Wekino Unveils the ‘Moon Chair’: A Conversation with Designer Nick Ross
Editor Sunjin Kim | Image Courtesy of Wekino
Korean design furniture brand Wekino has released the ‘Moon Chair,’ a new product created in collaboration with Swedish designer Nick Ross. With a backrest that seems to hold a rising full moon, the chair has a distinctive presence. It also offers a preview of the original collections Wekino plans to develop.
Wekino was founded in Seoul in 2014. The brand has worked actively with Korean designers such as Studio Hinge and KUO DUO. In 2025, it brought on internationally acclaimed artist Kwangho Lee as creative director and began charting a new direction. At Salone del Mobile in Milan in 2026, Wekino presented collections created with international designers including Note Design Studio and Toshiki Yagisawa, marking its full entrance onto the global stage.
Launching this year, the ‘Moon Chair’ is designed by Swedish furniture designer Nick Ross. The circular detail at the center of the backrest recalls a round moon. Paired with the weight of its cylindrical legs, it creates an impression that is both simple and mysterious.
Designer Nick Ross founded his eponymous studio in Stockholm in 2014. With a deep interest in old histories and stories, he often draws inspiration from patterns of human behavior and the atmosphere surrounding ancient artifacts. This year, he and Wekino will present two collections together, the Moon Collection and the Salle collection. To mark the launch of the Moon Chair, the exhibition ‘Moon Chair Landing in Seoul’ will run from August 28 to September 4 at THE BARN Sinsa. Ahead of the launch event, we asked Nick Ross about the background of the collection and his design process.
You’re based in Stockholm, Sweden. How did you come to work with Wekino?
It started with a text message from Kwangho Lee. We’d talked a few times before at design weeks. I was a little surprised when he reached out, but I was also really pleased. As we talked, I came to trust what he wanted to do as Wekino’s creative director.
What was your first impression of Wekino?
I first came across Wekino at Stockholm Design Week in 2024. It’s a relatively young brand, and its collection is still fairly small. I like growing together with a team at that stage. No matter how much a brand talks about its plans or goals, you can’t really know until they actually happen. I enjoyed watching things become real one by one, as what we’d discussed started to take shape in actual products. Looking back, it felt comfortable from the start. When you sense that you see things differently, it feels like walking uphill the whole way. But from our first meeting, I felt free to suggest my ideas. That’s already a good start. So I was pretty much ready to go “all in.” (Laughs)
This year you’re presenting two collections with Wekino, Moon and Salle. What did you set out to create through this collaboration?
The goal was to try something completely new. The brief from Wekino was very loose. I think they suggested shelves or a table. So I said, “Actually, I have an idea for a chair. A dining chair.” And they said, “Oh, a dining chair would be nice too.” So it was a brief and not a brief at the same time. (Laughs) Personally, I wanted to make something that sits somewhere between a product and an artwork. I thought a piece in that “in-between” space would fit well in Wekino’s collection.
Throughout the project, I understand you communicated remotely. We’ve clearly grown used to collaborating this way. We’re talking over a video call right now, after all. Still, from design to production, were there any challenges in working remotely?
It went quite smoothly. But because we were so far apart, I didn’t want to end up in a situation where every tiny detail had to be checked. In circumstances like this, it’s important to get the initial settings right. We started with the very basics, like where the factory was and what production techniques it had, and I worked within those conditions to avoid any major problems. For example, one of the main things we discussed for the Moon Chair was which wood to use. I didn’t know much about what wood was available in Korea, so I made the structure material-agnostic from the start. That way, there wouldn’t be variables like needing beech for rigidity or pine to reduce weight. I tried to keep the design as clean, simple, and intuitive as possible.
The more I hear, the more it seems there was an unspoken trust between you from the beginning.
I think we were a pretty good match. That kind of relationship helps a lot when you’re on opposite sides of the world. (Laughs) I did everything I could, and I left the curation entirely to Kwangho Lee. Everything went very smoothly. The relationship felt strange but also special. Here was a designer with his own body of work leading a brand and interpreting my work. I don’t think I’ve seen that anywhere else. It was a really strange experience, in a very positive way.
What idea did the Moon Collection start from? The name and the simple forms, especially the round window in the backrest of the Moon Chair, feel familiar yet mysterious.
I prefer creating a complete collection rather than making a single chair or table on its own. When you do that, a motif naturally emerges that runs through the whole collection. I thought the Moon Collection could look cute to some people and rough and rugged to others. So I used the name to add a more mysterious, uncanny feeling. I imagined the round hole in the backrest as a moon and named it the Moon Collection.
So the circle in the backrest wasn’t inspired by the moon from the start?
It was more for functional reasons. Bulky furniture is hard to move if there’s nothing to grab. But I wanted to use the handle as a design statement. So I cut a large hole in the backrest. At a glance, the circle looks like a full moon, but from certain angles it looks like a crescent, which I find really appealing. We applied the same ring-shaped detail to the table as well. That’s how a language running through the whole collection came about.
When you develop the motif and character of a piece of furniture, what inspires you most?
As a designer, you always have to observe your surroundings and look at materials, structures, and details. Among those, I refer a lot to images and stories from history. You could say I have my own database that has built up naturally over years of exploring all kinds of objects. (Laughs) Tracing objects like chairs, vases, or candlesticks back to their origins is really fascinating. There are forms that appear universally across cultures, from ancient Greece to Mexico, France, and Scandinavia. I like interpreting those forms and recreating them in today’s context. The result feels new yet somehow familiar. It’s similar to the feeling of encountering an ancient artifact in a museum. It’s hard to explain exactly, but there’s a sense that something inside is still alive. That’s the feeling I want to capture in my work. Then whether you’re Korean, Swedish, or Dutch, you can connect with it at a similar point.
Interesting. So rather than following a single style, you discover elements that naturally draw you in, then follow them to find the source of the emotion.
Exactly. I look at strange, mysterious things and try to find the key element that creates that feeling. It’s a bit like watching a great science fiction film. Good sci-fi films always contain something tied to human nature. Like how the Star Wars series opens with “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….” It looks like the future, but it’s the past? I think small elements like that create work with a real pull.
One final question. What’s your favorite chair?
Philippe Starck’s Wendy Wright. I especially like the all-black version. It’s chic without being too precious, and it has a refined style.
