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沫彤

@mo___tong

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@moderndayalchemist_ @nonessential.necessity

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The near-identical CE marks—one representing Conformité Européenne, the other China Export—become a contemporary ornament, blurring the boundaries between symbol and decoration, value and recognition, familiarity and suspicion.

In the twentieth century, China underwent radical transformation, eventually emerging as the “world’s factory” through its integration into global production networks. Yet, while Chinese manufacturing becomes materially ubiquitous, its presence often remains visually obscured behind familiar global brands.

The “Made in China” label becomes an image in itself, marking an object as both desirable and suspect, echoing the chinoiserie motifs once used to ornament export porcelain. The rise of Temu captures this tension: Chinese consumer capitalism is suddenly reframed as alien and threatening, despite the Western consumer culture and global supply chains on which it is built.

W1200 L180 H220 mm

photos by @liuzhiyueeeeee_ 🙆🏻‍♀️ by @mo___tong

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3 days ago

Symbols are somehow the new ornaments of today, they become patterns when repeated. The illustrations engraved on this box is drawn from historical export paintings mainly sold to Europeans when they visited China in the 18th century, while importing tea, porcelain and silk overseas, these paintings showing how things were made were particularly popular.

While now the reels on social media, showing factory owners trying to make eye-catching videos to attract customers overseas is doing similar effect.

320*200*120mm by @mo___tong

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11 days ago

Concept for the future mobile device with @ecal_ch & @google

Each individual app is brought back to its physical form beyond the screen, making tools and experiences on the phone more tactile.

Partially from my nostalgia with these childhood phone charms collected overtime, as well as being consciously aware of what we need from our phones; how they remain devices of personality while assisting daily tasks without endless options.

Under guidance of @chris_kabel with assistant @yo.off 🐝

photos by @minmmm2o by @mo___tong

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13 days ago

These lacquered cardboard boxes are a contemporary response to the 18th century cabinet on stands, made by artisan from canton for the western market.

It’s asking how commodities carry ideology, and how political and cultural meanings circulate through consumer goods. How furniture used to be image-bearing objects historically and what symbolism and data are replacing ornaments that carry narratives today.

Engraved illustrations are made from gathered newspaper, propaganda posters, historical export paintings and social media feeds.

L985 W385 H612

Diploma @ecal_ch with guidance from @camillebien @brynjarsigurdarson @chris_kabel @yo.off 🪽🧡

photos by @gaiapierobon ! by @mo___tong

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3 months ago

Terms of Trade, diploma @ecal_ch , 2026

Cardboard, Pigmented lacquer, Okoume ply
L480 × W350 × H340

Photos by @gaiapierobon by @mo___tong

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4 months ago

Thinking about boxes and how to occupy a room.
Each box accompanies an activity to take place, making tea, arranging things, playing mahjong. They are my non-essential necessities 💨

800*800*280 mm when combined

photos @elisa.hampe 👼🏻 by @mo___tong

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6 months ago

Some pages from my thesis <fucntional /& ornaments> developed during last year at écal, it started as a visual research collecting images of things that resist immediate legibility—things whose purpose is recognisable but not entirely exhausted by use, where function coexists with ambiguity.

These objects trace how ornament was marginalised alongside craft through industrial rationalisation, colonial hierarchies of taste, and modernist ideals of reduction. It then considers ornament’s reappearance within postmodern and post-structural contexts, where objects operate simultaneously as tools, symbols, and points of connection.

Thank you @anniina.koivu @brynjarsigurdarson @paula_muehlena for the guidance and support along the way, and @xleetype for the graphic design 🌟

Typeface: Dialectic by Lucas Portron, Cover Grotesk by Xiang-Xiang Lee by @mo___tong

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6 months ago

Customised box cabinet for Clytie’s books and treasures 🔮💌📔💝💿

aluminium and paint, 2000*350*550

photo by @clytiebaobao <333
best feeling to see them living in your home 💕🏠 by @mo___tong

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7 months ago

study model of boxes that one needs for a room

paper and tape

shoot by the best @gaiapierobon 🌠 by @mo___tong

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8 months ago

🟣⚪️ by @mo___tong

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10 months ago

scanned veneer collages by @mo___tong

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10 months ago

Few months ago @13b.gallery asked if I would like to make some frames.

What is a frame framing and what are we looking at in a frame? I I wanted to make a frame where you can look at memories, yourself, and look through the frame to see the view behind.

It’s a frame to be hung on the wall, unfold to make a small room between the planes. Where things could be stored and attached. When it folds in completely, it’s the size of A3 paper to be carried in an envelope.

Magnetised and mirror polished stainless steel panels with friction hinges.

thank you @13b.gallery @zarrsha @oneeeeee_c for the fun task and bring it back home to Beijing ❤️ by @mo___tong

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a year ago