Chinese-born designer Yiqing Yin making a name for herself in Paris

A smiling Yiqing Yin apologises when we meet for the "mess" of her Parisian headquarters, which actually seems quite ordered and clean even though it's only a few days before her first ready-to-wear show for French heritage brand Léonard.

The Chinese-born, Paris-raised designer is on a tight schedule. Not only is she showing her haute couture twice a year in Paris, she also works on her own ready-to-wear line and recently showcased her first collection for Léonard as the brand's new creative director.

That's a total of six collections a year, so you might wonder how she copes with the workload. "It's all about staying focused and having a well-organised team around you," she says. "It's true that the frantic rhythm of ready-to-wear is new to me, as designing couture has always been my main focus. It is a unique and personal process, and is designed according to a woman's personality. But juggling both is a great experience, even if haute couture and ready-to-wear require a completely different approach on design and work rhythm."

How did the twenty-something designer get into this position so young? In recent years, The Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture (the French Federation of Haute Couture and Ready-to-Wear) has made a move towards a more contemporary take on haute couture, aiming to revive this French institution by inviting a few hand-picked designers and independent labels, such as Rad Hourani and Serkan Cura, to showcase their couture collections on the official calendar. Yin was one of the few who made the cut, having caused a lot of ink to flow in the years following an endorsement from Didier Grumbach, the Chambre Syndicale's president, after she was awarded the Andam Prize for First Collections in 2011.

"It is an honour to have the support of the Chambre Syndicale and at the same time a challenge," says the designer, who was elected as a guest member to the haute couture calendar by the institution's supervisory board in November the same year.

As an alumni of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, Yin was able to seduce the board with her highly conceptual take on haute couture, that mingles both traditional craftsmanship and an innovative and yet serene approach to the garment. While respecting the required expertise of the haute couture appellation, Yin made a name for herself by twisting the aesthetics with innovative elements and techniques, and was therefore able to revive traditional craftsmanship in a contemporary way.

"In my own collections, the haute couture appellation is reflected through my take on craftsmanship, [and] that I constantly explore as I want it to be boundary pushing, fresh and young," says the designer, adding that her style can be summed up in three words: grace, movement and paradox.