Bob See Jun Hong 薛竣鴻 was born in Singapore in 1995 and he earned his BA in Product design in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University after receiving a Diploma in product and industrial design in Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore.
Bob is a practicing designer and design work has been featured in local and international exhibitions. He is currently holding a research assistant role in a university and also working on his own product design startup while producing lacquerware on his free time as an outlet for more creative concepts.
Bob incorporates his artistic visions into his design work, while also exploring usability in his art forms, often thinking of how one can interact with a art piece both physically and visually to achieve satisfaction or purpose. Creating with lacquer fitted this desire of duality, as a medium that is both functional and with high aesthetic potential.
His first experience with Urushi was when he broke some antique plates, while mending the plates he was challenged by the material and read deeply about it. He sees lacquer as a method to accentuate properties of existing material and artistic forms, like bringing out the delicate rings of piece of wood out and protecting it with the durability of the lacquer. “Every item is completed with the urushi with a purpose, where all the materials complement each other.”
Wooden Thin Plate by SEE Jun Hong Bob
The oldest lacquerware discovered dates back to the Warring States period (403-221 B.C.). the craft has been transferred to Japan, Korea, and other parts of Southeast Asia. The value of a piece of lacquerware only begins with the materials used to make it. A high quality piece of lacquerware requires the skills of several different elements: lacquer, layers, core materials, decoration, colours, design and process.
