Furniture & Lighting

Naihan moved to Beijing in the mid-80s and went on to study design and architecture at London’s Bartlett School of Architecture (University College of London). Naihan returned to Beijing in 2004 to work in the studio of Ai Weiwei as coordinator for the Jinhua Architectural Park development in Zhejiang Province.

She opened her Beijing-based furniture design studio, NAIHAN LI & Co., in 2010 with the production of her first series of furniture The CRATES, which was nominated for the 2012 Design of the Year Award by the Design Museum in London. In 2012, Naihan collaborated with Melbourne-based Broached Commissions to produce the Armillary Whisky Bar, which led to her new series of hardwood furniture I AM A MONUMENT. In 2013, CRATES was featured in the inaugural collection exhibition of the Sifang Art Museum.

Naihan was a featured designer at the 2011 Beijing Design Week and in 2012 and 2013 she produced a special exhibition that featured her RAWR innovation lab projects, the Caochangdi Pavillion projects designed by Ai Weiwei (2012) and Liu Wei (2013). She will have her first gallery exhibition in Los Angeles in March of 2014.

Naihan Li & Co

Ben trained as an Industrial Designer in the UK and started his career working for consultancies in London, Taipei, and Melbourne. He was Course Director of MA Industrial Design at Central Saint Martins between 2000 and 2011 when he relocated to Beijing. He is a Professor at the Design School in the Central Academy of Fine Arts. He continues to write about industrial design and run his own studio, A4-Studios.

A4-Studios