Cheung Bo Yin - Chinese Knot Artist
August 2016

Cheung shares her design ideas and motivation for creating Chinese knots over the many years.
Interview and photos by Lily So

What are Chinese knots?

It originates from China, and “Chinese knots” is the general name for all the knots tied in a similar manner. Most of the knots look the same from the front and back side. However, some do not. For example, Huandai knot (a knot fixed on the belts of women of ancient China) looks like a hash sign (#) from the front and an equals sign (=) from the back.

The string is simply called Chinese knot string. I like the quality of the strings from Taiwan. The strings used in the past, which cannot be found now, were more stiff, since it was a string wrapped within another string. The new type of string is much softer. Knots made with new string will be too flat and it cannot be comparable to those made with stiffer strings. I bought some of my strings 20 or 30 years ago but I am still using them.

It is not difficult to tie one knot, but it is when adding different knots to the same work and tying the “outer and inner ears” into the structure of other knots.

How are the traditional knots named?

Each knot should be given a name that brings good luck or conveys a meaningful message. People usually name the knots based on their appearance and the structure. But each traditional knot has its own name, and should not be randomly re-named.

For example, “Kat Hing Jau Yu” (吉慶有餘). It is a knot that consists of three different knots: Auspicious knot, Hing knot and Fish knot.

Hing means “celebrate (慶)”. A Hing knot actually looks like the Chinese musical instrument Hing 磬 but it shares the same pronunciation with Hing (celebrate 慶) . Therefore Hing knot is used to represent the word "celebrate” (慶).

The three knots represent different words in the name and combine to be “Kat Hing Jau Yu” (吉慶有餘).

How do you design and name your work?

I usually mix Chinese and Western elements in my work and include new materials such as accessories. I also consider the usage of a work and make different kinds of decisions before working on knots.

Nowadays, people can come up with their own names when their work is composed of different traditional knots. I name my work mainly based on the appearance.

If I am going to make a large-sized knot (which is formed by lots of knots), I need to think about the composition of the knot first. Therefore I draw a design draft to arrange the positions and the combination of knots. By doing this, I can achieve an aesthetic design of the work. Lastly, I will make up a name for the work. Sometimes I work the other way around and consider the meaning of the work first. Suppose that I want to give my work as a birthday gift, then I will choose the knots with lucky wishes affiliated with birthdays. Then I design the pattern of the knot. I choose different methods depending on the nature of the work.

I always think that the knot plays a supporting role in the whole work. Instead, the accessories such as beads should be the center of the work. Once I decide on the major role, I think about how the knot can match with the accessories. Some people do not see knots as being refined art. However, I think it depends on the use of accessories and the combination of all the elements to make the work look complete. To me, it is difficult to make knots as the only element of a work unless it is a very tiny one or a large one for display. A small-sized work cannot bring much profit and I cannot spare several months to complete one large knot. Most of my work is produced by variations of the basic traditional knots . I can prove to the students that there are countless possibilities on top of traditional types.

In addition, I think it is better to leave enough string at the end than to have to little string, and the surplus strings of the design can be tied into other knots .

Cheung’s work: