When Didi NG Wing Yin wants to make something, he sits in front of a finished piece for an entire day – just looking at it, letting its meaning arrive on its own terms. It’s a somewhat meditative approach to a creative process, one that feels exceptionally rare in a discipline that is so often driven by deadlines and render decks. It also says a lot about how he works. For the Hong Kong-born, Helsinki-based artist-designer, wood becomes the protagonist of which he shapes into furniture. The material becomes its own entity, a collaborator of sorts, that he then charrs, splits, pleats and carves into forms that could be deemed sculpture just as much as craft and design.
Didi studied Industrial and Product Design in Hong Kong, where he first encountered furniture design but found little space to pursue it – due to limited production and market. Years working across product and interior design followed, before he left for Finland to complete an MA in Interior Architecture with a focus on Furniture Design at Aalto University. It was there, carving and experimenting far more than designing in the conventional sense, that his practice properly took root. “This journey of discovering the materiality of wood has become my obsession,” he says, "with furniture and objects serving as vessels for exploration.”
That obsession has, in a few short years, carried considerable weight. Didi was a finalist for the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize in 2025, won the Rising Start of the Year Award at the Scandinavian Design Awards 2024, and picked up Dezeen’s Emerging Designer of the Year in the same year. His Pleats Vase No.11 now sits in the permanent collection of Sweden’s Röhsska Museum, and he’s had solo shows at Spazio Nobile Gallery in Brussels, GaoShan Gallery and Lokal Gallery in Helsinki. His pieces – the blackened, red-footed Rocket Side Table, the softly folded Wood Pleats collection, the towering Wood Fountain Sculpture – carry a distinct visual language that is undeniably raw, weathered and tender.
That fountain, in fact, is his largest work to date, born from research into the history of fountains and a question that feels almost philosophical: how do you preserve the spirit of flowing water without any water flowing at all? It’s typical of Didi’s thinking to explore materiality in this way, and to push that curiosity until it becomes a concept.
Below, Anima talks to Didi about material estrangement, working without an order, and why the meaning of a piece often only reveals itself once the piece is already finished.
What led you to working across furniture and objects?
I graduated in Hong Kong with a BA in Industrial and Product Design. It was during this time that I first learned about furniture design, and I have always wanted to create furniture. However, there was limited production and market opportunity in Hong Kong. I spent several years working in product design and interior design before deciding to study abroad. I pursued an MA in Interior Architecture with a focus on Furniture Design at Aalto University in Finland. In addition to designing, I spent most of my time carving and experimenting, particularly with wood. The more hands-on interaction, the more inspiration and ideas emerged. This journey of discovering the materiality of wood has become my obsession, with furniture and objects serving as vessels for exploration
Your work has a strong sense of materiality and tactility, what tends to spark the idea for a new piece – is it a material, a form or a problem to solve?
Materiality expression is always the core. I enjoy exploring material agency. When a known material becomes something outside our expectations, the emerging estrangement sparks curiosity. This in-between knowing-and-not-knowing status is inexplicable. And I think this is how materials start to form a language. When I sense this excitement in a work, I will decide to continue and bring it further.
Could you talk through your creative process, from the initial idea through to making the finished piece? How important are experimentation and working with your hands along the way?
I think working with hands is everything. I have been splitting and charring a lot of wood at the beginning. Sometimes I just put them together at random and think about what they could be. The idea comes naturally when my tools and the material surround me. Sometimes I draw a bit to help me think. The process without an order is a bit chaotic compared to how I learnt to design, but I enjoy it. The meaning of my work sometimes comes after the work is done. At the end, I will do a lot of refinement of the concept and self-criticism of its quality before presenting it. Sometimes I even sit in front of my work for a day, just looking at it and thinking. This strange working method is efficient and fits my personality.
Could you highlight a favourite piece of yours and explain what you were exploring with it and why it stands out to you?
The wood fountain sculpture is the largest piece I have ever created. It began with a study of the historical changes in fountains and a reflection on the essence of water flow. This wooden sculpture explores the concept of vitality, serving as a response to the question of how to preserve the spirit of a fountain without the use of running water.
What do you hope people take from your work when they encounter it? Is there a particular feeling, idea or relationship with the object that you want to create?
I wish they wanted to touch it and question the why and how. I enjoy seeing people wanting to feel the texture with their hands, with extra care. The self-awareness in motion reflects that people are already communicating with the object. That moment belongs only to this person and this object.
What are you working towards next? Are there any upcoming pieces, projects or directions you're particularly excited about?
I am currently expanding my Pleats furniture collection in preparation for my upcoming exhibition at Asia Now in Paris this October, hosted by Spazio Nobile Gallery. Additionally, I will have a solo exhibition in Hong Kong next March at Otherthings by THE SHOPHOUSE. Stay tuned for updates!