Taiwanese designer Pao Hui Kao has unveiled her first solo exhibition, featuring colourful furniture made out of rolls of tracing paper.
On show at Spazio Nobile Gallery in Brussels, the show ? called 25 Seasons, Landscapes of Paper and Lacquer ? brings together 50 objects and paintings produced by Kao.
The Paper Pleats furniture includes benches, sideboards, stools and tables
These include new versions of her Paper Pleats furniture, which she makes by combining rolls of tracing paper into honeycomb structures and soaking them in rice glue.
Once hardened, these pieces ? which include benches, sideboards, stools and tables ? are surprisingly strong.
Kao applies colour pigments and Urushi lacquer to the works
Kao recently developed a technique of coating her paper structures with colour pigments and Urushi, a type of Japanese lacquer, to highlight the crinkled surfaces. In contrast with earlier works in the Paper Pleats series, which have a more ethereal quality, the coloured Paper Pleats pieces are highly graphic in appearance.
Kao's choice of colours includes rich shades of red and blue, as well as black, which she applies with a self-made tool.
The designer has made her own tool for applying the finishes
"Alongside school, I also studied Chinese ink drawing from the age of 10, mixing it with other materials like oil in a very creative way," the designer said.
"Urushi lacquer is similar to Chinese ink; it allows for creating thickness in successive lines like...