The Twinkle by Wenlan collection was born from designer Wenlan Chia’s affinity for knitwear, love of art and prolific imagination. In the past ten years, Twinkle has expanded into a world that includes clothing, accessories, fine jewelry, yarn, book publishing and home furnishings.
In 2000, Wenlan launched her business with an array of colorful, exuberant chunky knit sweaters that have become the Twinkle signature. Her clever knit designs transform yarn into unexpected shapes such as tuxedo jackets, shrunken capelets, chunky scarves and unique sweaters. An innate understanding and advanced application of knitting is also visible in her intarsia designs. Each season, Wenlan presents an animated story through her intarsia knits.
Twinkle by Wenlan made its runway debut at the Gen Art Fresh Faces in Fashion Show in February 2002. The first collection received praise by both the New York Times who gave it “kudos” and Women’s Wear Daily who called it a “bright spot” of fashion week. Twinkle has since shown consistently during New York Fashion Week. In 2005, she was selected as one of “Spring’s Leading Ladies” – a group of five notable designers – by Vogue magazine.
As she continued to do fashion shows, Wenlan was unable to find accessories to compliment her clothing designs. This led to the launch of Twinkle Jewels, an array of costume jewelry exuding a tough femininity by combining vintage finds, playful animal shapes, colorful beads and grandmotherly jewels often suspended from hardware inspired chains. Its popularity led to the inevitable development of a fine jewelry line at Spring 2007 fashion show. This fine jewelry collection, part of Twinkle Jewels, comprised of precious metals and gemstone pieces, adds a luxe edge to the designer’s quirky fashion point of view.
Wenlan’s designs continue to inspire knitting enthusiasts and fashion lovers. A series of books encapsulating the Twinkle lifestyle and published by Random House’s Potter Craft debuted internationally: Twinkle’s Big City Knits in 2007, Twinkle’s Weekend Knits and Twinkle’s Town & Country Knits in 2008 and Twinkle Sews in 2009. Wenlan’s search for the perfect yarn to bring her intricate patterns to life resulted in the introduction of Twinkle Yarn, a collection of fashion yarns, in luxurious fibers and subversive colors. Twinkle Yarn is sold in over 100 stores across the country.
A contemporary furniture collector and avid home design fan, Wenlan introduced Twinkle Living in May 2006 at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City. In a short period, this whimsical, sophisticated and accessible home design collection has developed a cult following among home design cognoscenti.
The Twinkle by Wenlan collections are sold at more than 350 boutiques and specialty stores in North America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Born in Taiwan, Wenlan emigrated to the United States when she was 23. She has been a CFDA member since 2006. Wenlan resides in New York City with her husband Bernard and French bulldog, Milan.

Wenlan Chia
Founder, Art Director and Designer of Twinkle by Wenlan, Twinkle Living, Twinkle Jewels and Twinkle Yarns Author of Twinkle’s Big City Knits, Twinkle’s Weekend Knits, Twinkle’s Town & Country Knits and Twinkle Sews, all published by Random House Advisor of Knitwear Board Committee, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.

EDUCATION
New York University, New York, MA, 1995 National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan, BA, 1990

AWARD HIGHLIGHTS
Fashion Future Award, Sponsored by Woolite (9/2003)
Fall 2003 fashion show presented by Genart, sponsored by L’oreal & Feria (2/2003)
Nominated for FGI Rising Star Awards (1/2002)
Fresh Faces in Fashion, presented by Gen Art, sponsored by Nokia (10/2001)
The Colbert Award for Excellence: The Downtown Arts Projects Emerging Artist Award in Fashion Design (09/2000)
17th Annual International Competition of Young Fashion Designers (Concours International Des Jeunes Createurs de
Mode), Le Louvre, Paris, France (12/1999)
16th Onward Kashiyama New Designer Grand Prix (US Winner), Tokyo, Japan (8/1999)