Monument Magazine. Dec/Jan 2000-2001.

Site: Folded Fragment by Anna Johnson

"Take a piece of paper and manipulate it on your hands" - this is the first step young Melbourne designer Enlai Hooi gives to explain the method of formation for his intricate pieces or "phrases", as he calls them. This series is part of Hooi's industrial design thesis on folding and materials to be completed by the end of the year. The process of experimentation is privileged; the aim is to design in a generative and innovative way. Here the aesthetic is the direct result of an investigation. The resulting object is offered as a piece to be expanded upon or incorporated into another program or design like Hooi's Wall Section and table. Paper, plastic or Tyvek, a spun-bonded polyethylene, is folded and refolded to become a fragment to be consumed. These phrases may appear as a surface or a modular or shell structure. Hooi describes these final fragments as "replete with meaning". I would say they are replete with possibility: the pieces are not meant to be complete in themselves, but prompt expansion or invite transfer to a different context. It is through this process that Enlai created the movable Tyvek screens that were the winning entry for the Powerhouse Young Designer of the Year 2000 Award.

The work is beautifully made and presented. The complexities of folding and their structural characteristics give them a persuasive visual presence. Jewel-like in the precision, ironically they become seductively ornamental. As intended, I imagined what these pieces could become if rescaled and incorporated into a specific program, functional object or space. It is of no surprise that Hooi's favourite designers include Pier Luigi Nervi and Santiago Calatrava. The organic and inherently structural resolution of the work of these designers suggests their influence on Hooi's projects. For Calatrava, the structure is the design, the process and the aesthetic. What is the basis for a critique of Hooi's work?

I find it hard to imagine such a pure separation between the process, the origin of the work and the formal qualities it finally possesses. However, the commitment and rigour in the execution and resolution of these pieces means they take on a life of their own and are open to speculation. For me, the work suggests a play of ideas between design and structure, between the design process and its outcome.

(Hooi's) work prompts speculation on the relation between form, function and the process of evolution. These pieces have such an intensity about them that I'm sure this enthusiastic young designer will succeed. I'm intrigued to see what his next series of experiments will produce.