Taiwanese designer Kao Pao Hui has become known for her mind-boggling ability to turn simple raw materials into gallery-worthy furniture design pieces. Based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Hui experiments with various raw materials, including tracing paper, which she cleverly combines with natural glue made of rice and specific honeycomb folding techniques inspired by Japanese origami art – creating minimal and beautiful furniture pieces that are 100% recyclable.
Kao Pao Hui’s most renowned furniture collection – Paper Pleats – comprises a coffee and dining table, stools, shelves, and a ceiling lamp that looks fragile and firm, and dramatic and modest, at the same time
Hui was chosen as the LOEWE Craft Prize Finalist and her works were exhibited at Seoul Museum of Craft Art in Korea. In Hui’s recent exhibitions, she’s included new colored versions of her furniture pieces made by combining rolls of tracing paper into honeycomb structures and soaking them inrice glue.
Earlier pieces of the Paper Pleats series have been monochrome, utilizing solely white or black paper, but with the new works, the artist has begun experimenting with a technique of coating the paper structures with color pigments and Urushi, a type of Japanese lacquer, to highlight the beautiful crinkled surface.
Earlier pieces of the Paper Pleats series have been monochrome, utilizing solely white or black paper, but with the new works, the artist has begun experimenting with a technique of coating the paper structures with color pigments and Urushi, a type of Japanese lacquer, to highlight the beautiful crinkled surface. This new technique adds new dimensions to the otherwise delicate pieces and gives the overall feel a more graphic characteristic. The bold red and blue, along with the classic black, are applied with a self-made tool.
“Alongside school, I also studied Chinese ink drawing from the age of 10, mixing it with other materials like oil in a very creative way. Urushi lacquer is similar to Chinese ink; it allows for creating thickness in successive lines like an imaginary calligraphy. I don’t use a brush like in Chinese ink drawing but a paper tool that I specially created to trace the color lines or paint my pieces,” Hui writes (source).
Enjoy more of Hui’s work by following her on Instagram.
© Kao Pao Hui