March 27, 2025

MyDesignDept

Carefully Crafted Home

Seungjin Yang is turning balloons into fantastic home furniture

Seungjin Yang is turning balloons into fantastic home furniture

Penned by Leah Dolan, CNN

Plump, plush and — for want of a far better word — squishy fittings have dominated properties and Instagram feeds alike given that the 1970s layout revival commenced about two years in the past. Vogue anointed puffy home furnishings “2021’s most pleasant residence craze” last May, whilst the New York Situations provided up the pervasiveness of squidgy couches, chairs and poufs as akin to the pandemic-induced sweatpant trend of 2020. A velvet ’70s armchair by Tobia and Afra Scarpa — “the Soriana” — can set you as considerably back again as £6,461 (close to $7,800), when a properly rendered doughnut pouf by New Zealand designer Sabine Marcelis expenditures €1,599 ($1,640).

But while Scarpa and Marcelis’ creations inspire a smooth, sinking, seating knowledge, you will find one particular designer turning the bubble development on its head. South Korean artist, Seungjin Yang, tends to make sweet-colored, bulbous chairs, stools and benches with a twist — his parts are produced out of true blow-up balloons. Considering the fact that graduating in 2013 from Hongik College in Seoul, Yang’s most important structure endeavor has been fashioning strong, structurally seem household furniture from the rubber social gathering favors.

The chairs are architecturally sound and "cannot be burst," Yang says.

The chairs are architecturally seem and “are unable to be burst,” Yang suggests. Credit score: Courtesy Seungjin Yang

Every single furnishing requires about two weeks to produce, and Yang says they “can’t be burst” thanks to a particular coating of epoxy resin. “My work is shiny when it truly is accomplished,” Yang informed CNN about e-mail. “Some people today think (the completed merchandise) will not likely be challenging, but it is challenging.”

Balloons are inflated and then molded into various designs to type every aspect of the style and design. For instance, a stool has 3 “legs” and a more time balloon is produced into a spiral shape for the seat. Colored resin is used in layers with a lot more coats essential in buy to make the sensitive material potent enough to have body weight. Once all the elements are dry and reliable, the furniture is assembled and dipped into the resin one particular final time.

The artist’s hanging portfolio — which appears like the aftermath of a child’s birthday social gathering at 1st look — has caught the eye of style and design aficionados, some of which have shown at several style and design and craft festivals. In 2021, Dior commissioned Yang to reinterpret the style house’s iconic medallion chair for Milan Style and design Week, together with 16 other artists and designers. “For me, grownups can nevertheless engage in like kids,” he claimed in a online video endorsing the celebration.

The artist is now setting up to exhibit for Design and style Miami this November and hopes to maintain a solo display in New York early up coming 12 months. He is also wanting to push the limitations of balloon structure additional however with greater pieces down the line, like making a two-human being sofa.

See the gallery above for a appear at the artist’s on-heading “Blowing” series.