Its design team is inspired by Chinese culture and extracts meaningful elements from poems, festivals and customs to set a theme for each year's products.

To become more competitive in the global market, the brand is focusing on using Chinese handicrafts for expression and is open to cultures from other countries, Xie says.

The brand now has five product categories: accessories, handbags, women's wear, lifestyle and gifts. To reach more customers with different spending powers, there are two series for women's wear, namely ready-to-wear and haute couture.

"For customers looking for haute couture, Tangxindan offers a full-customization taking three to six months from design to sample testing until the final product is ready, and a half-customization of less than three months to adjust a ready-to-wear dress according to customer requirements," Xie says.

The products are sold in the brand's showrooms, multi-brand boutiques and online stores.

The brand is created by a young design team with an "international vision" and dozens of experienced craftspeople from the museum or inheritors of intangible cultural heritage. Wu, one of the co-founders, graduated from the University of the Arts London.

Xie says Wu's work, supported by her expertise in textile, is artistic and expressive that are vital for the innovation of traditional handicrafts.

"There is no making without breaking," Xie says.

She says traditional handicrafts will evolve in the future.