We caught up with Taiwanese designer Rock Wang at Yii, the Triennale Design Museum's show of Taiwanese designers and craftsmen. There, he explained the concept and intent behind his amazing Brick Plan vases and trays, carved and polished by hand and lathe from chunks of brick extracted from demolished buildings in the Taiwanese countryside.

As Rock explains in the above video, brick has become a traditional material in rural Taiwan, becoming a mainstay building technology since it was introduced to the country by the colonial Dutch. With this project, Rock tries to preserve not only the material, but also the feel of the old brick of his country home, polished to imitate the feeling of the walls worn smooth by decades of touch.

The project is amazing in its beautiful (and challenging) mix of turned precision and unrefined brick laying, and sweet for Rock's complete dedication of it to his daughter. Also, maybe unintentional, the rotational sculpting of brick is a nice counter reference to thrown ceramics, with a related materiality and form.

Bubble Sofa by Yu-Jui Chou

Steel Bamboo Chair by Nendo

Exhibition design by Nendo

Bamboo chair designed by Konstantin Grcic and produced by Taiwanese craftsmen.