Furniture for writing
Furniture Celebrating the Beauty of Proportions in Chinese Characters
​
2019
Chinese characters are traditionally pictorial depiction of material objects, later simplified into easier written form for easy communication. Paper printed with 9x9 grids was introduced as a guide for the somewhat complicated composition of Chinese characters, together with a system based on form and proportion to help standardize structure of Chinese characters. When asked to design a furniture piece for Chinese typeface designer, we wanted to design something that represents him, and reflects how he sees the world. we began with understanding the structure of Chinese characters, and considered to translate the 2-dimensional proportions logic into 3-dimensional functional forms.
In Chinese calligraphy, Chinese characters are enhanced by filling in thickness at each stroke. This concept is also reflected in each piece by adding infill to the frame, which form the important functional elements. And I believe straw grass can fully present the relationship between nature and Chinese character.
We thoroughly researched the structures of Chinese characters. We morphed 9 common ones into 3D frames which can be filled and wrapped by soft materials to become seating furniture.
9 sets of furniture, formed within 900x900 grid, represents 9 different proportion of chinese characters
Sammy Or’s typographic works and design brief inspired product designer Kennif Li, architect Jackie Luk and knot artist/designer Zoe Siu to create a set of 9 furniture frames. Mentored by Milk Design Founder Lee Chi Wing.