Yiwen Jia’s original idea was to study Chinese calligraphy, but a TV competition on fashion design made her change her mind. After a BA in knit design at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, Jia moved to Tokyo to complete an MA in womenswear at Bunka Fashion College. “The design industry is very complete in Japan; there are many more courses than in China,” says the designer, who doesn’t regret for a second moving abroad. “In the two years I spent at school, I did 23 sets of clothes, countless cutting exercises and hundreds of clothing renderings. I was tired in the end, but I did learn what I wanted to learn.”