Yiqing Xie












Riot For Rights

June 2024




About

Riot For Rights is a jewellery collection that critically interrogates the gendered social expectations imposed on women during—and extending far 
beyond—mealtime in many Asian cultural contexts. The project draws on broader research, including a survey on “women’s noise,” which reveals how norms of elegance, restraint, and silence are internalized and 
reproduced across diverse social environments, ultimately shaping women’s self-perception and embodied comportment.



In this collection, tableware is reinterpreted as a series of character-driven artefacts, such as the “middle-finger” fork, the “breast” earrings, the “impatient” seafood fork, the “messy” napkin, and the “attention” cocktail bell ring. These objects function as material critiques that destabilize normative expectations surrounding femininity. Aesthetic strategies borrowed from punk culture—incorporating elements of piercings and graffiti—are deliberately juxtaposed with traditional tableware forms to foreground resistance, subversion, and the reclaiming of agency through material expression.








Research

The research for this project originates from my close observation of women’s subtle behaviours during everyday meals. Many women instinctively fold or hide a soiled napkin, or adjust their posture to maintain an image of being “quiet” and “elegant.” These unconscious gestures reveal how gendered expectations become internalised as bodily habits. I also noticed symbolic parallels between tableware and the disciplined female body—the shapes and prescribed uses of utensils subtly mirror forms of bodily regulation. These observations led me to reinterpret dining objects as character-driven artefacts that expose and critique these gendered norms through material form.







Ideation Skech & Prototype













Technical Specifics
Napkin Pin “MESSY”
Napkin Element —  Techniques
Fabric dyed and embroidered
Two silver rings on the edges: wax-carved and cast
Surface text: carving + oxidation finish
Safety-Pin Element — Silversmithing Techniques


Seafood Fork “IMPATIENT”
Fork Element — Silversmithing Techniques
Pearl-Setting Element — Silversmithing Techniques



Cocktail Ring “ATTENTION”
Wax carving
Pearl setting
 Silversmith Techniques


Middle Finger Ring “BITE ME”
 Silversmith Techniques


Earrings “NOISES”
Silversmith Techniques




Final Line Up

piece 1 napkin pin “MESSY”

piece 2 seafood fork “IMPATIENT”

                                                       

piece 3 earrings “NOISES”



piece 4 middle finger ring “BITE ME”



piece 5 cocktail ring “ATTENTION”