Time to Design Winner: “Useful Living” by Sanghyeok Lee

Although Lee was born in South Korea, he studied at Design Academy Eindhoven and the Rhode Island School of Design and currently lives in Berlin, Germany. He has won numerous awards in addition to Time to Design, such as the D3 Contest at IMM Cologne in 2012.

For the past three months Sanghyeok Lee has refined his line, “Useful Living,” at the Danish Art Workshop. He was influenced by classic Danish furniture as well as his once-transient lifestyle to create the series of oak and brass furniture: a bookcase, a rack, and a chair.

Useful Living is a continuation of Lee’s original project, “Useful Arbeitsloser (Jobless).” The line came out of the theory that “While life becomes heavy and our space of living gets more spacious, the furniture we have around us are getting lighter and feels more indifferent. The form and structure of 'Useful Arbeitsloser (Jobless)' is a story of nomad, imperfect lives and furniture of the contemporaries.” (shelf from 'Useful Arbeitsloser' shown).

“‘Useful Chair’ has a minimal but strong structure and tells a story, which will be complete once a person sits down in it,” explains Lee.

“The three products share the structural concept but each have their own story. The oak, a classic Danish choice for wooden furniture, and the custom designed brass joints lend a natural harmony to the series. “Useful Living” mimics scaffolding structures in construction sites. In its flexible design, it mimics the nomadic lifestyle of a young designer, which was once me,” says Lee.

The ready-to-assemble series will be exhibited in Nomann Copenhagen’s flagship store in Copenhagen until December 5, 2013.