Remaining Things

Year:

2024

Commissioned by COLLECTIONAL

Featured in: Urban Fabric Series 001

By Teo Yang

The Remaining Things collection by Korean designer Teo Yang, commissioned by Gallery COLLECTIONAL, is a series of eight furniture pieces that reinterpret architectural elements from hanok - traditional Korean houses.

This collection was featured in COLLECTIONAL’s Urban Fabric Series 001, a curatorial initiative highlighting contemporary Asian design inspired by urban environments and cultural heritage.

Rooted in the disappearing vernacular of hanok architecture, Remaining Things reimagines salvaged components as sculptural, functional furniture.

Yang draws from Korea’s architectural past to create pieces that bridge historical craftsmanship with contemporary aesthetics, blending memory, material, and modern life. The collection becomes a quiet act of preservation, honoring tradition while adapting it for new contexts.

Inspired by the ancient tradition of stacking stones as meaningful markers, Cairn reimagines this concept through six to seven sculptural lights. Each piece is a study of materiality, combining polished surfaces with translucent layers that interact with light to produce optical distortions. As viewers move through the space, they experience a dynamic interplay of movement and stillness, where light transforms the organic forms into ever-shifting compositions.

Among the key works is the Mobile Divider, a sculptural room partition crafted from reclaimed hanok panels, chrome, and wood veneer. The Mobile Bookstand, inspired by Korea’s scholarly traditions, is a minimalist storage unit that speaks to the intellectual spirit of traditional living spaces. The Floating Shelf, made from ceiling remnants, incorporates chrome and marble accents, creating a dialogue between the old and the refined. At the center of the collection stands a Table Centrepiece, featuring a glass tabletop resting on a chrome base and an original hanok column, symbolizing the integration of heritage and modernity.

This series of six pieces reflects Gallée’s pursuit of balance, solidity and weightlessness, reality and illusion, function and statement, while embracing the meticulous craftsmanship often reserved for smaller ornamental objects. The collaboration provided a platform for expanding Gallée’s exploration of scale and ritual through collectible design.

As part of Urban Fabric Series 001, the collection addresses the cultural tensions of urbanization by transforming remnants of historical homes into collectible design. Yang’s approach highlights the fragility and resilience of cultural memory, inviting reflection on what remains, and what can be reimagined. Through his thoughtful material choices, glass, chrome, marble, wood veneer, he merges artisanal sensibility with industrial precision.

Cairn captures a sense of ritual and presence, inviting the viewer into a deeper connection with each piece.