Johan Ku 古又文 中文 Subscribe

Fashion Designer　／　Industry Analyst　／　Content Creator

From design
to the balance sheet

Twenty years of fashion design and international fashion week practice, working across Europe, the US and Asia. That range taught me to read the industry from more than one angle — design, business strategy, financial results and brand positioning — and to explain a beautiful, complicated business in plain terms.

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British Fashion Council member　·　Founder, Johan Ku Gold Label

Fashion designer Johan Ku
Background: Emotional Sculpture Johan Ku

About

About Johan Ku

A designer known internationally for sculptural knitwear and experimental materials, now applying that eye to the global fashion industry.

Johan Ku is a fashion designer known for sculptural knitwear and experimental material development. He won the Avant-Garde Prize at Gen Art in New York in 2009, and the label he founded, Johan Ku Gold Label, has shown on the official schedules of both Tokyo and London Fashion Week.

After more than twenty years in design, brand building and international trade shows, he extended that expertise into fashion industry commentary in 2024. On the YouTube channel “Johan Ku 古又文” he combines close reading of new collections with brand operations and the strategies of the global luxury groups — LVMH, Kering, Hermès and others — bringing Mandarin-speaking audiences analysis grounded in both craft and commerce.

  • 20+ Years

    In fashion design, couture and international brand operations

  • 2009 Gen Art

    Avant-Garde Prize in New York for the Emotional Sculpture collection

  • London・Tokyo Fashion Week

    Johan Ku Gold Label has shown repeatedly on both official schedules

  • 12M+ Views

    6.5M+ views on YouTube; more than 12 million across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok combined

Timeline

Year by year

From Emotional Sculpture as a graduate student, through eight straight years in Tokyo, to the official London Fashion Week schedule — twenty years in three chapters.

1979 — 2009

Early years and awards

2010 — 2022

Going international

2024 — Present

Commentary and analysis

  • 2024May — first video published on the YouTube channel
  • 2025October — channel passes 5,000 subscribers
  • 2026February — channel passes 10,000 subscribers
  • 2026 September 450+ videos published 6.5 million+ views 425,000+ hours watched 40,000+ subscribers

Press

Press perspectives

From the award in New York to London Fashion Week — how international and Taiwanese media have covered the work.

Apple Daily　·　2009Front page: “Taiwanese newcomer wins US fashion competition”
Apple Daily　·　2009Feature: “I’m from Taiwan,” said on the Gen Art stage
WWD JAPAN　·　2011Double-page spread on The Two Faces, noting the semi-permanent glow yarn developed with a Taiwanese mill
TRANOÏ FEMME　·　2012Work chosen as the official visual for the Paris trade show’s AW 2012–13 edition

WWDUS

2014

The spring 2015 collection shown in Tokyo appeared on the print cover of WWD US. WWD also maintains a dedicated designer page collecting seasons of runway reviews.

WWD designer page

VogueUS

Vogue Runway

A dedicated designer page on Vogue Runway, where the collections sit in the same archive as the major fashion week labels.

Vogue designer page

Daily MailUK

2011

Ran the story under the headline “Japan Fashion Week: Johan Ku’s show glows in the dark.” The same season, WWD JAPAN named it one of the seven best shows of Tokyo Fashion Week.

Daily Mail articlearchived

Global Views MonthlyTaiwan

2010

The August cover story “100 New Pride of Taiwan” included a profile recording how the Gen Art win made him a household name in Taiwan overnight.

Global Views article

CommonWealthTaiwan

2015

Issue 584 profile: a designer who debuted in New York and studied in London, yet chose to build his label from Asia.

CommonWealth (English)

GQ TaiwanTaiwan

2017

On co-founding FJU Talents and taking young designers to London Fashion Week, quoting him: Taiwan does not lack talented fashion designers — it lacks the hands-on training and the openings that connect them to the international industry.

GQ Taiwan article

Also covered by CNA · Liberty Times · China Times · PTS News · Apple Dailyarchived · CommonHealth · BeautiMode · Vogue Taiwan · marie claire · ETtoday · OKAPI · Tatler Asia · NOT JUST A LABEL · TokyoFashion.com · Style Wylde

Watch

YouTube Channel

Twenty years in the industry, working across Europe, the US and Asia, taught me to step outside a single point of view — reading fashion through design, business strategy, financial results and brand positioning. The channel is in Mandarin Chinese.

Most watched

Work

Fashion Design Milestones

From runway collections to pieces made for recording artists — six moments that mattered in the design work.

The Two Faces glow-in-the-dark knit dress at Tokyo Fashion Week, shown in normal light on the left and glowing green in the dark on the right

The Two Faces　·　Tokyo Fashion Week

The spring/summer 2012 collection The Two Faces, inspired by the film Enter the Void, shown on the official Tokyo Fashion Week schedule in 2011. Glow-in-the-dark yarn gave a single garment two entirely different faces — one by day, one by night. WWD JAPAN named it one of the seven best shows of the season. The label went on to show in Tokyo for eight consecutive years from 2011.

Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo

Emotional Sculpture: the back of a cream chunky knit sculptural coat

2004 created　·　2009 awarded

Emotional Sculpture

Whole lengths of wool roving coiled into knitwear, pushing clothing towards the volume of sculpture. The collection won the Avant-Garde Prize at Gen Art in New York and became the starting point for everything that followed.

S.H.E album cover for SHERO, the three members in cream chunky hand-knitted pieces

2010　·　Album cover

S.H.E — SHERO

The first commission from a Taiwanese artist after the Gen Art win. Three hand-knitted sculptural pieces for the avant-garde edition cover, made stitch by stitch over two months and weighing around 25 kilograms in total.

Ashin of Mayday on the cover of marie claire Taiwan wearing a pink chunky knit collar

October 2010　·　Magazine cover

Ashin　marie claire cover

Issue 210 of marie claire Taiwan. A two-tone chunky knit collar in fuchsia and wine coils around the shoulders — one piece carrying the entire weight of the cover, with a plain white tee leaving the knit as the only subject.

LION band album REPLAY, four members in all-over printed suits from the Slade collection

2017　·　Slade AW collection

LION — REPLAY

The band fronted by Jam Hsiao wearing the autumn/winter 2017 collection Slade, inspired by the film Velvet Goldmine and the glam rock era of David Bowie and Iggy Pop — a fit for an album of reworked classics.

GQ Taiwan

Johan Ku Gold Label autumn winter 2019 Sean collection at London Fashion Week, rainbow checked patchwork suiting with a red knitted scarf

2019　·　Official LFW schedule

London Fashion Week

The Sean collection took the label onto the official London Fashion Week schedule in 2019, and he has been a British Fashion Council member ever since. Inspired by the French film 120 BPM, it used triangles and rainbows to celebrate Taiwan’s marriage equality bill ahead of its passage.

BeautiMode London Fashion Week

Taiwan fashion history exhibition, a cream sculptural knit gown in a freestanding glass case

2021　·　Taipei Fashion Week exhibition

Taiwan fashion history exhibition

Curated by Sofie Lu, the exhibition traced half a century of Taiwanese fashion across more than forty designers. The Gen Art–winning Emotional Sculpture gown stood in its own case, marked as the turning point of the chapter “Going Global, 2009–2017,” and written into Taiwan’s fashion history.

Book

Published work

Cover of the autobiography Design Against All Odds, published by China Times Publishing

2010　·　China Times Publishing

Design Against All Odds

不讓殘酷的神支配　／　The life and work of Johan Ku

An autobiography written at the invitation of China Times Publishing in 2010, covering everything from losing his father at the age of three to winning the Avant-Garde Prize at Gen Art and the year the book went to press. It was named Books.com.tw New Writer of the Year in non-fiction. The book is in Mandarin Chinese.

“The gods would have us stand naked before a cruel fate. Johan Ku refuses. I believe that once you have read this book, you will refuse too.”

— Ashin, lead singer of Mayday, from his foreword

Forewords by

  • AshinLead singer, Mayday
  • Selina JenSinger
  • Hebe TienSinger
  • Ella ChenSinger
  • Cai Guo-QiangArtist
  • Cheng Nai-MingEditor-in-chief, CANS
  • Noah BuchanArts reporter, Taipei Times
  • Aaron NiehGraphic designer
Read the book online

Book page and full forewords OKAPI interview

Services

What I do

Four areas of work, from industry analysis and design commissions to speaking and brand consulting. To discuss a project, email me directly.

Strategic Analysis

Industry & business analysis

  • Reading the fashion week seasons
  • Creative director changes
  • Luxury group results
  • M&A and brand strategy

Fashion Design

Design & couture commissions

  • Sculptural couture knitwear
  • Concert and tour costume
  • Album and magazine cover looks
  • Special commercial projects

Speaking & Writing

Talks & columns

  • Industry and business keynotes
  • Design school workshops
  • In-depth media columns
  • In-house brand training

Brand Advisory

Brand consulting & curation

  • Product line strategy
  • Design planning and proposals
  • Style and taste direction
  • Curated selection partnerships

Contact

Get in touch

For collaborations, speaking invitations, columns and design commissions, email the address below. New work appears first on the channels listed here.

info@johanku.co.uk
© 2026 Johan Ku 古又文 Fashion Designer ／ Industry Analyst ／ Content Creator