(Yicai) Sept. 24 -- Chinese companies should tap culture and design to build stronger brands and command higher prices overseas, according to prominent broadcaster and entrepreneur Yang Lan, who is co-curating a Chinese craft and design exhibition in London.

“We must look to culture to build brand value,” Yang, chairperson of Sun Media Group, told Yicai in London. Chinese products risk remaining associated with low prices when overseas consumers judge their value mainly by materials and manufacturing costs, she added.

Yang is one of China's best-known television hosts. She rose to fame in the 1990s presenting Zhengda Variety Show on state broadcaster CCTV, and later interviewed world leaders and business figures on her long-running talk show Yang Lan One on One. She also co-founded Sun Media Group, a private media company, and represented Beijing in its successful bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games.

That push to turn culture into brand value is at the heart of Yang’s latest international project. She co-curated Reviving Craft: Reflection of the Mind with Su Dan, a professor at Tsinghua University’s Academy of Arts & Design. The touring exhibition’s latest edition is running at Somerset House in London until Sept. 27 as an official special project partner of the 2026 London Design Festival.

The free exhibition features more than 70 artists and designers and over 150 works spanning traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design, according to the organizers. It follows editions at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 2024 and Palazzo Serbelloni in Milan last year.

Changing Perceptions of Chinese Brands

For Yang, the commercial challenge is to change how Chinese products are perceived overseas.

Some international audiences still associate Chinese craftsmanship mainly with antiques, while modern Chinese manufacturing has long been linked with low-cost mass production, she said. Exhibitions can help introduce them to a new generation of Chinese makers and designers.

Chinese businesses participating in the project -- spanning new energy vehicles, consumer electronics, furniture, baijiu, and tea -- are increasingly working with artists and designers and drawing on their cultural roots to develop more compelling brand stories, Yang said.

“Our cultural and industrial expansion overseas go hand in hand and reinforce one another,” she said.

Yang ultimately wants to turn Reviving Craft into a leading international platform for Chinese traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design, connecting creators with the global art market through exhibitions, auctions, collector sales, and co-branded projects.

That commercial connection is already beginning to take shape. Some works in the London exhibition have been reserved for purchase by collectors after the show closes, Yang said. Such purchases provide tangible recognition of the makers’ work while allowing designers to benefit directly, she added.

From Exhibition to Global Platform

Gaining access to established international art and design venues has been another part of that effort. Yang said the team set out to exhibit in major design capitals and their cultural landmarks, seeking recognition from professional institutions as well as the wider public.

The project is also developing ties with the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, a British charity that supports training in craftsmanship. Yang said the cooperation is intended to help art and design students in the United Kingdom travel to China to learn directly from traditional craft practitioners, with proceeds from a charity auction held during the London event supporting the initiative.

She sees such training as a way to build lasting connections beyond individual exhibitions, with scope for exchanges drawing on the craft traditions of both countries.

Reviving Craft will continue exploring new markets while deepening its presence in places it has already visited, Yang said. Cooperation with industry can provide sustained support for artistic work, while exhibitions can help designers gain international visibility and reach potential buyers.

“Through exhibitions, auctions, collecting, sales and co-branded collaborations, we want to bring art and the market together,” she said.