Pao Hui Kao (Taiwan) studied Industrial Design at Huafan University before working for four years in an architecture studio, where she developed a deep sensitivity to space, material and construction. She obtained her Master’s degree in Fine Art and Design from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2016, positioning her practice between experimental craft and sculpture. With tracing paper, rice glue and Urushi lacquer, Kao creates folded and layered structures that explore fragility, time and the act of dwelling. Her sculptural series, Paper Pleats and Lacquer Leaf, emerge from a ritual process of folding, curing, and painting, transforming vulnerable materials into contemplative forms. She held her first solo exhibition, 25 Seasons, at Spazio Nobile, accompanied by an artist book in 2023, and took part in the gallery’s group exhibitions. A finalist of the 2022 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize, her work is held in major collections including the Boghossian and the POC Foundations. Pao Hui Kao is represented by Spazio Nobile since 2019.
Taiwanese artist Pao Hui Kao builds a unique sculptural language around the transformative potential of paper and Urushi lacquer. Treating tracing paper not as a surface but as an innovative material, her work begins with folding paper repeatedly by hand, binding each crease with rice glue to develop her signature Paper Pleats—structures that appear weightless yet carry remarkable tension. This process is a form of disciplined inquiry, testing how fragility can acquire strength through repetition and time. By applying layers of Urushi lacquer, a living natural material, she introduces duration and breath. The lacquer is not decorative; it is a skin that ages, darkens, and reveals the vulnerability beneath. Kao’s installations emerge from this dialogue between precision and uncertainty. In a contemporary context dominated by speed, her practice with paper and lacquer insists on slowness, material honesty and inner attention: to dwell in fragility is a radical, human act.
Pao Hui Kao: At the Heart of the Material
Pao Hui Kao: Dialogue Between Maker and Material
Pao Hui Kao: A Journey of Material Development
Pao Hui Kao : Marie Claire Maison Italy : La forza della carta
