‘Really lifelike’: business boom for Chinese artist behind replica woollen animals which memorialise dead pets, fills order book for next 3 years
- Hardworking Chinese woman’s needle-felting recreations of dead pets are so good people often mistake them for the real thing
- Her success is emblematic of a burgeoning wider pet industry in China which was worth US$35 billion in 2021
Mainland social media has been amazed by the craftwork of a woman in China who makes stunningly lifelike replica pets out of wool.
Yuan Jiaojiao, 35, from Jiangsu province in eastern China, specialises in transforming wool into 3D figures using a barbed needle, a process otherwise known as needle felting.
She has been perfecting her craft for more than three years and on her Xiaohongshu account – which has more than 11,000 followers – Yuan consistently confuses people who think her replicas are the real thing.
Most of her creations – from full-body figurines to furry busts – are reproductions of pets which have passed away, fashioned by her skills from photographs of deceased animals.
Yuan told how once she received an order from the children of an elderly couple who had lost their beloved pet and because the children were living abroad they wanted to give their parents a “replacement” to keep them company.
A cat owner herself, Yuan began wool felt making as a hobby in 2019. She became a replica pet maker after seeing videos of deceased pets being “brought back to life” by fellow artists overseas.
