Intelligent design

"Bamboo culture is so powerful that it runs through our life," Chen says. "For example, there's a good chance that you would find a pair of bamboo chopsticks in every Chinese kitchen."

When he saw a thin bamboo skin rolling out of a machine, he thought of a model he had made during an internship in Italy in 2008 and decided to replicate it with bamboo.

The Hangzhou Stool consists of 16 bamboo veneers, each 0.9 millimeters thick. The layers differ in length. They are bent in an arc shape and glued together over a length of 25 centimeters at each end.

One piece of raw bamboo penetrates the veneers and combines the two ends of the stool. Sixteen layers of bamboo veneer give a very special "arc" to the stool, resembling ripples on water.

"When sitting, the more weight the stool receives, the deeper the arc will become in the center, and therefore the more elasticity the user will feel," Chen explains.

One of his stools has been added to the collection of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

As the only finalist of the 2018 Loewe international craft awards in China, Chen and his Hangzhou Stool sparked a new wave of Chinese craft in London.

His feat had the design magazine Icon name him one of the "most gifted local designers".

He has been invited to teach at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, and Tongji University in Shanghai. And he has offered his services to many international brands, including Swarovski, Nike and Ikea.