neo-o-old is a cultural platform that connects global design with Eastern craft.

Founded by designer CHEN Min, neo-o-old operates through an annual Design Residency Program, inviting designers from around the world to work directly within Chinese workshops.

Through close collaboration with local artisans, these residencies explore how taste—shaped by material, making, and time—can be reinterpreted in a contemporary context.

Each project results in a body of work that may include limited-edition art pieces, design archives, and curated exhibitions, allowing Chinese aesthetics to be understood not as heritage alone, but as a living language of today.

Beyond individual projects, neo-o-old functions as a long-term cultural exchange platform, connecting collectors, brands, and cultural institutions.

Through co-creation and exhibitions, it fosters an ongoing global dialogue between craft and design.

The name neo-o-old is formed from the combination of “neo” and “old.” “Neo” stands for innovation, while “old” carries the weight of time.

The three “o”s symbolize the dissolving boundaries between art, craft, and design, where overlap and intersection allow new forms of expression to emerge.

We believe that the new and the old are not opposites, but reflections of one another.

As an ongoing cultural project, neo-o-old is concerned with both design as a creative practice and culture as a space of exchange, and is committed to advancing a global dialogue between craft and design.

Cultural Residency

As a design-led practice, neo-o-old develops its Cultural Residency Program by bringing international designers and artists into Chinese workshops and production sites.

Working within real making environments, participants engage directly with material, time, and technique—confronting both the sensitivity and the demands of craft.

This process gives each neo-o-old work an irreplaceable sense of place and cultural depth.

Each residency represents a process of renewed understanding.

Through observation and hands-on practice, artists from different cultural backgrounds work alongside Chinese artisans to explore the possibilities of culture and creation within a contemporary context.

These processes are then translated into works, films, and exhibitions, forming an archive that records how culture is reactivated through practice.

Design Co-Creation

Rooted in China’s rich cultural landscape, neo-o-old draws on the country’s diverse traditions of craft and material to invite designers and artists from around the world to explore and carry forward the essence of Eastern ways of living.

The project begins with research, advances through dialogue, and takes shape through co-creation, allowing art, design, and craft to inform one another through repeated practice and, over time, to form new cultural languages.

To date, neo-o-old has conducted research into more than 45 forms of Chinese intangible cultural heritage and has collaborated with 66 master artisans and inheritors, continuing to support the regeneration and extension of traditional techniques within contemporary contexts.

Narrative Enablement

neo-o-old extends each creative process into an open form of cultural presentation.

Through thematic exhibitions, co-branded limited-edition art releases, immersive documentaries, and other formats, it helps partner brands construct cultural narratives—bringing Eastern taste into global view.

By doing so, neo-o-old enables brands to articulate their cultural backgrounds and aesthetic positions with greater clarity and tangibility.

Eastern value thus moves beyond craft alone, entering the global landscape through a contemporary language.