During the pandemic, Hong Kong–born and Helsinki-based designer Didi NG Wing Yin shifted focus from interior and product design to sculpture and craft. Completing a master’s degree at Aalto University last year, the industrial designer—who used to work in a wide range of mediums—now almost exclusively works with wood, a material that’s abundant in the Nordic country. With his Pleats project—a collection of vases, benches, and tables—he’s been able to challenge traditional applications.

“I’ve gained an appreciation for how it’s used so practically but also freely here: as much for furniture as for firewood heating saunas,” he says. “Back where I’m from, it’s viewed as more precious.” Bridging the best of both worlds, Wing Yin treats this readily available material with a heightened level of care and attention. He mills massive blocks of fir before brushing and cutting away at the surface to reveal a new type of striated finish. The soft parts of the material are slowly removed, a process that allows him to create new, three-dimensional, and almost ripple-like textures.

“I base my practice on three words: materiality, naturalness, and sensation,” he says. Part of his goal with the Pleats project is to uncover a different facet of this material’s essence: “Developing this surface treatment is all about making people curious. We always want to touch things. This is another way of learning. We don’t just do so with our eyes.”

Coated in various oils and dyes, the objects—exhibited with Brussels’s Spazio Nobile, among other galleries—have attractive tactile qualities. Both bench concepts offer users the chance to fully engage with the texture. For the Pleats Vase No. 8, however, Wing Yin also played on visual perception. Rather than finishing the piece with a clean rim, he opted to leave a live edge, pulling away material all the way through.

“This piece shows what I’m actually doing: using a metal brush and then chisels to carve away the soft part of the wood,” he says. “The top part of the vase is raw, but the bottom is smooth. It shows the contrast of what can be done with the material and shows different aspects of its naturalness.”

Part of a group show of emerging talents at this year’s Milan Design Week and with a new shared studio space opened this summer, the up-and-comer is just getting his feet wet.

You can learn more about Didi NG by visiting the studio’s website or on Instagram.

Top image courtesy Didi NG Wing Yin

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