'Wei'
Chair
Designed by Shao Fan
Beijing, China
1996
MDF, Catalpa and elm wood
Museum No. FE 330-2005
Gift of Ms Pearl Lam

'Wei' is another chair that is created based on the logograph (Chinese character) which conveys the idea 'to protect' or 'to defend'.

This chair is formed of parts from a dismantled 'guan mao' (Official's Hat) style chair (so called because of its resemblance to the shape of a scholars' headgear).

But the artist's Deconstructivist manipulation does not stop there. In shaping the form of the chair Shao Fan inverted the character 'wei' (shown above) into its mirror image, and then gave it a third dimension by bringing the arm forward towards the viewer, a gesture that might suggests some protection for the person taking the seat.