Jihong Lee Folds Thin Acrylic Into a Chair That Looks Inflated

Designer Jihong Lee has turned a thin, rigid acrylic sheet into a folding chair that reads as soft, rounded, and almost inflated. The concept, published by Yanko Design, draws on two references — origami and balloons — that both generate volume from something flat.

The design begins with a contradiction. Acrylic is naturally thin and stiff, yet the chair appears generous and substantial. Lee folds the sheets into pronounced curves, producing the appearance of considerable thickness without a heavy solid mass. According to Yanko Design, this construction reduces some of the weight typically associated with acrylic furniture of similar perceived volume.

The material treatment disrupts expectations. Acrylic usually signals crisp edges, polished surfaces, and visual coldness. Here, broad curls and smooth transitions replace those conventions. The chair is hard to the touch, but its silhouette suggests softness — Yanko Design compares the curved surfaces to pudding or a slowly inflating form rather than a conventional rigid seat. That mismatch between visual expectation and material reality gives the design much of its personality, the publication notes, inviting viewers to reach out and touch it.

The construction logic is equally deliberate. The folded acrylic sits over a structured chair leg system and fixes in place without additional bolt assembly or bonding. The material itself takes on a structural role. With fewer visible interruptions, the chair reads as one continuous form rather than a collection of assembled components.

Folding also serves a practical function. The chair flat-packs, so the fold pattern governs how it can be transported and assembled. Yanko Design describes the process as having a satisfying DIY quality — like completing a large piece of origami and watching a usable object emerge from a flat sheet. The folds remain visible, understandable, and central to the chair's character, so the logic of its construction is never hidden.

As an object in a room, the transparency keeps it visually light while the exaggerated curves give it enough presence to shift a space. Yanko Design characterizes it as playful without becoming novelty furniture, and experimental without losing its function as a seat.

The core move is straightforward: take a thin, rigid sheet and make it feel full, soft, and substantial through folding alone. For a familiar material often confined to crisp, cold applications, the concept points toward a broader strategy — using fold geometry to achieve sculptural volume at a fraction of the material weight.