Market Trench is a project by Luke Cardew, all-round creative, maker, designer and founder of Shanghai-based boutique firm LCDC. Luke models one above. These are made from one of the most recognizable materials – or really patterns – in China today. These are the famous red, white, and blue bags that contain all of the possessions migrant workers might need for their years of life building the fast-growing cities of China or working in a factory. In Chinese, they are referred to as either “woven bags” (编织袋) or “snakeskin bags” (蛇皮袋) though the material is plastic.
The red, white, and blue bags of migrant laborers symbolize the process of China’s rapid urban development as the corrugated blue sheets that used to keep passersby out of construction sites. My old friend gallerist Tally Beck used to have a piece of artwork inspired by the blue sheets in his Beijing apartment and my new friend Luke Cardew has created the Market Trench, inspired by the bags of the migrant laborers.
Pawnstar will welcome December with a Market Trench activation at our store (Xiangyang North Road 34), this Saturday, Dec. 1, at 9:00pm. Wines are sponsored by Jacob’s Creek.
Click below and scroll past all of the fashion photos to read Luke’s own statement about the Market Trench.
 
This is Luke Cardew’s official statement about the Market Trench:
“Red, white and blue have been long known to represent liberty, equality and fraternity however, my first encounter with this material was in 2008 Chengdu during the earthquake emergency response project we (LCDC, W&K and a bunch of friends in Shanghai) set up. It was being handed out by the Chinese government as an immediate protection agains the elements. It was everywhere.
After returning to Shanghai i did not come across it again in such quantities until the last 5 years where it has become the material used on construction sites to protect the materials and tools of the workers. This “snake skin†today bears a closer relationship to transformation, urbanisation and nomadism under the theatrical developments of modern China. We started documenting the use of the material across China and we ended up making Market Trench, a symbol of CHANGE.”
