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, they thoroughly researched the structures of Chinese characters. They morphed 9 common ones into 3D frames which can be filled and wrapped by soft materials to become seating furniture. Production mentor Kevin Yiu (Grand Classic Limited) guided them to put their concept into production.
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, the team wanted to design something that represents him, and reflects how he sees the world. They began with understanding the structure of Chinese characters, and considered to translate the 2-dimensional proportions logic into 3-dimensional functional forms.
Frame: There are a total of 9 furniture pieces, each based on a 9x9x9 grid, measured 30cm/60cm/90cm on each sides. Each piece is formed by a continuous frame that represents one of the proportions of Chinese characters.
Infill: 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.
Materials:
Steel with rope, straws and paper