Pao Hui Kao is an artist who studied industrial design at Huafan University in Taipei, Taiwan. After gaining four years’ experience as an industrial designer, she pursued a Master’s programme at the Design Academy Eindhoven, graduating with a Master of Arts degree in 2016. Significant influences on her work include innovative materials, traditional craftsmanship, social issues and ecological concerns. Through creating objects, sculptures and installations, she transforms ordinary materials and surroundings into extraordinary aesthetics. Pao Hui Kao’s projects merge the forces of nature with human artefacts. Her studio serves as a platform for ongoing research into experimental design, imbuing man- made sculptural forms and installations which find deeper meaning through their interaction with nature and its elements.
This developmental process enables Pao Hui Kao to create a narrative in which the natural and the artificial converge to form landscapes for the mind to explore the philosophical quandaries confronting the human condition. In 2020, Pao Hui Kao created two collections for Spazio Nobile: Paper Pleats and Lacquer Leaf. In these collections, she explores the symbiosis of organic and mineral elements using materials such as tracing paper, crepe paper, rice glue, Urushi lacquer, colour pigments and kintsugi. She was also a finalist for the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize in 2022, and held a solo exhibition, 25 Seasons: Landscapes of Paper and Lacquer, at the gallery in 2023-24. She also participated in a duo show, LuniSolar, with Ann Beate Tempelhaug at Design Miami/ Basel in 2024. Her creations have entered private and institutional collections in recent years, including those of the POC Foundation and the Boghossian Foundation in Belgium. She exhibits her beautiful Original Paper Pleats Lounge Chair, made of tracing paper and rice glue, as part of the Fondazione Dries Van Noten’s inaugural presentation, The Only True Protest Is Beauty, curated by Dries Van Noten with Geert Bruloot running from 25 April to 4 October 2026.
She has been represented by Spazio Nobile since 2019.
Spazio Nobile Editions – Pao Hui Kao : 25 Seasons
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
TLMagazine : The Lunisolar House: An Art Installation by Pao Hui Kao
