integration; present a systematic, complete visual design plan or artwork; and exhibit the unique artistic charm and profound culture of Liangshan’s Yi embroidery.

Submissions include, but are not limited to: brand collaboration and crossover; clothing and accessories (clothing, jewelry, cosmetic products, dyeing and weaving products, shoes, hats, etc.); product design (home design, furniture design, culturally creative products, industrial products, packaging design, etc.); graphic creativity (logos, posters, stickers, illustrations, comics, etc.); creative proposals (a complete creative idea and scheme for Yi embroidery’s global publicity); and digital art (digital paintings, digital images or videos, and interactive designs). Static digital art should be submitted as JPG files with a resolution of at least 300 dpi. For dynamic visual works, after submitting a JPG file, the entrant is also required to submit a description of the work and an introductory video no longer than 2 minutes. The file size should not exceed 50 Mbs, and be in MP4 file format.

V. Entrants

Renowned brands both domestically and internationally, designers, artists, teachers and students from colleges and universities, and enthusiastic devotees of cultural heritage and oriental aesthetic culture are all welcome to enter.

VI. Competition Schedule

Open to submissions: May 16 to June 30, 2025

Online voting: July 1 to July 7, 2025

Judging review: July 5 to July 7, 2025

Work announcement and production adaptation: July 8 to August 15, 2025

VII. Submission Requirements

1. Works should be submitted in electronic or physical form.

2. Sketches, drawings, etc. can be either computer-generated or hand drawn.

3. Works are required to be the size of A4 paper, have a resolution of 300 dpi, and be in JPG format with clarity. Multiple drawings can be submitted for one set of works.

4. Each work must be accompanied by corresponding design sketches and detailed design concepts for subsequent product promotion and publicity. The files of the works should be named as follows: Entrant Name + Work Name + Country or Region.

5. Submission Channels

6. Contact Information for the Organizing Committee

Tel.: 028 - 86966627

E-mail: SICCChinaofficial@gmail.com

VIII. Works Review and Selection

The contest will feature a jury assessing entries (with a scoring weight of 70%) and a web poll gauging market popularity (with a scoring weight of 30%).

IX. Award Setting

（I） Cash Prizes and Certificates of Award

Gold Award: 1 place—the winner will be awarded with a cash prize of RMB 30,000, a trophy, and a certificate of award.

Silver Award: 2 places—each winner will be awarded with a cash prize of RMB 20,000, a trophy, and a certificate of award.

Bronze Award: 3 places—each winner will be awarded with a cash prize of RMB 10,000, a trophy, and a certificate of award.

Excellence Award: 10 places—each winner will be awarded with a cash prize of RMB 1,000, a trophy, and a certificate of award.

（II） Benefits for All the Award Winners

1. The award-winning works that are selected for commercialization will be developed and promoted for sale both online and offline across China. In addition to the cash prizes, the award-winning designers will share revenue from the product sales.

2. The award winners will gain publicity and support from brand media and collaborating institutions that will utilize their resources to promote the works.

3. The award-winning works will be used in image displays at events, such as international exhibitions and exchange meetings.

Join us to define a global trend using the millennium-spanning Yi embroidery craftsmanship!

(III) Points of Attention:

1. Design works must be original and not plagiarized. If there is any infringement of copyrights, all legal responsibilities and consequences shall be borne by the entrant.

2. The copyrights of all submitted works are jointly owned by the organizing institutions and entrant. The organizing institutions have the right to use all submitted works for any form of promotional activities, such as media promotion, exhibitions, and publications, without the need to obtain the entrant’s consent.

3. All submitted works must not be entered into other competitions or commercial collaborations for a period of six months.