The Fiber Art programme at the China Academy of Art offers a complete B.A.-M.A.-Ph.D. training system, with a strong academic foundation. In 2021, it was approved as a National-level First-class Undergraduate Programme. Its predecessor, the Varbanov Fiber Art Research Centre, was established in 1986 and is now known as the Contemporary Fiber Art Institute at CAA. It is the first institution in China dedicated to contemporary fiber art education and creation in China with an international orientation.
The major aims to cultivate creative, interdisciplinary professionals with a solid foundation in plastic arts and relevant theoretical knowledge, a command of the distinctive artistic thinking of fiber art, mastery of diverse expressive techniques of fiber media and spatial form-making, and the ability to conduct independent artistic creation and research.
The major offers two specialized research tracks- Plastic Arts in Fiber, and Fiber and Space Art- supported by two teaching laboratories: Weaving Art and Digital Fiber. It also organizes two major research and creation platforms: the Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art and the International Platform of Fiber Art (IPFA), alongside national-level quality courses, national-level shared courses, and provincial first-class courses. The programme maintains a comprehensive textbook systems under the Zhejiang Province 12th and 14th Five-Year Plans, and its international collaborations span nearly 15 countries and regions.
2. Curriculum Overview
Curriculum Structure
The undergrad major follows a four-year, three-stage teaching model: Foundation in Plastic Arts — Major Foundation — Studio Practice. In the first year, students receive broad foundational training in the Foundation Studies Branch of CAA. From the second year, students enter the Fiber Art programme through the academy's major placement system. In the second and third years, coursework covers three areas: plastic arts foundation (sketching and sculpture modeling), fiber art major foundation (fiber soft material techniques), and fiber art creation (basic creative methods and thematic projects). In the fourth year, students join their chosen studio direction to complete thesis writing and graduation works.
