Dual Cut is the intriguing result of Hong Kong-based designer Kitmen Keung’s first-time collaboration with Belgium brand Sixinch. By precisely applying L-shaped cuts to a foam block just two times – hence the name – two pieces are produced to become one furniture item that seems beautifully simple but can be used in myriad ways.

Dual Cut can be used as a comfortable one-seater or chaise lounge featuring ergonomic seat-backs of 6° and 23° and, with a little easy adjustment, as a side table, a corner table, a pedestal… Its uses are limited only by your imagination, literally – Dual Cut is suitable for use indoors and outdoors, thanks to an innovative coating and is eminently portable because it’s so light and compact.

The uncluttered form of Dual Cut and the intuitive ease of using it are very much in line with Kitmen’s vision and approach. He believes that good design is scientific and should “capture the essence of science in an interactive way”.

Yet he also believes that there is a spirituality revealed in the simplicity of form when the superfluous is pared away. The object becomes an elegant form of interaction that brings out sympathetic emotions in people.

Kitmen was very careful about getting the proportions and scale of Dual Cut exactly right. Numerous study models were built to refine the form into the purest lines and simplest forms that could integrate his many considerations including ease of use, waste reduction and conservation of space and energy during transport.

Kitmen’s approach is as much of a melting pot as his background. The Hong Kong-born designer migrated to Canada with his parents at age 14 and stayed for 10 years completing both high school and an undergraduate art degree there.

He took his masters degree, however, in the prestigious Domus Academy in Milan, Italy and trained under the likes of Hani Rashid and Stefano Giovannoni. The time he spent in Italy led him to believe that having a vision is as important as having technical know-how, something that he says still critically influences him today.

Kitmen Keung
kitmenkeung.com