Hannah Lim is an artist based in London. Her work encompasses sculpture, painting and installation artworks. Hannah is interested in exploring how cultures intersect and how these intersections have historically been reflected through the design of objects, artworks and architecture. The basis for her research is connected to her mixed British and Singaporean heritage.
Shortly after graduating from sculpture at Edinburgh Collage of Art, Hannah began creating her ‘snuff bottle’ works. Inspired by traditional snuff bottles found in museum collections across the UK, these small intricate sculptures encapsulate Hannah’s research into East and South East Asian decorative design, mythology and her personal heritage.
Hannah’s more recent works take particular inspiration from Chinese and European Medieval bestiaries. Hannah also makes much larger scale works, vibrant and ornate sculptures that often explore functional and decorative design. These works sometimes take inspiration from the eighteenth-century design style Chinoiserie, a trend through which elements of Chinese design and culture were recreated and imitated in relation to European aesthetics and tastes. This part of Hannah’s practice attempts to reclaim and re-imagine Chinoiserie in a more conscientious way, often drawing inspiration from specific cultural styles or processes.
In 2020 Hannah was selected for RSA New Contemporaries, resulting in an exhibition in 2022, which enabled her to exhibit a significant body of work after not having a degree show due to the 2020 lockdown. She also received an RSA John Kinross Scholarship which allowed her to travel to Florence on a research trip in 2021. This time in Florence hugely influenced the development and expansion of Hannah’s research and her interest into the cultural significance of ornament. Themes from this trip are very much still evident in her work today.
Hannah has gone on to have solo shows with Pangolin London, Wilder Gallery, Huxley-Parlour and Edinburgh Printmakers as well as group shows with South London Gallery, Young V&A and Sotheby’s. She has collaborated with brands including Apple, Bvlgari Hotel, Dolce & Gabbana Home and D1 Milano. Hannah has also worked on a number of public projects, including a public sculpture installation with Greenwich Peninsula in 2024 for Lunar New Year, a public artwork for West Middlesex Hospital in 2025 and is soon to complete a public art gate in Paddington. In May 2026 she was shortlisted for the inaugural House and Garden Craft Prize and her first museum solo show opened in February 2026 at The Museum of East Asian Art in Bath.
