Zense Borðstólasett by Louis Wai Yin Hung is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 A' Design Award í gulli in Húsgagnahönnun Competition Category.
GullHúsgögn· 2025
Zense Borðstólasett
Client: Iterative Studio
A' Design Award í gulli Winner in Húsgögn Category
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The Design
About Zense Borðstólasett
Zense er umbreytanlegt borð sem sameinar hefðbundið kínverskt handverk og nútímalega virkni. Hönnunin gerir umbreytingarferlið að helgisiðavenju sem virkjar allar fimm skynjanir notandans til að skipta óaðfinnanlega á milli skriftarflatar og pallurs fyrir teseremóníu. Verkið er handunnið og stefnir að fordæmalausri þynnd viðar með meistaralegum handverksaðferðum, styðst eingöngu við hefðbundna trésamskeytatækni án nokkurra málmhluta.
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award í gulli
Zense Borðstólasett vann A' Design Award í gulli, óendanlega virta viðurkenningu sem veitt er fyrsta flokks, dásamlegum og framúrskarandi hönnunarverkum. Sigurvegarar í gulli eru afar nýstárleg, framsýn og töfrandi glæsileg sköpunarverk sem endurspegla snilld, visku og hæfni hönnuða sinna. Þess er vænst að Zense Borðstólasett sé mjög lofuð, brautryðjandi og stórfengleg uppfinning sem skilar fordæmislausu virði. Þetta hönnunarverk sem vann A' Design Award í gulli er stórbrotið, virt verkefni sem gagnast mörkum listar, vísinda, hönnunar og tækni mjög vel og færir þau fram á við. Zense Borðstólasett skapar sterkar þráartilfinningar, vekur ástríðu, hvetur til sköpunar og heillar okkur.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- Zense is both a furniture to ritual instrument. Its transforming structure—crafted from impossibly slender wood members—orchestrates tea ceremony and calligraphy while inscribing cultural memory into space. Every operational motion (wood sliding, joinery clicking) becomes ceremonial act of all 5 senses from touch, to sound; every use converts rooms into heritage vessels. The exoskeleton's artisanal precision enforces ritual deliberation, making tradition tactile through:
- Dimensions & Packaging
- 1300mm x 550mm x 720mm. Fully handcrafted with (screwless) traditional wooden joinery techniques. Weight distribution of structures optimised to minimise profile of structural members into 30mmx30mm solid wood.
- Tags
- Handcrafted, table, chair, set, upcycled, wood, traditional, joinery, asian, culture
- Production Technology
- Handcrafted by master artisans using traditional Chinese joinery, the furniture set is composed of 553 upcycled timber components, each meticulously shaped to optimize weight distribution—resulting in a slender yet perfectly balanced structure. Analog iterations refined proportions without digital intervention, ensuring harmony between form and function. Magnets were discreetly chiseled into wooden housings, as the assembly relies entirely on wood-on-wood joinery, eliminating metal fasteners. Even its construction embodies ritual, merging vernacular craftsmanship with intentional, meditative precision.
- Design Challenge
- This project faced the dual challenge of reviving ancient Chinese joinery while pushing wood’s structural limits to unprecedented thinness—all without modern engineering aids. nternally, we grappled with fading craftsmanship traditions. Material constraints demanded upcycled wood with unpredictable grain behavior, while the absence of metal fasteners required perfect joinery precision. Production hinged on master artisans capable of such handwork that relied on sensory intuition alone.
- Research
- This project pursued the minimal threshold dimensions of wooden members while retaining structural integrity, guided solely by craftsmen who discern strength through fingertips. Each slender element was refined not by engineering calculations, but through generations of tactile material intelligence. Practitioners tested these components, their ceremonial movements revealing where rigidity needed to yield to grace.
- Inspiration
- Zense transforms Asian heritage into lived experience. This kinetic table merges tea ceremony and calligraphy through masterful woodcraft—its slender exoskeleton achieving structural elegance while enforcing ritual deliberation. Every interaction engages the senses, making tradition tactile rather than symbolic. Through material intelligence and embodied use, Zense bridges past and future, turning cultural memory into tangible, sensory encounters.
- Project Duration
- The project started in 2018 and was exhibited most notably DesignInspire 2019 and SUPERDESIGN SHOW (Superstudio Pi - Via Tortona 27 - Milan) in 2022, amongst other venues in Hong Kong and China across 2022-2025.
- Operation Flow
- Zense begins as a serene writing surface, but with a simple lift, its wooden top rises and locks into place, transforming into a tea ceremony platform. There are no buttons or complicated mechanisms; just smooth, deliberate motions that mirror the care of traditional rituals themselves. This motion forces mindfulness, and addresses all 5 sense of the body. Every interaction—the weight of the moving parts, the satisfying click of alignment is designed to make the past feel present and purposeful.
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