Saabi (b. 1976, Singapore; Charlene Chong) is a contemporary artist whose practice centres on crochet as both material and metaphor. Taught to crochet by her mother at the age of six, what began as a tactile and domestic skill has developed into a distinct artistic language shaped by repetition, duration, and attention.

 

Working with yarn as a sculptural medium, Saabi explores how softness can hold structure, tension, and memory. Her process is slow and deliberate, foregrounding labour, presence, and the passage of time, with each piece serving as a metaphor for personal and collective human experiences of emotion, loss, and impermanence.

 

Her oeuvre challenges conventional notions of art ownership and accessibility. Physical works are singular pieces intended for experiential viewing in galleries or private archives, never sold or possessed privately. Instead, Saabi creates "Echoes": one-of-one NFT digital twins that capture the originals' essence, offering collectors a blockchain-secured form of engagement. This innovative model integrates fibre art with digital technology, blurring boundaries between the tangible and virtual while reframing authorship, value, and how art is remembered once the object is absent.