Zhang Huishan got a pleasant surprise in June.

Samantha Cameron, the wife of British Prime Minister David Cameron, chose to wear one of his creations to meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his wife at No 10 Downing Street. It is a dress from his latest Spring/Summer 2014 collection.

"I was so happy that she chose one of mine," says the 31-year-old designer, originally from Qingdao in Shandong province,

Zhang is a graduate of the acclaimed Central Saint Martins school in central London, one of the UK's best-known arts and creative industry colleges.

It came as no great surprise that the talented Zhang launched his own brand in 2011, and quickly found his designs being sold by some of the biggest names of the British high street fashion, including Harvey Nichols, Browns and Neiman Marcus.

He also was sponsored by Swarovski, the jewelry, ornament, watch and fashion accessory maker.

His achievements in a remarkably short time have propelled him into the London fashion limelight, and last year he became the first Chinese winner of the Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize, an award created in 2010 to help discover emerging fashion talent.

Zhang was presented with an endowment of 25,000 pounds ($42,000, 31,300 euros) and offered the chance of one-to-one mentoring from a selection of the competition's top industry judges.

Zhang says he has been interested in design since his childhood. At 17, he left China, first to study design in New Zealand. He moved to London in 2006, becoming one of very few Chinese students at Central Saint Martins at the time. During his time at Central Saint he worked for French fashion house Dior, including six months in haute couture in the creation of exclusive, custom-fit clothing.

Another significant Chinese first for Zhang came shortly after leaving the London school, when his graduation design was acquired for show by the city's famous Victoria and Albert Museum.

He then chose to stay in the UK to build a business based on creating designs that, in his words, bridge the gap between his Chinese roots and heritage, and western influences.

He describes his own label as "Chinese tradition meets Western influence and modernity".

Zhang now divides his time between his studio in central London, where he employs five people, and his workshop in Qingdao.

"I want to express my own understanding of the Chinese lifestyle," he says.

(China Daily European Weekly 08/08/2014 page8)