When I’m tired and need to sit down for a bit, I’ll usually choose the nearest bench, chair, or even the floor if nothing else is available. But when I see something that looks particularly artsy or sculptural, I often hesitate, worried it might be off-limits or not as comfortable as it appears. Recently, however, there have been many chair concepts that blend design and functionality beautifully. These pieces look like works of art, yet they’re perfectly comfortable to sit on.
The Water Drop Chair is one such creation, a piece that appears to be a sheet of mountain rain frozen in time, captured and preserved for years to come. With its poetic form, it looks like it belongs in a museum or an art installation, but it’s also designed for everyday use. Designer Daijie Wu brings his vision to life in a single, mesmerizing pour of synthetic crystal. The chair’s rim and arms shimmer with transparency, creating a truly captivating effect.
Designer: Daijie Wu (Photos from Shenzhen Boking Art & Culture Co.)
Wu skillfully coaxed the resin to hang in midair, resembling clear icicles clinging to a winter branch. Before the liquid set, he carefully tucked in dried lychee leaves and twigs, each one handpicked during a storm. If you look closely, you can still see their delicate veins, suspended forever inside the crystal—almost as if time itself has paused. The effect is remarkable. In daylight, sunlight refracts through the Water Drop Chair, sketching ripples across the floor just like real water. Under spotlights, the embedded leaves glow amber, creating a dreamlike interplay of light and shadow. The chair transforms with its surroundings, offering a new perspective at every glance.
Wu’s Shenzhen studio spent months perfecting the mold so that the chair appears completely seamless. Even the structural ribs that keep the 12-kilogram frame sturdy are hidden within, leaving no clue as to how this miraculous object was made. The result is pure, uninterrupted beauty: no upholstery, no hardware, just the slow, organic curve of the drop itself. Wu describes this as a nod to Taoist philosophy: water, after all, is both yielding and unstoppable. Take a seat, and you’ll notice something unexpected. The chair flexes ever so slightly beneath you. What looks like ice is, in fact, solid and warm to the touch.
The story behind the Water Drop Chair is as poetic as its form. Wu harvested the leaves for this piece during a typhoon that battered Guangdong, sealing the memory of that storm inside a chair meant to last for decades. In an age of disposable plastics, this piece asks a thoughtful question: Can furniture be not only a place to rest, but also a clear lens onto nature’s own design? For collectors, design lovers, and anyone who cherishes the intersection of art, craft, and nature, Daijie Wu’s Water Drop Chair is a piece of furniture that represents a lasting, luminous pause in time.
