yoonki lee and byeong chan yoo's panorama chair reflects the balance of life

as part of their woodworking and furniture design major  at hongik university in seoul, south korea, yoonki lee and byeong-chan yoo have developed a seating furniture under the theme of ‘ a sitting method for two people’. in the end, they reveal an intriguing design known as the panorama chair.

the project symbolizes the balance of life, between the heaviness of reality and lightness of childhood innocence

yoonki lee and byeong-chan yoo have initiated the design by considering the contemporary life of society — more precisely, the idea of ‘the adult me and child me’. indeed nowadays, people are living with diseased feelings like loneliness, dejection and futility. in the midst of it all, one discovers grown-ups pursuing emotional stability via the ‘kidult culture’ — which is  based on adults’ desire to escape from the harsh reality through childish experiences. from this point on, it was verifiable that today’s society is lacking childhood innocence. therefore, the duo has created an object which offers an opportunity to contemplate the balance of life through the lightness of childhood innocence.

overlapped view

both students have tried to minimize decorative elements and concentrated on the most basic form of chair. to emphasize the heaviness of reality, the very first piece is bigger than the standard size. on the other hand, in order to highlight purity and lightness, the smallest chair’s back two legs are made out of transparent acrylic rods.

the biggest chair has a seating but no back two legs, forcing it to be stable by perching back on the rear piece 

except for the biggest chair, the other four do not have seats; this approach symbolically express past time. but even more, that front piece lacks two back legs — allowing it to steadily stand by perching on the seating structure behind it. as a result, this visual effect aims at delivering a message on the delicate balance of life.

detail view: the play on sizes illustrates the duality of society’s emotional struggles

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lea zeitoun | designboom