Seoul-born and bred Jay Sae Jung Oh was finishing up her degree in 3D design at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield, Michigan when she was assigned to design a product that solved a problem. She started to collect abandoned items and trash she saw around campus and assemble them with adhesives, wrapping them in a fiber to form a singular, cohesive, and upcycled chair.
The handcrafted Savage seating collection is a series she’s been developing and adding to over the last decade. “I wanted to communicate that this is what we’re throwing away,” says the Seattle-based Oh. “At that time, everything was about minimalistic design while I was trying to challenge different things.” Savage, in fact, is anything but minimal, featuring the silhouettes of objects people discarded from patio furniture and kitchenware to animal figures and musical instruments brought together to make an inspiring yet functional statement. “A lot of the job is making sure everything is perfectly combined,” she says. “It has to work as furniture in the best way. I spend a lot of time making everything solid and perfect.”
Pieces in the series can be found in the permanent collection of her alma mater, as well as the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. She eventually added an all-black version with a distinct sheen—one of which singer Celine Dion purchased for her Las Vegas home—and most recently a stool, lounge chair, and small table. But for Oh, the message of her work is what resonates. Design, she says, “can be a practical way to solve the problem.”
Oh’s Savage collection is made from fiber-wrapped discarded objects
This article originally appeared in HD’s March/April 2020 issue.
