BOO and Walkthecatt bring Taiwan’s decorative tile heritage to London Design Festival 2026

Taiwanese fashion brand BOO and London-based Taiwanese artist Yung Hsuan Wang, known as Walkthecatt, are presenting Tiled Reverie as part of London Design Festival 2026. Announced in London on 12 September, the exhibition brings Taiwan’s decorative tile heritage into contemporary fashion and fine art through original textile prints, artworks and wearable design.

The project looks at how traditional decorative motifs can move beyond architecture and take on new meanings through clothing and art. BOO translates historical references into graphic textile prints and contemporary silhouettes, while Wang presents original artworks alongside the fashion pieces.

From architectural decoration to wearable design

Decorative tiles became a familiar feature of Taiwanese homes and architectural spaces in the early twentieth century. Floral, geometric and auspicious motifs appeared across richly coloured surfaces, carrying associations with hope, prosperity, happiness and protection.

Tiled Reverie uses this visual history as its starting point. Rather than reproducing the motifs in their original setting, BOO and Wang consider what happens when these symbols leave the wall and move with the body.

The fashion pieces reinterpret the tile heritage through strong graphic lines, contrasting colours and original prints. At the same time, Wang’s artworks extend the conversation through her own approach to colour, texture and composition.

Together, the two practices create a dialogue between historical imagery, personal interpretation and contemporary design.

A collaboration between fashion and art

The exhibition places fashion and fine art side by side rather than treating them as separate disciplines. This allows the traditional motifs to shift between surfaces, materials and formats.

Wang works across collage, watercolour, oil pastel and coloured pencil. Everyday objects, dining-table scenes and elements of nature often inform her practice. Through these subjects, she explores relationships between people, objects and memory.

Her contribution to Tiled Reverie connects naturally with BOO’s own design language. The fashion label also builds its work around collected visual references, memories and cultural imagery.

Founded in 2022 by Taiwanese designer Bao Wen Chen, BOO focuses on colour and original textile print. Flowers, vintage imagery and cultural references are deconstructed and recomposed into new patterns, which the brand then applies to contemporary silhouettes.

Taiwanese heritage in a London design context

The move from decorative architecture to clothing also connects the exhibition with wider themes across London Design Festival 2026. Tiled Reverie places cultural heritage within a contemporary setting and examines how traditional symbols can change as they travel across materials, generations and borders.

The project also reflects a broader interest in the relationship between craft and current design practice. Here, heritage does not remain fixed in the past. Instead, BOO and Wang use it as source material for new work that can exist within a global fashion and art context.

For Wang, who is based in London, the exhibition also creates a direct connection between Taiwanese visual culture and the city’s international creative community.

Yung Hsuan Wang shares her work through @walkthecatt, while BOO can be found at @booofficial__.