What We Are

Bombyx House is a designer-led house rooted in transformation. Founded by Lili Zhang Zhao, the brand revives traditional craftsmanship through modern design, drawing from techniques and materials shaped by centuries along the Silk Road, then reshaping them into contemporary objects meant to be worn, lived with, and kept.

Each piece begins with material: lacquer, silk, pearls, and stone, chosen not for trend, but for character. These materials carry history. They are not preserved as artifacts. They are edited, reshaped, and redefined through design.

Where It Begins

Lili Zhang Zhao

Lili Zhang Zhao grew up in her grandmother's silk house in Hangzhou, China, where materials were grown, woven, and sold, and where her instincts for material and form took root. She trained across East and West: ceramics and sculpture at the China Academy of Art (graduating with the ChongLi Award, its highest honor), then graduate studies at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work was collected by Brown University and RISD trustees.

After fourteen years designing for Kate Spade and Cole Haan in New York, she stepped away from fashion's accelerating pace to build Bombyx House, reviving traditional techniques through modern design, handcrafted in the United States.

Not preserved. Transformed

  • Kesi

    The thread that gave the Silk Road its name

  • Stone

    Weight, warmth, and permanence

  • Daqi

    Ancient resin, refined through layers of patient application

  • Pearls

    Formed by nature, finished by hand

Where You’ll Find Us

  • Collector's marketplace

  • 95 Grand St, Soho NYC

    see 

  • Press mentions

    see