ZUHAI, CHINA

WOOD: HARD MAPLE

Yunhan Wang is a designer from China, currently living in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province. Wang graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, China, with an undergraduate degree in product design, continuing her postgraduate studies in Milan. She then worked as the director of the product design department at Jiang & Associates, collaborating with the Italian furniture brand from 2016 to 2019. She set up her independent design studio in 2020, called Dorisofia Studio. Her work is inspired by the exploration of traditional Chinese furniture elements, combined with more modern design techniques.

Unable to carry out certain customs during lockdown, people are confined to performing rituals at home. There is a novel need for suitable furniture and objects that can fit a small space but serve the same purpose. Wang wanted to create a domestic alternative to the ‘winding stream party’, a Chinese drinking custom in which poetry is composed while a cup is floated down a stream with people sat on both sides; the person sitting in front of the cup that stops has to drink it.