Dak Haan in the Hills | Half-Hundred% Three-Seater and Zongheng Coffee Table beneath a painting

Dak Haan × Local Landscape | \"Dak Haan in the Hills\", a space exhibition at Olive Hill, Dongshankou

Gatherings | Dongshankou: Dak Haan in the Hills

In early summer 2024, Dak Haan and Local Landscape staged a space exhibition called \"Dak Haan in the Hills\" in an old house at Olive Hill, Dongshankou, Guangzhou. Dappled days, white rooms: a green Half-Hundred% Three-Seater beneath a painting, Xiaoyuan pieces by the window, Xuanwu and Qingfeng chairs at the table, and an invitation to friends to come up the hill and sit.

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Exhibition

Key visual for "Dak Haan in the Hills". Image: Local Landscape

「Your house is your larger body. It grows in the sun and sleeps in the stillness of the night; and it is not dreamless.」

「— Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet」

In early summer 2024, Dak Haan and Local Landscape staged a space exhibition in an old house at Olive Hill, Dongshankou, Guangzhou. They called it "Dak Haan in the Hills" (山中得闲) and invited friends to come up the hill.

[Video slot: edited "Dak Haan in the Hills" videos (2 clips, in /workspace/projects_rewrite/materials/橄榄山/video/ once fetched; suggested after the introduction)]

Half-Hundred% Three-Seater, Zongheng Coffee Table and Gudun Side Table

01 Beneath the Painting | A Green Half-Hundred%

Half-Hundred% Three-Seater beneath the painting

Beneath a large painting stands a pine-green Half-Hundred% Three-Seater Lounge Chair. Half-Hundred% is Zhou Anbin's 2021 design: take out the frame normally hidden inside a sofa, weave the seat and back from straps, and stand it on crossed boards. Its green straps pick up the green in the painting and beyond the window. In front is a dark Zongheng Coffee Table; by the arm, a Gudun Side Table, taken from the stone bollards on the street that anyone can sit on or set things down on.

Half-Hundred% Three-Seater and Gudun Side Table

Living room | Xiaoyuan Sofa with Linglong Coffee and Side Tables

02 Rooms with a View

The all-travertine Linglong Coffee Table

The living room has a Xiaoyuan Sofa in off-white bouclé, with an all-travertine Linglong Coffee Table and Linglong Side Table. Xiaoyuan is named after Xiaoyuan New Village, where Zhou Anbin once lived; the Linglong pieces give travertine a soft, rounded outline.

By the window | Half-Hundred% Lounge Chair and Linglong Side Table

Half-Hundred% Lounge Chair, Linglong Side Table and Gudun Side Table

By the window, an indigo Half-Hundred% Lounge Chair on a natural-wood base. Colours in layers and materials of different textures make room for different forms of life.

03 Flowing | On an "Eternal Day"

Xiaoyuan Lounge Chair and Zongheng Coffee Table

An all-wood Xiaoyuan Lounge Chair in black wraps you from both sides, and you relax without trying.

A walnut Lianyi Cabinet stands against the wall, its front rising and falling like ripples spreading across water.

Linglong Large Round Table, Xuanwu Chair and Qingfeng Chair

04 At the Table | Xuanwu and Qingfeng

Around a dark Linglong Large Round Table sit cane Xuanwu Chairs and Qingfeng Chairs; the Qingfeng takes its form from the wide sleeves of traditional Han dress, its armrests leaning slightly forward.

Linglong Small Round Table and Zhizhu Chairs

A corner | Linglong Small Round Table, Zhizhu Chairs and Lianyi Cabinet

In another corner, a Linglong Small Round Table is paired with two Zhizhu Chairs, one metal, one solid wood. The Zhizhu redraws the lines of a bamboo chair in metal, wood and leather.

05 The Old Tree in the Courtyard

In the corridor, a black Mumu Bench offers anyone passing a place to sit.

Window and leaf shadows. Image: Local Landscape

06 A Closer Look | Xuanwu Chair: bone and flesh

The Xuanwu Chair is a 2020 design by Zhou Anbin, inspired by Xuanwu, one of the Four Divine Beasts of ancient myth. Timber forms the bones and cane or fabric the flesh, so it looks like bone and flesh and sits more comfortably. Smooth solid-wood forms with panels of cane weave balance hard and soft, like a tortoise shell.

At Dak Haan in the Hills, cane Xuanwu Chairs and Qingfeng Chairs gather round the dark Linglong Large Round Table, where a table of people can sit down to eat and talk.

Prototyping: in September 2020 the Xuanwu Chair in the workshop was still in the white: the solid-wood frame was unfinished, and cane panels had already been set into the timber, covering the seat, the back and both sides. The bent-wood arms were still being sanded, and the joints where wood meets cane were clear to see.

Related works: Xuanwu Chair

Prototyping | Sanding the raw timber arm of the Xuanwu Chair, September 2020

Prototyping | Where the cane meets the timber frame, September 2020

Project Details

Exhibition | Dak Haan in the Hills (山中得闲)

Type | Space exhibition

Dates | Early summer 2024

Venue | Olive Hill, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, China

Presented by | Dak Haan, Local Landscape

Furniture brand | Dak Haan

Dak Haan Pieces in This Story (15)

Half-Hundred% Three-Seater Lounge Chair · Half-Hundred% Lounge Chair · Xiaoyuan Sofa · Xiaoyuan Lounge Chair · Linglong Coffee Table · Linglong Side Table · Linglong Large Round Table · Linglong Small Round Table · Zongheng Coffee Table · Gudun Side Table · Lianyi Cabinet · Xuanwu Chair · Qingfeng Chair · Zhizhu Chair · Mumu Bench (all designed by Zhou Anbin)