Fascinated by the way light plays with certain materials, Seoul-based designer Jihye Kang begun researching the various characteristics and potentials of acrylic, focusing on its reflective and refractive properties.
The 10-piece furniture series comprises side tables, chairs, stools and partitions made up of thick, cylindrical acrylic rods that are arranged in neat rows and often mounted on clean-cut stainless steel bases. Kang’s pieces highlight the transparent properties of the acrylic, creating a warped, visual distortion of the steel beneath that continually alters depending on the direction from which they are seen.
The designer was intrigued by the material’s unique properties of reflection and refraction and the dual functionality this displays: simultaneously revealing and obscuring.
"Although the common first impression of acrylic is that it is hard and static, its transparency creates an interaction between the material and other objects and movements ... the relationship between these elements makes the material livelier and more dynamic than what otherwise might be expected." — Jihye Kang
