The Ordinary Family

source: kalaichannl

Ka-Lai Chan (*1985, NL) graduated in 2009 from Utrecht Academy of the Arts, the Netherlands. After graduating she started her own design studio, specializing in interior products. As a young Dutch designer of Asian origin, she mixes cultures, materials and forms in a unique signature style. Chan’s work is inspired by personal experiences, perceptions and the beauty of the unexpected. Her shapes are often organic, patterned and continuous. Chan’s work has been presented in several galleries, International Design fairs and exhibitions in USA, Italy, France and the Netherlands.

“Through my creations I want to uncover the hidden value of ordinary objects and material, letting people look at the beauty of things and experience them in a different way, which they normally wouldn’t have noticed.”
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source: coroflot

Ka-Lai Chan’s most recent work is titled “The Ordinary Family” (2012). This a furniture collection, currently consisting of five pieces, is a carefully selected and modified group of used furniture and is partly inspired by stories of the designer’s own family or observations of families around her. The furniture family includes a rocking horse, a coffee-table, a praying chair, a classical side table and the ‘No Sign of Design’ chair; a basic practical chair by the influential Dutch designer Richard Hutten.

Chan creates frozen moments that can be interpreted as points in the personal lives of members of a family. For example, the classical side table, in which golden colored pearls have created a hole in the wood, refers to a young girl’s obsession with external psychical beauty.