Is “Lace Your Vase” the New “Wear Your Chair”?
Jaehun Oh turns shoes, tracksuits, and more into furniture
You might have copped the pants, the jacket, the kicks – shoot, you might even have the Kangol hat. But I’m sorry to let you know OG, you're still missing a couple of things to round out that Adidas tracksuit: the matching lamp and vase. Once the whole spot's decked out, that's when the real superpowers kick in – and we all better watch out for Unc then.
Streetwear culture has been steady-stepping from the sidewalk to the living room, with trailblazers like Josh Vides, Junior Clint, our very own Studio Guapo, and Jaehun Oh, the latest to – what’s the opposite of “wear your chair”? Jaehun is a designer based in South Korea who’s been spinning fabric into need-to-have furniture, from puffer lamps to laced-up vases, and from collaborations with Salomon to Casetify.
When we used AI to imagine fashion designers in an alternate furniture reality, we didn’t think it would happen so soon. But maybe furniture isn’t so far away from fashion to begin with – it only makes sense that our self-expression would extend from our shoes to our rugs at some point, right? Midjourney, Imagine (No need for that anymore). I got a chance to sit down with Jaehun and talk more about how he sees the intersections with furniture and who he would like to see make the jump.
How did you get into design?
I majored in photography in college and my minor was fashion design. But when I realized that I was more into working with the sewing machines than I was into taking photos, I decided to drop out to focus on learning sewing more in-depth.
I worked with sewing factories to make customized suits, shirts, and jeans – I guess I could say that I worked as a tailor for a while. And after working with various fabrics and categories of clothes through that, small goods like money pouches and fabric lamps caught my interest as a way to express my creative ideas.
It seems like there’s a few motifs or silhouettes that you like, including lamps and also vases. Can you talk about this – why are these the objects you like to design? When did you design your first one?
I did my first work with vinyl in 2020 and it was very different from the designs I do now. Today, I mainly like to create patchwork or collage using fabrics from my surroundings. Patchwork seems to reflect my personality. It’s cute and it feels like me.
You’ve had the chance to collaborate with some really cool brands including Salomon and Casetify. Can you talk more about these collaborations and how they came together?
They all contacted me first and I gladly accepted. I try to make my objects using the image of each brand I’m interpreting – there’s nothing special to add 😅. They’re great brands.
Is there a brand that you really want to collaborate with but haven’t had the chance to yet?
I want to try a lightweight furniture brand or something random, like a snack or paper brand.
Matt Pecina of Studio Guapo likes to suggest that streetwear culture is moving towards furniture. You’ve done stuff in both worlds, like you’ve even designed shoes. But what’s the line for you between these two spaces: streetwear and furniture?
Similar to furniture, fashion also requires care when designing it and needs to be created with beautiful outlines and shapes and silhouettes. Furniture that resembles fashion just seems natural.
We’ve yet to really see many mainstream fashion brands dip into furniture, although we’ve seen a handful of well-known independent designers do it, like Virgil Abloh. What brand or designer would you like to see venture into the furniture world? What do you think that would look like?
Rei Kawakubo. They’ve done furniture once before using simple lines and metals, but I'm really curious about what furniture incorporating more of the rich formative beauty from their design world would look like. Also, Dries Van Norton – the unique, delicate and faded colors they use are likely to go really well with furniture. I could imagine a glossy jacquard fabric being used for wood with a not-too-excessive silhouette.