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Peta Tomlinson

A chair was made to sit upon, a bed to sleep in, a bowl to eat from.
These days, it seems primary purpose alone is not enough. As with the increasing functionality we demand of our phones, consumers expect a higher level of service from their possessions.
Designers are exploring innovative ways to meet this demand.
To pause and fully absorb an artwork, the Hong Kong-based British designer Ella Bridgland believes we need somewhere to sit and be still.
In the lead-up to Hong Kong Art Week recently, Bridgland, founder of interior architecture, design and art consultancy Studio Ella, designed the Art Bench.
Seating, she explains, is an often overlooked component of an art space or museum.

“The primary function of a gallery is to look at art. However, the typical art viewing experience is dictated by the tiring of our bodies, cutting short the time needed to just ‘be’ in the presence of something to fully understand it,” she explains.
“Art Bench invites viewers to pause and spend time actively engaging with art, rather than just moving through spaces that contain it.”
Intended to be “almost invisible”, and devoid of decoration, its polished stainless steel surfaces “create a dialogue between object, art and space”, she adds.
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The adjustable backrest, referencing the seating of Hong Kong’s iconic Star Ferry, is a nod to the heritage of the British-born designer’s adopted home. In the Art Bench, she says, this affords a double-sided viewing experience, allowing spectators “to alter the position to suit their gaze”.
The modular designs can seat one or two people, with the ability to add on multiple modules.
Studio Ella’s Art Bench is in the production stage and Bridgland says she is in dialogue with a number of galleries, but is “open to speaking with partners who would be interested in placing it”.

Meanwhile, the experimental design team at Studio Ryte, headed by architect and founding partner Dennis Cheung Hoi-kwan, were busy dreaming up furniture with purpose to exhibit at the Salone del Mobile – the annual furniture fair in Milan, in Italy.
The Wave Bench is a lightweight plywood seat whose wavy geometry serves both as the bench’s structure and to promote movement in the user. Its curvaceous form, achieved by diagonally layering a series of 0.5mm (0.02 inch)-thick veneers over a mould made of foam and MDF or medium-density fibreboard, provides rigidity and stability, Cheung explains.
The sitting surface is designed to support posture in several different positions, encouraging users to shift their weight, which is better for backs.

Apart from providing illumination, Studio Ryte’s String Light enhances ambience by reducing noise. Made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic – 60 per cent of it recycled content – the acoustic innovation lies in the shape and materials used. Leveraging PET’s inherent sound-absorbing characteristics, the design team used curves to increase its surface area and volume.
Cheung says that, when PET panels are attached to walls, a noise reduction coefficient (NRC) rating of 0.3 is achieved – NRC ratings range from 0 to 1. The String Light’s NRC value is significantly better, at 0.7 to 0.9.
“The beauty of this design, which takes LED lights, is that it can be increased or shortened in length, depending on user needs,” Cheung says. He sees potential applications in offices, restaurants and open-plan homes – anywhere noise becomes a problem.

Cheung adds that these products show how every object, no matter how ordinary in purpose, can be transformed into a pleasing piece through decorative yet functional manipulation.
Even Ikea is getting in on the act. The ubiquitous Swedish furniture brand has Hong Kong households in mind with its new-concept bed – part of a range of multifunctional furniture designed “to push the limits of small spaces”.
By day, it is a work desk. Come sleep time, with a simple push of one hand the piece converts into a bed with a mattress and bedding already made up. The desk remains horizontal, so the laptop and work items on it can stay in place.

Yasushi Kusume, innovation and creative manager at Ikea, says the aim of this piece in the brand’s exploratory furniture range is to optimise the “experience” of both functions.
“As a desk we wanted to create the best work environment, but then change the mood to nudge people towards sleep,” he explains. “So in the bed component we’ve added a nice warm light, and a place to put a book.” Storage is provided below the desk, and inside the bed.
Ease of operation would be key, so the team ensured the design would pass what it calls the “coffee cart test”.
“We expect people to do this twice a day. So the mechanism can be operated with one hand, holding a coffee cup in the other,” Kusume says.
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As urban living spaces shrink, Ikea reasons, the focus is shifting to how liveable the home is, rather than how large it is. According to Kusume, the brand’s research shows the increasing need for solutions allowing flexible use of space, where a room or even a piece of furniture can be used for different activities.
The desk/bed can also be paired with another new multifunctional piece – a chair whose adjustable back allows it to convert from desk chair to dining chair – and is expected to be in stores in October in Hong Kong, which, along with Poland, is a pilot market for the desk/bed combo.
It is a bulky piece of furniture, but Ikea has considered conditions in Hong Kong, too: the components are flat-packed into boxes that will fit inside the lift of a residential building.

With renters in mind, the design allows the piece to remain stable without needing to be fixed to a wall. “People living in small apartments tend to move more frequently so we’ve worked on the disassembly, too – it can be taken down easily to move to another place,” Kusume says.
If tech-enabled smart homes really are the future, Singaporean designer Clement Zheng thinks a softer aesthetic is a better approach. “The last thing we need is another plastic remote control,” he says.
In a research project at the National University of Singapore (NUS), Zheng and his team developed a range of interactive ceramics with circuits built in, so that the item, be it a dinner bowl, plant pot or floor or wall tile, can communicate with the Internet of Things wirelessly.
In the case of indoor plants, the pot acts as a sensor monitoring moisture levels in the soil, communicating with an internet-connected minicomputer embedded in the dish at the bottom. “So when it needs watering, the plant pot could potentially send a message to your phone,” Zheng says.
A circuit engraved as a sliding panel on dinnerware turns a plate or bowl into a controller for a home’s smart lighting or music systems. Meanwhile, a place mat embedded with a minicomputer can also “talk” to the dinnerware, and add heat to keep the contents warm throughout the dinner service.
This latter invention needs further development, since generating heat requires a power supply. “We’re working on that,” says Zheng.

The connected tiles have a safety element – the idea being that, in a kitchen splashback, it could warn the occupant if something on the stove becomes too hot, or on the floor, alert them to a spill.
The prototypes are proof of concept, the aim being to improve the smart home by incorporating craft into computation.
“Ceramics are already very useful,” Zheng says. “We’re seeing how we can add an additional layer of functionality on them to contribute to the smart home via the human touch.
“It’s adding more breadth to the computational/electronic things we build.”


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Architecture and design

The magic of multifunctional design, from a new Ikea furniture collection that pushes ‘the limits of small spaces’ to seats that encourage movement

Ikea’s desk that folds into a bed. Photo: Ikea

Designers, from boutique to big name, are exploring ways to make furniture and items multifunctional, such as this Art Bench, by Hong Kong-based designer Ella Bridgland. Its polished stainless steel surfaces “create a dialogue between object, art and space”. Photo: Handout

Designer Ella Bridgland says seating at museums is overlooked. Photo: Handout

Studio Ryte’s Wave Bench is a lightweight plywood seat that promotes movement in the user. Photo: Handout

Studio Ryte’s String Light enhances ambience by reducing noise. Photo: Handout

With a simple push of one hand the Ikea piece converts into a bed with a mattress and bedding already made up. Photo: Ikea

Singaporean designer Clement Zheng and his team at National University of Singapore have developed a range of interactive ceramics with circuits built in, so that items can communicate with the Internet of Things wirelessly. Photo: Handout

In a kitchen splashback, a connected tile could warn the occupant if something on the stove becomes too hot; placed on the floor, it could alert them to a spill. Photo: Handout

Mid-century modern vibes fill renovated Hong Kong home bought as a ‘mess’ – studio in charge of fixing it called it a ‘golden design opportunity’

The living room of an apartment in Tin Hau, Hong Kong, that is home to a family of five. A designer demolished everything in the 50-year-old flat to create a home with mid-century modern vibes. Photo: Steven Ko 

Photo: Steven Ko 

50 years of Japanese architect Tadao Ando’s famous works – the travelling exhibition that’s being held for the first time in a building he designed himself

Ibaraki Kasugaoka Church in the Japanese city of Osaka, better known as the Church of the Light, is one of architect Tadao Ando’s most famous buildings, and one that is extensively covered in South Korea’s “Youth” exhibition of his works. Photo: Courtesy of Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

Tadao Ando with his green apple installation “Youth” (2023), at an exhibition of the same name at Museum SAN in Wonju, South Korea. Photo: Museum SAN

Visitors to the “Youth” exhibition at Museum SAN pass under an imposing archway designed by Ukrainian-American sculptor Alexander Liberman. Photo: Museum SAN

Hill of the Buddha in Sapporo, Japan. Photo: Courtesy of Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

Chichu Art Museum on Naoshima island. Photo: Courtesy of Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

Tado’s “Urban Egg” proposal for the Osaka City Central Public Hall. Photo: Courtesy of Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

The circular concrete display area at the Bourse de Commerce in Paris, France. Photo: Courtesy of Tadao Ando Architect & Associates

Ando in Paris in 2017. Photo: Getty Images

Hong Kong art space Para Site changes direction to become ‘like a living organism’, with longer, focused exhibitions that evolve

“Inhale Exhale” by Chinese artist Wing Po So is part of Para Site’s new show “signals…storms and patterns”. Photo: Para Site/Wing Po So

Vietnamese artist Truong Cong Tung’s installation “The state of absence—voices from outside” (left) on show at Hong Kong non-profit art space Para Site. Photo: Para Site/Truong Cong Tung

Billy Tang, Para Site’s recently appointed executive director and curator, is ushering a new era at the art gallery. Photo: Para Site

“Inhale Exhale” by Chinese artist Wing Po So features an accordion-like tunnel coated with Indian gooseberry that “purifies” visitors as they pass through it. Photo: Para Site/Wing Po So

“Sea Ear Hi-hat”, by Chinese artist Wing Po So, features 17 abalone shells that open and shut and make melodic noises. Photo: Para Site/Wing Po So

Truong Cong Tung’s generative installation “The state of absence – voices from outside”. Photo: Para Site/Truong Cong Tung

Works by Hong Kong printmaking collective Printhow feature in the exhibition, including the piece “Everybody Chips in With Their Bit”. Photo: Para Site/Printhow

Clean lines, eco-friendly, bespoke – a Hong Kong village house people stop to stare at because it is so different to the homes around it

The double-height living area of Charles Wai’s village house in Tai Wai in Hong Kong’s New Territories. The house is so unusual looking that unsuspecting drivers brake to stare as they pass. Photo: Desmond Chan 

On the rooftop are, from left to right: photographer Desmond Chan, BREADstudio’s Paul Mui and Benny Lee, stylist Flavia Markovits, SCMP Design Editor Charmaine Chan, Charles Wai and Summie Chan. Photo: Desmond Chan

Photo: Desmond Chan

Lifestyle

Arts

Interiors & Living

Consumers expect a higher level of service from the things they buy, and designers are exploring ways to make furniture and other items multifunctional
A bench from a Hong Kong studio encourages users to shift their weight, which is better for backs. A new Ikea collection features a desk that doubles as a bed


Designers, from boutique to big name, are exploring ways to make furniture and items multifunctional, such as a bench that encourages movement and an Ikea collection that pushes ‘the limits of small spaces’.


Hong Kong interior design

Regent Hong Kong