Yang Lek Shey art center was founded by Sonam Yangchen (བསོད་ནམས་དབྱངས་ཅན), a local calligrapher deeply rooted in Tibetan culture. She studied calligraphy in middle school, but her passion for art began in her early childhood: “she liked arts above everything else”. A decisive moment came when, during school, she encountered a female calligraphy teacher, something rare in a field traditionally reserved for boys. Seeing a woman practicing and teaching calligraphy made her believe that nurturing her own passion was possible. From that moment, choosing to pursue calligraphy felt natural.
During her university years, she realized that her passion could also become her profession. She began by selling her works online, slowly building her presence. After years of dedication, challenges, and perseverance, she officially registered her company in 2023.
Her vision is based on a deep respect for tradition combined with the courage to innovate. The beginning of her journey is symbolically captured in her logo: the Tibetan character གཡང (yang) representing success and fortune, enclosed within the Dungkar (དུང་དཀར།), the white conch shell, one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Tibetan culture, symbolizing prosperity. This design was her first creation, dated back 2019, and marked the milestone that sealed the realization of her dream.
Sonam Yangchen’s work is based on rigorous study of traditional calligraphy and a bold approach to innovation. By blending tradition with contemporary design, she responds to market demands and contributes to the evolution of Tibetan art, creating a bridge between past and future. Aware that many young people feel distant from traditional arts, she uses creativity as a strategy and trick them: through innovative designs, she first attracts them aesthetically, then gradually introduces them to the deeper meanings embedded in Tibetan timeless culture.
Tibetan calligraphy is one of the major arts of Tibetan culture and includes two principal categories: Uchen (དབུ་ཅན),popular in the Kham region, and Umê (་དབུ་མེད), spread in Ü-Tsang. Among the most complex fonts are Tsukring (སུག་རིང་) within the Umê category, described as the font representing “the long feet”, and Sdebring (སྡེབ་རིང་) within the Uchencategory. Sonam Yangchen chose to master both Tsukring and Dering, considered among the most difficult fonts, believing that “if you can write Tsukring, all the others become easier”. She describes herself as being in a continuous process of learning and improvement: an attitude that also led her to expand into painting.
In fact, alongside calligraphy, she explores oil landscape painting and innovative representations of Tibetan culture. Painting as work comes to her life later, but it was always present in her world. Her father is a Thangka painter and a former student of the respected master Tsephel (་ཚེ་འཕེལ). His deep devotion to Tibetan culture and his constant encouragement, urging her to pursue quality, discipline, and hard work, made him her greatest role model.
Hard work is the principle that guides her present and shapes her future. In her words: “The future, whether light or dark, depends on hard work”. She envisions herself continuing to study both calligraphy and painting, especially Thangka painting, in order to inherit her father’s legacy and explore new ways of blending these two Tibetan art forms. At the same time, she will keep developing her role as a business leader.
As a woman who chose to remain in her hometown, the challenges have been many. She never considered leaving Menshod; instead, she feels a strong responsibility to preserve an important heritage while merging it with her own ideas. Running a business as a woman requires constant effort, maintaining networks, overcoming financial pressures, and managing responsibilities. Yet she believes that the digital era offers new opportunities to remain local while connecting with the world.
Her center, located in Buyou village, is a vibrant creative space where she works on calligraphy and painting alongside her father’s Thangka practice. Although they create independently as artists, they have recently begun collaborating as artisans, producing incense made from juniper and local natural herbs. Visiting her studio means stepping into a living space where tradition and innovation coexist: a home of artists devoted to keeping Tibetan culture alive and evolving.
