About Us

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The Team

We are two close friends from France who came together while studying in Beijing in 2016 through a common passion for China, watches and starting novel projects.

Robin has had a passion for watches since age 14 and worked at the French Chamber of Watchmaking in Shanghai and at Christie’s in London. With his keen interest in Chinese horology, in March 2016, he was appointed to join the China Horologe Association as “Execution Expert”. The CHA is the Chinese national-level government organization that oversees and promotes the watch industry in China.

Wilfried is not only a graduate from China's top two universities - Peking University and Tsinghua University - but also a tireless entrepreneur at heart. With his experiences in numerous startups and perfect mastery of Mandarin, Wilfried has coordinated both our design and manufacturing from Beijing since the very beginning.

Finally, this project could have never taken off without the support of our two brilliant Chinese designers, Li Mingliang and Liu Yuguan, from the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology. They have been single-minded in iterating designs time after time and ever-ingenious in their approach to re-imaging traditional Chinese design relevant for the modern world.
Founder at Atelier Wen
It has been truly amazing to see how a project fuelled by genuine passion can generate enthusiasm from all four corners of the world and take on a life of its own.

The Concept

Our identity is embodied in our name, Atelier Wen. Atelier Wen, the “culture workshop”, combines the French word for workshop (Atelier) and the Chinese word for culture (Wen 文). And indeed, ours is a project led by French and Chinese creators with a mission to re-define the meaning of modern Chinese style and display it in a novel form that speaks to all who appreciate items of beauty and meaning.
The New York Times
It’s not solely for the Chinese aesthetic, it’s for the uniqueness of the approach.

Our Watches

We decided to put quality watchmaking at our core for two reasons.

First, it is what we know best and a domain in which we are confident we can produce truly unique items of high quality items.

Further, we wished to give fine Chinese watchmaking the credit that it is due. Indeed, the Chinese watchmaking industry is one of the most developed in the world and a key supplier to many so-called Swiss or Western brands. No branding hat tricks here. Our pieces make use of the best expertise and materials available, traditional and modern, all of which proudly originate from the Middle Kingdom.

The items we design go beyond just utilitarianism and appearances as each one is infused with rich culture and a story worth telling. The question of what constitutes modern Chinese design is an open-ended one and each of our pieces provides a different perspective on it.
Worn & Wound
The first duo of watches demonstrate bags of authentic character, and the overall attention to detail and quality is impressive.

Reviews

As a young brand, we are always blown away by the interest and support from some of the most renown publications and newspapers out there.

Here are links to some of our favourite pieces:

• The New York Times - Made in China. And Proud of It
• Worn & Wound - Review: Atelier Wen Porcelain Odyssey "Ji"
• WatchBox Reviews (video) - Just IV Fun: Atelier Wen Porcelain Odyssey Hao / Atelier Wen Watch Review
• Gear Patrol - This Affordable Automatic Watch Has One of the Most Stunning Dials We’ve Seen
• Les Rhabilleurs (French) - Atelier Wen : Re-Penser le Made in China

Thank You

This journey would not have been possible without the collective efforts of many friends, family and ardent supporters and we wish to express our heartfelt appreciation to them here.

In particular, a great thank you to Li Wei and Ron Good from the China Horologe Association for their mentoring and oftentimes, hands-on support on brand conceptualisation, design and manufacturing.

Thank you also to the very talented photographers amongst our backers who have allowed us to use their stunning pictures throughout this website and our social media. They are:

• The very talented and ardent Atelier Wen supporter, Daniel Wang from Canada, otherwise known as @wonger.bonger (Instagram)
• The master of photography with a knack for immortalising the Ji model, Joshua Gull, also known as @stuffandwatches (Instagram)
• Last but not least, the one and only @faceless_watches (Instagram), whose shots of the Hao model never cease to awe and amaze

Finally, a warmhearted thank you to all our customers for making Atelier Wen a reality - none of this would have been possible without you and we look forward to furthering this journey with you at our side.
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