Zavier Wong

hello@zavierwong.net
@zavierwong_

Address:
Kastanjelaan 400
5616LZ
Eindhoven

I am Zavier Wong Zhen Rui. I am a Singapore born maker and thinker based in the Netherlands. The primary role of my practice uses the act of making and creating to understand and discover. By playing with materials and discovering new ways of working with it, I go on a journey to negotiate with the unknown and uncertain. The results are always one where both material and immaterial dimensions are held together.

My practice always involves a "both/and" way of thinking which naturally leads to outcomes where viewers see paradoxical ideas held in harmony with each other.

As of now, interior objects has been my medium. It has led me to tinker with a range of mediums and materials. I like to see myself as someone gardening an industrial wilderness. I tend to gravitate towards materials that are seen as imperfect, discarded, unwanted or things that are rejected by industry or seen as useless. Using its perceived weakness as an invitation to transform it.

I am deeply grateful to two people who were very formative in my education and practice- Nacho Carbonell, who was my tutor and Studio Valentin Loellmann, where I did an internship.

Individuality & Togetherness | 2021 - The Common Table

In the early church, people from different backgrounds came together at one table, to share a communal meal known as the love feast. Reflecting a contemporary desire for unity, Zavier Wong has designed a long table for the same purpose. It is composed of five separate tables embodying five different people. They are made of found materials: scrap wood, steel, brick, styrofoam and plastic. All materials are broken down into smaller pieces to represent a common feeling; regardless of language, race or religion, we all go through devastating moments in life. However, Zavier believes that crushing experiences always carry the seeds of growth. Hence the organic form of this symbolic piece of furniture: the irregular bits and pieces all seem to grow and come back to life.

Individuality & Togetherness | 2021 - Mash Up!

Today, society is ever more polarized and individualistic. Mash up! is a collaborative platform as a response to the moment we are in,. In this phase, Zavier collaborated with 8 people to arrive at 8 outcomes. This platform has 2 goals – Our differences were meant to allow us work together with each other rather than against. To allow each participant to be renewed by the creative process. Each person is approached organically. The creative process happens through dialogues where medium, material, shape are discussed. Through this process, each individual is able to open new ways of seeing and doing for the other.

Imperfection & Perfection | 2020 - Junk to Funk!

“Junk to funk” is a series of tables for lounge areas made from bricks/metal obtained from area 51, Strijp-S as they go through renovation and demolition. This project questions our perception of broken things and reassigning value to them.
It applies the principle of “valued based performance instead of what we traditional know as “performance based value”.

Certainty & Uncertainty | 2018 - The Voice of Glass.

In Singapore, there isn't really a lot of craftsman working with glass. Hence Zavier is always interested in the processes around glass. The voice of glass is a research into the production processes surrounding glass. Merging European traditions of Stain glass techniques and Chinese traditions of burning, He created an object made up of glass panels that resembles a bubble. These fluid-like uncontrollable details are a result of the glass fusing technique. This echoes an idea where the controlled elements of a design are determined by uncontrolled outcomes in a time where we always want to control things.

Imperfection & Perfection | 2018 - Altar & Shelf.

We live in an attention economy today where we are easily distracted by the information overload. Through social media, each time we get a ?like,? we are feeding our addiction to the attention economy. That also feeds the faux perfection we try to portray. Altar & Shelf serves to remind people of the value on focusing something on a long time and how sometimes our flaws are the parts that make us beautiful. This object was made through many human hours of perforation and welding. The most interesting details of this object are what you do not want when working with steel. These parts are warped and not ?perfect?.

Imperfection & Perfection | 2018 - Totem side table.

Zavier believes sometimes the smooth things in life can be dull Concrete is usually cast in a mould made up of concrete plex that gives a smooth but dull surface. As a result, he explored new ways of making the mould that does not give a smooth surface. Totem side table has a smooth top surface and textures on the side. It is made from concrete and colour pigments. He used packaging materials as the mould-making material. These packaging materials give the final textures seen on the side table.