Finicky Beauty: 24 Classic Reproductions of Wang Da-Hong's Furniture Designs [Books.com.tw Exclusive Limited Edition Collector's Set with 1:10 Model of Wang Da-Hong's Taishi Chair]

　　"Clothing is the shell of our bodies; architecture is the shell of our lives. We design clothes according to the shape of our bodies; we design houses according to the content of our lives." — Wang Da-hong

　　With ideal architecture and an ideal home, but lacking perfectly matched ideal furniture — instead of endlessly searching in vain, architect Wang Da-hong, known for his perfectionism and discerning eye, chose to spare no expense, meticulously crafting each piece, from lamps, tables, chairs, and sofas to low cabinets. Following the evolution of his architectural thinking and spanning three of his personal residences, he gradually constructed the perfect picture of home life in his mind.

　　▌Fully Revealed for the First Time! Wang Da-hong's Self-Designed Furniture for His Three Private Residences
　　Starting from Architectural Thought, Practicing the Ultimate Aesthetic of Life
　　Observe how the architect integrated Eastern elements and modernism into every table and chair.

　　"For Wang Da-hong, living spaces were not merely physical shelters, but havens for clarifying the mind amidst the busy and vulgar modern society."

　　This book centers on three residences—the Jianguo South Road Residence (1953), the Rainbow House (1964), and the Hongying Villa (1979)—and features 24 representative pieces of furniture designed by Wang Da-hong for these spaces. These include the shell coffee table, Grand Master chair, octagonal dining table, gold leaf low cabinet, red, black, and white sofa, vase octopus-leg floor lamp, and double-sided screen, among others.

　　－Furniture not only reflects formal aesthetics but also embodies an attitude towards life. For instance, the Grand Master chair, one of his most classic works, has a sleek design but inherits the upright back and armrests of traditional chairs. Unlike modern furniture that prioritizes comfort, it demands a disciplined posture from the sitter. For Wang Da-hong, life should have discipline and grace.

　　－Furniture can also be like miniature architecture, but with more freedom, becoming an outlet for the designer's personality. Wang Da-hong emphasized proportion and order, while also exhibiting playfulness and romantic poetry in materials and forms. Examples include the flowers floating in "the universe" on a dining table, or the three-fold screen themed after the Milky Way, hinting at his unfulfilled science fiction dreams.

　　－Furniture materials can carry emotional memories and daily habits from different times and spaces, and also highly showcase the characteristics of cross-cultural fusion. For instance, in the ice-cracked vase coffee table lamp and the vase octopus-leg floor lamp, Wang Da-hong combined existing antique Chinese ceramic vases with bent iron supports, linen lampshades, and large shell panels, demonstrating how he infused Eastern aesthetics into the Bauhaus spirit.

　　▌From no blueprints to 1:1 replication, a 6-year project costing millions of NTD
　　The research team gathered master craftsmen in woodworking, ironwork, lacquerware, and textiles
　　Perfectly recreating 24 unique pieces of furniture, born not for mass production but for an ideal life.

　　Architect Han Pao-teh once described: "He always deliberated on aesthetics under very simple conditions. A single object, placed in a certain position—an inch higher was not right, an inch lower was not right either. What Wang Da-hong pursued was a very fastidious kind of beauty."

　　To more comprehensively understand Wang Da-hong's creative landscape, architectural scholars Hsu Ming-sung and Huang Wei-ting, who have long studied Wang Da-hong, began to piece together the final missing puzzle — furniture design — beyond architecture and literature. However, they found that most of Wang Da-hong's designed furniture had been damaged or lost, with only scattered old photographs and distant memories remaining. Furthermore, these furniture pieces involved multiple crafts such as woodworking, ironwork, lacquerware, and textiles, and Wang Da-hong never left original design drawings.

　　They therefore launched a six-year investigation and replication project, combining historical documents, old photo verification, family interviews, and 3D modeling. Working closely with master craftsmen from various fields, expert consultants, and Wang Da-hong's children, they meticulously researched and discussed every detail. From scratch, they restored the proportions, scale, colors, and forms of Wang Da-hong's furniture, gradually understanding his design thinking and ingenious details throughout the reconstruction process. Through nearly thirty years of comparative design analysis, they articulated a systematic framework for understanding Wang Da-hong's furniture.

　　This is not only a classic interpretation documenting Wang Da-hong's architectural vocabulary and the transformation of modernist spirit into furniture design, but also a profound response to the "aesthetics of fastidiousness."

　　Wang Da-hong (1917-2018)
　　Born in Beijing, he was the only son of Wang Ch'ung-hui, the first Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Judicial Yuan of the Republic of China. He grew up in Suzhou, amidst traditional Chinese scholar gardens, which laid a profound foundation for his Eastern aesthetic. As a teenager, he traveled to Europe and attended the prestigious Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz in Switzerland. In 1936, he entered the University of Cambridge, initially majoring in Mechanical Engineering, before transferring to Architecture. In 1941, he went to Harvard University's Graduate School of Design (GSD), where he studied under Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus.

　　After completing his studies in 1942, he first served as an interpreter at the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C., then returned to Shanghai to establish the "Wulian Architects and Engineers" with four friends, while also participating in the Shanghai Municipal Planning Commission. During the Chinese Civil War, he moved to Hong Kong, and in 1952, at his father's behest, came to Taiwan. The following year, he founded Da-hong Architects, embarking on an exploration of "the modernization of Chinese architecture."

　　His first work, the Jianguo South Road Residence (1953), combined traditional Chinese elements with modernism to create a free-flowing interior space, shocking the architectural world at the time. Representative works include the Rainbow House (1964), Hongying Villa (1979), the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (1972), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1971), the First Student Activity Center of National Taiwan University (1961), the Tamsui Golf Club (1962), the Asia Cement Building (1966), and the Liang-shi Building (1970). He was also the first in Taiwan to implement technologies such as pre-stressed cantilever beams, curtain walls, steel tube structures, and duplex units and rooftop gardens in high-rise residential buildings.

　　With a design philosophy of simplifying the complex and precise proportions, he pursued "simplicity yet not monotony." He emphasized that architecture is a bridge between ideals and reality, requiring both spirituality and practicality, and extended this spirit to the furniture design of his three residences, making furniture and architecture echo each other to construct a complete aesthetic of life. In addition to architecture, Wang Da-hong also ventured into literature and translation, translating Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" into "Du Lian Kui" and writing the science fiction novel "Phantasmagoria," exploring humanity and the meaning of existence.

　　He was awarded the First Architectural Golden Tripod Award for Ten Outstanding Architects (1967), the 13th National Award for Arts (2009), and the 33rd Executive Yuan Cultural Award (2013), and was hailed as an eternal architectural poet, a pioneer, and a role model for modern architecture in Taiwan.

Book Features

　　Exquisite Collection · Absolutely Fastidious ————
　　◉ Elegantly bound with a sophisticated reddish-brown Japanese Art Deco-style paper, with the book title hot-stamped in bright red foil. A close-up photograph of the classic Grand Master Chair is printed on Nordic special copper paper, giving it a photographic texture, and is debossed and embedded into the cover. The belly band uses vibrant, saturated orange Colorplan paper from the UK. The endpapers feature a full-page silver shell pattern printed on Yamahiko Housho paper, with a handmade texture that shimmers with a subtle luster.

　　◉ Contains hundreds of full-color images, with pages printed in large format and full color on Spring Snow paper, which resists deterioration and yellowing. This perfectly reproduces the color layers of precious old photos and replicated furniture; the delicate paper provides an excellent tactile experience when flipping through, allowing one to fully immerse themselves in appreciating the detailed structures and craftsmanship.