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Design Milk’s Friday Five features designer Jiun Ho discussing three objects he created for Unbound, a limited-edition collection that debuted in September 2026. Ho connects the pieces to travel, traditional craft and cultural symbolism; the source does not provide pricing or availability details.
Design Milk’s Friday Five profiles San Francisco-based designer Jiun Ho and the ideas behind three objects he created for Unbound, a limited-edition capsule collection that debuted in September 2026. Ho says the YuanYang side table, Whisper pendant and Forma pendant draw on experiences and references from his travels, including China’s rice terraces, Japanese kintsugi and the cultural symbolism of the number eight.
Ho invited four designers he admires—Francis Nicdao of Pembrooke & Ives, James Hunter of The Wiseman Group, Jamie Drake and Nicole Fuller—to collaborate on Unbound. The brief limited each one-of-a-kind object to a maximum of 36 inches in each dimension. Designers could work in furniture, lighting or textiles and incorporate either hand-painted wallpaper or cloisonné by Lala Curio, a creative partner of Ho’s.
Although each collaborator was asked to make one object, Ho created three pieces. He says the collection was intended to show the makers’ capabilities and the possibilities of customization. Its format brings together designers with different specialties under shared size and craft parameters, while leaving room for individual approaches.
The YuanYang side table takes its name and stepped form from the Yuanyang Hani Rice Terraces in China’s Yunnan province. Ho describes the terraces as mountainsides shaped by generations of farmers. The table has a cinnamon-bronze metal finish, with cloisonné on its stepped sides. The Whisper pendant draws on a silkworm cocoon’s form and on kintsugi, the Japanese practice of repairing pottery with gold. Ho says handmade washi paper was torn, reassembled and traced with gold leaf for its surface. The Forma pendant refers to the number eight, which Ho associates with good fortune in Chinese culture and with infinity when turned sideways; its shade is finished in gold and silver leaf.
Travel Becomes Material and Form
The profile offers a direct account of how travel and cultural references inform Ho’s design work, rather than presenting the pieces only as finished products. It links each object’s materials and shape to a specific source: agricultural terraces, a repair tradition and a number with symbolic meaning. For readers interested in design, the interview explains the ideas behind the objects and the craft decisions used to express them.
Unbound also shows how a collection can set shared limits without prescribing a single style. The 36-inch size cap and choice of craft provide a common framework for five designers, while the one-of-a-kind brief leaves room for their separate practices. Ho’s account describes the project’s intent; the supplied material does not report independent evaluations of its commercial or wider industry impact.
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From Kuala Lumpur to Global Practice
Ho recalls growing up in a lower-middle-class family in rural Kuala Lumpur in the 1970s, with limited exposure to art and architecture. His first trip outside Malaysia came at age nine, when he visited Japan. He says seeing its buildings, craft and history left a lasting impression and helped shape his interest in design and travel. The profile says he has since visited 135 countries; it does not specify when that count was recorded.
Ho’s career has also included projects that connect to his Malaysian roots. He describes designing interiors for architect César Pelli’s Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur as a major early project. A Taipei residential commission later led him into furniture design: after the client requested original furniture, lighting and rugs, Ho presented 35 watercolor sketches, and the client asked for all the designs to be produced. According to the profile, his studio now works across residential, hospitality and restaurant interiors, as well as furniture, lighting and textiles.
““I could be poor in life, but I should never be poor in experiences.””
— Jiun Ho, speaking to Design Milk
Availability and Pricing Not Listed
The supplied profile identifies Unbound as a limited-edition collection and says it debuted in September 2026, but it does not state how many pieces were made, whether the objects remain available, or what they cost. It also gives no details on ordering, shipping or any later exhibitions. The source presents Ho’s descriptions of the collection and its inspirations; it does not include independent comment from the other four designers or the collection’s collaborators on their process.
Check for Collection Updates
The source reports the collection’s September 2026 debut but does not announce a forthcoming event, release date or sales milestone. Readers seeking current information about the Unbound pieces would need to check with Ho’s studio or the collection’s representatives for availability and purchasing details. Any further information about production quantities, exhibitions or the other designers’ objects remains unreported in the supplied material.
Key Questions
What is Unbound?
Unbound is a limited-edition capsule collection that debuted in September 2026. Jiun Ho invited four other designers to create one-of-a-kind objects within a shared size limit and craft brief.
Which designers collaborated on Unbound?
The profile names Francis Nicdao of Pembrooke & Ives, James Hunter of The Wiseman Group, Jamie Drake and Nicole Fuller as Ho’s collaborators.
What inspired Ho’s three pieces?
Ho links the YuanYang side table to China’s Yuanyang Hani Rice Terraces, the Whisper pendant to a cocoon and Japanese kintsugi, and the Forma pendant to the number eight and its association with good fortune and infinity.
Can readers buy the Unbound objects?
The source calls the collection limited edition, but does not provide prices, production quantities or sales information. Availability is not specified.
Source: design-milk.com
