Bundled Vase (Braid)

Hans' work tiptoes on the boundaries between design, craft and art, making use of utility as a pretext for visual discourse, while maintaining a keen focus in disrupting common things, materials and fabrication processes. The embedded narratives in his works comment on design and its industry as a phenomenon, especially in the context of heritage, consumption and waste.

In 2009, Hans was spotted by Designnet magazine Korea as one of 36 Young Asian Designers, and was a winner of the Martell Rising Personalities Award 2009 which honours individuals from different creative fields who are passionately driven to push beyond the boundaries of success. He was awarded with the distinction of “Les Découvertes” at the fall edition of Maison et Objet 2012 in Paris, and in 2018, Hans was honoured with the Designer of the Year at the President's Design Award, Singapore’s highest recognition for a designer, for the impact of his body of work and his contributions to the design community through education.

Hans’ works have been shown in exhibitions such as “Singletown” at the Venice Biennale, “Surface art/design” in Dortmund and Cologne, “No Boundaries” at ArtStage Singapore, and “Local Icons East/West” at MAXXI Museo in Rome. His works are held in private and corporate collections, as well as public permanent collections at the National Collection of Singapore; M+ Museum for Visual Culture (Hong Kong); the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum (New York), and the Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics Leeuwarden (Netherlands).