'Kun'
Chair
Designed by Shao Fan
Beijing, China,
1996
MDF, Catalpa and elm
Museum No. FE 328-2005
Gift of Ms Pearl Lam

The 1990s for China was a transitional period from the traditional to the modern; and also one marked by anxiety. This chair captures the tension between tradition and modernity, where the antique chair parts are counterbalanced with a new frame, meeting but never arriving at fusion, reflecting the contrasts between old lifestyles and new contexts. 

The ideogram (Chinese character) 'kun' conveys many meanings and in this chair Shao Fan plays extensively with these. The character kun is a frame which contains wood, and this is played up in the design. The word also connotes being trapped, but could at the same time signify a sense of being troubled, hinting at the mood of the times.