Tang initially started Dumpling in 2019 as an Instagram account offering cultural commentary about Asia.

After nine years at WGSN, Tang has left to launch Dumpling as a business. Based in Singapore and Hong Kong, the practice works with clients around the world and aims to help organisations become ‘Asia-forward’.

The business is comprised of four pillars, including Dumpling Agency, which works with brands, drawing on Dumpling 100, a ‘village’ network of individuals in Asia who spot cultural signals and share their knowledge.

The network spans 13 core markets: China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the UAE and Vietnam.

Dumpling also includes Dumpling U, which assigns client problems as briefs to students, and a ventures arm working with business founders.

With Asia a vital growth region, the business has launched in response to organisations ‘reading the region through perspectives and frameworks built somewhere else’.

The company has developed a strategy tool to analyse trends, foresight and culture based on an ancient Chinese philosophy, I-Ching.

In addition to interviews with members of its network, the company also conducts primary research by way of consumer interviews, ethnographic research and street observations, in addition to scenario planning and other methodologies. 

Jess Tang, founder and chief executive, said: “Dumpling runs on the signals we read and the strategies we recommend to clients. When we tell a partner that people in Asia want to rely on their kampung (village) again, we build that way, too. That’s why we built Dumpling 100 and have a rolling open call to join our village.”