Furniture Design: Choi Mikyung

복기Bokgi means to look back. In a game of Go, you can only look back once the match is over. You would imagine, “What if I had placed the stone here?” You would explore possibilities that never happened and learn from other possible moves. Through this process, a game becomes fuller. In the end, looking back is a kind of virtual reality. It is free from winning and losing.

Furniture also involves many variables. Beyond beauty, there are structure, function, detail, material, production, and trends to consider. Furniture made for clients is shaped by these complex conditions. A designer cannot fully follow their own preferences for material or form, because they are not the one who will use it. The theme of this exhibition, Bokgi, is about recreating the many aspects of furniture that were once set aside. It is a process in which the designer becomes their own client. 

Even before objects were called furniture, people made things to use. They made objects to hold, to sit on, and to place items upon. Over time, certain forms were repeated. These forms became familiar, comfortable, and beautiful basic structures in daily life. 

The second goal of Bokgi is to reinterpret these basic forms of traditional furniture with modern structure and function. We cannot live exactly as people did in the past. Even if we could, that would not be true tradition. Starting from simple forms, adding function, material, and detail, and building relationships between these elements, countless types of furniture can be created. This Bokgi removes those added layers and returns to the basics. 

_Lee Sangho, Gallery Chosun