An Impressive Sushi Set

Husband-and-wife team John Stanislav Sadar and Gyungju Chyon started their multi-disciplinary business this year. Sadar is trained as an architect, and Chyon as a furniture designer, so it’s a bit surprising that the collection the pair brought to the ICFF is mainly porcelain. “I just happened to have access to a workshop,” Chyon says. “I’d […]

Husband-and-wife team John Stanislav Sadar and Gyungju Chyon started their multi-disciplinary business this year. Sadar is trained as an architect, and Chyon as a furniture designer, so it’s a bit surprising that the collection the pair brought to the ICFF is mainly porcelain. “I just happened to have access to a workshop,” Chyon says. “I’d never worked with ceramics before. It was fascinating to handle the material.”

The results—which include a saltshaker made from a bottle nipple and a vase cast from a toxic chemical bottle—are both practical and humorous. Chyon casts most of her work in molds precisely because the material is so new to her. Features of her designs reflect her fascination with what she’s learning. For example, she tears her vases at a stage in the drying process that she describes as “leather-hard “by putting a finger through one side.

All of the dimples in the Impressed sushi set have functions: They’re a way to grip the soy sauce and saki vessels, and were inspired by the receptacles on the tray, which hold ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce. Underneath the tray, those same dimples act as feet. Since there were only three dimples, Chyon had to devise a fourth leg for balance, so she created a dimple to hold chopsticks.

She’s clearly as inspired by the accidents of the design process as she is by the quirks of the material. “When you put your chopsticks there, they’re actually easier to grab, because there is a space underneath,” she says.

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