Leyi (Sandy) Chen

Preferred Name: Sandy Chen
Pronouns: she/her

Sandy Chen is a New York–based designer whose work is rooted in the natural world and the mystique of mythical, otherworldly beings. Her design language merges elegance with organic distortion, exploring distressed textures and sculptural forms that place materiality at the heart of storytelling. With a refined sensitivity to texture, structure, and form, Sandy creates pieces that embody a tension between fragility and strength—resulting in work that feels both ethereal and grounded.

She specializes in combining traditional hand-crafted materials with phygital techniques, bridging the physical and digital realms to explore the evolving relationship between craft and technology. Sandy’s work is known for its use of mixed media and its theatrical sensibility—drawing on contrast, scale, and mood to create immersive, emotionally resonant pieces. Her practice is as much about transformation as it is about form, inviting viewers into a world where nature, mythology, and future-forward design converge.

Thesis Statement:
BUGTOPIA combines “bug” and “utopia” to imagine a world shaped by the resilience, beauty, and adaptability of insects. This collection transforms my fascination with the insect world into wearable forms that channel both strength and surreal elegance. By referencing insect anatomy and life cycles—eggs, cocoons, shells, exoskeletons—I merge human and insect forms through techniques like leather wet molding, 3D printing, and vegetable tanning. The result is a set of fashion objects that challenge traditional silhouettes and celebrate the strange sophistication of nature’s smallest creatures.

At its core, Bugtopia reflects on transformation, vulnerability, and survival—a reminder that in some way, we’re all a little bit bug.