Remaining Things
By Teo Yang
Year: 2024 Commissioned by COLLECTIONAL Featured in: Urban Fabric Series 001
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.
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.
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.
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.