playful children’s drawings become colorful handmade chairs in cambodia

Children’s drawings translate into vibrant chair designs

Chair for Kids is a participatory design project developed by designer Taekhan Yun in collaboration with students from an English school in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The project focuses on translating children’s ideas and drawings into functional seating, while introducing fundamental principles of design and making.

The process began with the children drawing stools and chairs, using these sketches as an initial exploration of form and function. They then measured their height and body dimensions, incorporating basic ergonomic considerations into the designs. This step informed the scale and proportions of each chair while encouraging an understanding of physical dimensions and spatial relationships.

Chair for Kids is a participatory design project developed by Taekhan Yun | all images by Taekhan Yun

The making process introduces basic principles of design

Clay was used to produce small-scale prototypes, selected for its accessibility and ease of manipulation. These models served as reference points for the fabrication of the final chairs by designer Taekhan Yun. In the finishing phase, the children participated in coloring the completed chairs using crayons, followed by acrylic lacquer spray and varnish. Through this process, the project combined design education, material experimentation, and hands-on participation, resulting in a series of chairs shaped by both individual input and collaborative production.

the project was created in collaboration with students in Siem Reap, Cambodia

the chairs were born from the children’s imagination

each chair was made to fit the child’s own body

crayons are used to apply color to the surfaces

acrylic lacquer spray seals the colored finishes

more than 70 children drew their own chair designs

the children worked in pairs to measure their bodies in order to build their own chairs

based on their height and measurements, the kids described the chair they wanted to make

clay models translate drawings into three-dimensional forms

each child made a prototype of their chair using clay

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Taekhan Yun (@taekhannn)

children gathered to look at and share each other’s drawings

1/7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

project info:

name: Chair for Kids

designer: Taekhan Yun | @taekhannn

location: Siem Reap, Cambodia

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: christina vergopoulou | designboom