Olivia Lee’s Where Athena Lives collection BY ALLIE BISWAS August 7, 2017
When Singaporean designer Olivia Lee thinks about furniture, she tunes into two concepts: new technologies and user behavior—specifically, a woman’s behavior. In her latest 10-piece collection, Where Athena Lives, Lee uses rugs, tables, and objects to streamline the intersections of tech and daily routines: A vanity doubles as a mirror and a dock for smartphones. A rug adds tactility to virtual-reality entertainment. Pebble-shaped foam panels function as cushioned seats and sound-absorbers. “My practice is an extension of my belief in convergence—the marriage of art and science, and, to some extent, even the mythical,” she says. The analog form of Lee’s archetypes make them adaptable to digital demands yet to come. And by injecting warmth into the smart home, Lee’s pieces are an exercise in future-proofing.