{"id":11621,"date":"2026-01-10T16:30:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T15:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/?p=11621"},"modified":"2025-12-16T18:59:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T17:59:05","slug":"yellow-nose-studio-on-staying-fearless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/yellow-nose-studio-on-staying-fearless\/","title":{"rendered":"YELLOW NOSE STUDIO ON STAYING FEARLESS"},"content":{"rendered":"
Hsin-Ying Ho and Kai-Ming Tung invite you into their space of childlike curiosity<\/span><\/h5>\n

\u201cWe create things through living,\u201d Kai says as he hands me a cup of water, while Ying is out getting coffee at the caf\u00e9 next door. Their studio seems to echo his words: shelves climb almost to the ceiling, crowded with bowls, cups, plates, and vases. Some are glazed in soft whites or smoky greys, others left in the warm, sandy rawness of clay. On the adjacent wall, hammers, tongs, scissors, and other tools hang neatly in place, and in the corner, the kiln waits for its next firing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taiwanese designers and real-life partners Hsin-Ying Ho and Kai-Ming Tung are the duo behind Yellow Nose Studio, a Berlin-based practice dedicated to handmade objects and interior design. Their style thrives on contrasts: organic versus industrial, logic versus emotion. Material-wise, they keep textures honest\u2014raw clay stays raw, clean wood stays clean\u2014working within the rhythms of everyday life and drawing inspiration from their surroundings.<\/span><\/p>\n

After moving to Berlin in 2016 for postgraduate studies in scenography, exhibition design, and product design, the couple decided to take a chance on the German capital and stayed. Two years later, they founded Yellow Nose Studio in Prenzlauer Berg before relocating to their current space on Lindower Strasse.<\/span><\/p>\n

The two met at Shih-Chien University in Taiwan, where they studied architecture. They remember it as a time of freedom and hands-on discovery, an energy that still shapes their artistic language today.<\/span><\/p>\n

From the very first year, they were thrown into building projects without prior technical knowledge, learning by doing, collaborating, and constantly pushing past perceived limits. The school\u2019s workshops were open 24 hours, so experimentation could happen at any time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe started with specific materials like wood, concrete, plaster, or clay and explored them without instruction. You learned not just to touch the material but to use machines, to shape it, to really find your own way of dealing with it,\u201d Kai remembers.<\/span><\/h5>\n

The school\u2019s rebellious spirit and unconventional thinking shaped Kai and Ying\u2019s outlook.They launched their studio with projects like tableware and ceramics that were manageable yet still expressive of their minimalist, subtle and refined style.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These included the <\/span>Shadow<\/span><\/i> collection, a practical yet artistic series of black handmade ceramics, primarily plates, each kneaded into its own unique form; and the <\/span>Moon<\/span><\/i> collection, which features wooden furniture inspired by the ancient, adaptable curio box alongside a ceramic tea set influenced by the Japanese-Korean Mono-ha movement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Early works were anchored in careful storytelling, created around imagined scenes and poetic aesthetics. While this remains Yellow Nose Studio\u2019s foundation, parenthood shifted their process toward greater intuition and play.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSince our daughter Muyi was born, we let things develop more naturally,\u201d Hsin-Ying says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Muyi often inspires them directly, like the day she began transforming leftover materials into sculptures.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she was younger, we set up a little playground for her in the studio. All those boxes over here\u201d\u2014Hsin-Ying points to a spot by the door\u2014\u201cit was her own space. As she got older, she brought more of that energy into our work, picking up objects, focusing intently, and then randomly pulling things out to make small sculptures.\u201d<\/span><\/h5>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when we realized that stacking could be our own playful design method,\u201d Kai adds. The idea invited them to rethink the function of furniture: \u201cWe don\u2019t define our pieces, meaning we don\u2019t call it a \u2018side table\u2019 or a \u2018stool\u2019. It can be whatever the user wants.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This playful approach slowly transitioned into INDERGARTEN, a series of furniture pieces built from three basic block shapes\u2014circle, square, and rectangle\u2014combined in over twenty different designs. By cheekily dropping the \u201ck\u201d from \u201ckindergarten,\u201d Ying and Kai invite viewers into a space of childlike curiosity. The collection is a nod to Friedrich Froebel, founder of the first kindergarten in 1840, and his belief in learning through invention. Now in its second iteration, titled <\/span>Second Field<\/span><\/i>, the collection has already been exhibited in Japan and may soon be shown in Berlin.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the color palette we used<\/span>,<\/span><\/i>\u201d Hsin-Ying says, showing me tiles painted in muted tones, any of which can be used to cover the top or other parts of the wooden chairs.<\/span> The concept is wintertime in Berlin, so the colors are subdued, a little greyish.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEach city has its own atmosphere, and this is Berlin\u2019s. Anyone who\u2019s been here in winter will recognize it,\u201d she adds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Architecture also fed into the design.<\/span> \u201cMany fa\u00e7ades in the city are covered in tiles, but others have none, just rough plaster or stucco. We wanted to reinterpret those surfaces and that environment in our work,\u201d<\/span> Kai says.<\/span><\/p>\n

This sensitivity to surfaces extends beyond furniture. Their ceramicware collection of mugs (or \u201cegg cups\u201d as they call them because of their oval shape) was made with the same design approach. The process was equally intuitive, blending geometric shapes with, of course, their daughter\u2019s input.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe designs on the cups are inspired by watching Muyi draw. There\u2019s a certain joy and freedom in how she does it, and we wanted to capture that feeling. We approached it as if we were playing like children, there\u2019s no fixed image or strict design. Every piece is different, and every piece is playful,\u201d Ying explains.<\/span><\/h5>\n

For the cups and some other pieces they used a layering technique: placing a piece of paper on the surface, then brushing porcelain over it so the paper\u2019s texture remains after firing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis piece actually began as a test project that started with Washi paper,\u201d Ying says, reaching for a cylinder-shaped white vase. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen fired, the paper burns away and sometimes causes the surface to curve. That shape is something you can\u2019t really control, it takes its own path. And that unpredictability makes it even more special.”<\/span><\/h5>\n

Right now, they are experimenting with different papers and clays. \u201cLet\u2019s see where controlling\u2014or not controlling\u2014the process might lead us,\u201d Ying says, smiling.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their explorative collections are appreciated not only by their daughter but by their clients as well. Eight years after opening the studio, the duo are grateful for the network they\u2019ve established so far. Clients who tend to share their understated aesthetic and often become friends, sending photos of how they use the pieces. Commissions come with full creative trust, something the artists value deeply. Exhibitions have become more selective: \u201cWe\u2019re not chasing constant exposure anymore. We\u2019d rather slow down, enjoy the process, and create work we love,\u201d they say.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the future, they hope to move past ceramic tableware toward bigger scale projects. Their ambitions include larger commissions, installations, and interior design\u2014always with their distinctive language intact. For now, the two are happy working at a sustainable rhythm, resisting the industry\u2019s hamster wheel, and holding onto the wildness that first defined their practice.<\/span><\/p>\n

As they put it, \u201cGo back to the wildness\u201d isn\u2019t just a nostalgic nod to their student days. It\u2019s a way of working\u2014hands-on, fearless, and free\u2014that still guides Yellow Nose Studio today.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kai wears Nell in antique silver and Ying wears Micro in black.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hsin-Ying Ho and Kai-Ming Tung invite you into their space of childlike curiosity \u201cWe create things through living,\u201d Kai says as he hands me a cup of water, while Ying is out getting coffee at the caf\u00e9 next door. Their studio seems to echo his words: shelves climb almost to the ceiling, crowded with bowls, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":11653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,124],"tags":[32,115,129,12,81],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11621"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11621"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11646,"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11621\/revisions\/11646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yun-berlin.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}