Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » sneak peek: kai-wei hsu of kwh furniture

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at this year’s bklyn designs, kai-wei hsu of kwh furniture was one of the stand out designers so we thought it’d be fun to show off a sneak peek of his brooklyn home. his designs are founded on the philosophy that beauty lies in simplicity, and is further influenced by his experiences living and working in asia. we look foward to seeing more designs from kai-wei to come, but in the meantime, check out the full set of additional images here, and don’t miss all our fantastic sneak peeks here (we’ve posted over 20 in the past week!!!). [thanks, kai-wei!] -anne

[above: The small print by the TV is a Raf Simons print that I found in the Japanese design magazine Casa Brutus. I thought it was cool, so I cut it out and framed it. The piece of driftwood next to that I found on Block Island. My friends let me stay at their house there every summer, and I had thought of turning the driftwood into a lamp, but I decided not to.]

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The painting and green seat are some things I did while I was at college….I’ve stopped using lime-green naugahyde for my work.

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Above the hearth is a set of castings, my friend made, from bobbleheads. Its the canadian band Rush. Awesome. And I clearly need to recycle those empty bottles.

The sculpture/table in the corner, I made for a show of functional and nonfunctional birdhouses. The title of the piece is “Knotty by Nature.” The bamboo and aluminum screen to the far left is a piece I made in college. At that time, I was really into the caged, volume forms of Martin Puryear. The guitar on the right is my favorite.

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The file box by my desk is a found object piece. I saw this old beat up box being thrown away. I turned it into a file box with casters on the bottom and file rails. The photo above the desk is a photo I took of a huge Cy Twombly painting at the MOMA. The chair was another thing I found on the street. New York is a scavengers dream.

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I like to have dinner with friends and have had up to 14 people around the dining table. The two wall hung containers were made to hold a set of teacups. They were made by my maternal grandparents in Japan. The bamboo stem vases on top were made by my uncle in Japan.

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A close-up of some of the prototypes of pulls I worked on with a close friend of mine. I made a chest of drawers for the Bklyn Designs show and he fabricated the pulls for me. He is a French horn builder and restorer, so he know his brass. Another painting by my father hangs above the bookshelf (Ikea.)

your designs are beautiful kai-wei. i’m particularly partial (does that make sense) to the green sofa.

looks like someone needs a new mattress, however. reminds me of my 30 year old mattress i finally replaced a few months ago. worth every penny.

Very nice.

I have a question. I trashed picked that same chair in white vinyl. (The desk chair) One of the plastic feet on the back legs is missing. Does anyone have an idea where I could find a replacement?

It seems like whoever lives here loves music. I like the guitars on the wall! I would add a little more color though to the walls, maybe in the bedroom. The large fireplace looks beautiful! I like the brick.

Looked nice. The room looks much neater than when I was there last. Too bad that my award winning painting is not clearly displayed in the photo. But it will do. It goes well with the style of your furniture.

Great space! It’s a wonderful balance of your beautifully designed pieces with objects you obviously love. And BTW, “Knotty by Nature” is brilliant.

That lamp in the last photo is stunning. Where can I buy it?

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