Monocomplex recently exhibited its Reborn Chair, an armchair cut out of 127 flattened cardboard boxes that have been pressed together and slowly carved with careful attention. The design studio,which is based in eastern Seoul, has long created eye-catching furniture and lighting, demonstrating how cardboard can be refashioned into products that are not only functional, but also comfortable. Hyun-woo Park, the chair’s designer, adds to Monocomplex’s impressive record of racking up design awards in Korea with a body of work that goes beyond recycled furniture and includes everything from innovative eyewear to benches.
Park collected stacks of unattractive cardboard packaging from dumpsters, wedged them together, and at first the result was a giant clump of packaging waste that was ready for the recycler. But then Park applied the craft of traditional sculptors using a grinder and saw. Slowly and methodically, he chiseled out clumps of cardboard until this recycled cardboard chair fit his body perfectly.
Park and his three colleagues behind Monocomplex have only been working together since 2011, but are already having a huge impact on Seoul’s design scene. Their goal is to bring together the industrial with nature and make design easy to understand and appreciate. Their inspirations are all over the map, and their enthusiasm is infectious. In addition to such pop culture influences as Michael Jackson, they look to the four elements that have long been important to Korean culture, sky, sun, moon and earth. Materials that others would overlook are readily incorporated into their conventional and recycled furniture as well as the additional work this fantastic four has created, ranging from private interior spaces to public art installations.
Monocomplex
Via Design Milk
Photos courtesy Monocomplex
