In a small Georgian building in the shadow of the British Museum in central London, the Bloomsbury Gallery is offering burgeoning Chinese artists in the UK an opportunity to showcase their work.

London-based artist Zhu Xiaowen's exhibition Unrolled Silks is now on view at the gallery.

Zhu traveled the world for a decade after leaving Shanghai and says the contingent of UK-based Chinese artists has grown steadily since she settled in the British capital.

"There is a growing community of Chinese artists in London. I'd say the volume of creation and exposure has doubled or tripled over the past five years," she said.

"There are more Chinese art students coming here to study and some of them are choosing to stay and create work after graduation."

Showcasing film footage, photographs and intricately embroidered silk jackets, Unrolled Silks is part of a larger video project,Oriental Silk,which details the family legacy behind the first Chinese silk company in Los Angeles.

Zhu met with store owner Kenneth Wu in the United States and documented the work at his shop, which is located incongruously among the high-end fashion stores on Hollywood Boulevard.

"Instantly, I was intrigued because it reminded me of old-fashioned fabric shops that my mother took me to in Shangahai in the 1990s. She would teach me how to distinguish between silks and synthetic fabrics by feel,"Zhu said.

"Kenneth only gets one or two visitors a day. The rest of the time, he sits by himself reading books－it's almost like he is a monk meditating in a temple."

Jane Jia, owner of the Bloomsbury Gallery, discovered Zhu's work at an exhibition at the China Exchange cultural center in London and wanted to showcase her talent.

"I want to represent Chinese artists because I understand their culture and want to promote them," Jia said.

While established contemporary Chinese artists' work can find a home at London's leading galleries, Ying Tan, curator at the UK's Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, says restrictions on post-study work visas in 2012 made it harder for up-and-coming artists to gain a foothold.

"Interest in Chinese art has grown as the Chinese economy has strengthened, and the Beijing Olympics put China further on the map," Tan said.

"The UK is definitely a desirable location for young Chinese artists to study, but the government is making it harder for graduate students to stay and work, which I think is unfortunate."

After Unrolled Silk, the Bloomsbury Gallery will display a selection of ink-on-paper portraits in October by UK-based Qu Leilei. Qu's work can also be seen in the British Museum's permanent collection.