Connie Zheng Projects Info

2025

Chinroserie Grotesk

A project originated from researching patterns and porcelain objects from chinroserie, the Western imitation of Chinese ornamental styles. This design movement popularized racialized depction of 'Oriental' features and bodies. Responding to this, I created a pattern with open source p5js code that exaggerates this existing precedent, in which the body parts of the 'oriental' woman literally fuses with ornaments to create grotesque forms. Rather than allowing the viewer to passivly admire the ornament, the pattern confronts them with the colonial implications of chinroseire.

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Animated spread showing the Chinroserie Grotesk pattern

P5.js sketch of the Chinroserie Grotesk ornament

Letterform studies for Chinroserie Grotesk

Poster detail from the Chinroserie Grotesk project

Pattern detail from the Chinroserie Grotesk project

Typographic composition from Chinroserie Grotesk

Close-up of the Chinroserie Grotesk letterforms

Study of ornament and body forms in Chinroserie Grotesk

Graphic detail from the Chinroserie Grotesk poster

Experimental layout from the Chinroserie Grotesk project

Chinroiserie Grotesk Open Sources Myco Typeface Pixel Quilt Aesthetic Scarf Washingtonian Magazine Editorial Illustration Cheeky Typeface Chinatown Vernacular

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© Connie Zheng 2026