在尚未發生之處，創造一切可能
在世界上的萬千道路中，創作之路或許最為孤單：沒有既定的路徑可循，也只能自己一步步走下去。放棄的念頭偶爾會在某個瞬間浮現，當年輕的他站在玻璃櫥窗外，與憧憬的品牌相望，近在咫尺，卻像是隔著兩個截然不同的世界。這份心有不甘，促使心中迸發一簇小小火苗：「什麼時候，才會輪到我的作品在那裡面？」沒人知道他能走多遠，連他自己也不知道，只憑著低頭持續創作，從不分心看向他方的一股執念，居然就這麼一路走到了米蘭設計週，成為一個被看見、被記住的名字——許向罕。
Of all the paths one might take, the creative path may be the loneliest. There is no fixed route to follow, and no one else can walk it for you. The thought of giving up can surface without warning. As a young designer, Hsiang Han Hsu once stood outside a glass display window, gazing at a brand he admired. It was close enough to touch, yet seemed to belong to another world. That longing, edged with a quiet refusal to settle, lit a small flame in him. “When will it be my work in that window?” he wondered. No one knew how far he could go. Not even he did. Yet by keeping his head down, his hands on the work, and his attention never straying from it, he eventually made his way to Milan Design Week, becoming a name people would come to recognise and remember: Hsiang Han Hsu.
➤ Tenderflame
以心火淬煉材質語言
A Material Language Tempered by Inner Fire
站在今年的新作 Tenderflame 火爐旁，無煙而靈動的火焰在不鏽鋼形塑出的洞穴型態中，搖曳著象徵文明初始的火光，那便彷彿是一切的源頭。「創作有點像在黑暗中，只要看到一點點微光，就會專注地往那個方向前進。」而那把玩材料的身影，仍像是小時候在自家工廠探險，玩得髒兮兮的孩子，對未知事物充滿好奇，眼中毫無疲倦。
Standing beside his latest fireplace designs for Tenderflame, Hsu watches smokeless flames flicker within cave-like forms shaped from stainless steel. They evoke the first fire of civilisation, as if bringing the story back to its source. “Creation is a little like moving through darkness,” he says. “Once you see even a small point of light, you focus on moving towards it.” The way he handles materials still recalls the child he once was, exploring his family’s factory and getting covered in dust and grime. There is the same curiosity towards the unknown, and the same alertness in his eyes, untouched by fatigue.
➤ 許向罕｜新作品
這三款型態相異的火爐，凝練著他這七年來的所思所感，「我和品牌在 2018 年的一場講座認識，但當時的我還沒準備好，所以直到 2025 年才正式開始合作。」從他平淡語氣中可以聽出，對於邁出的每一步都相當謹慎與珍惜，寧可走得慢一些，也必須步步扎實。按照慣例，第一次見面，便與開發長相約在工廠，以深入瞭解品牌獨特性，在親眼見識火焰設計的成熟技術後，他更進一步思考：如何讓「火」在當代生活中創造價值？火，是有生命力的；它是一切的開端，也是結束。因此在設定策略時，目標便很明確：它不能只是功能性載體，即使未被點燃，也必須合理的存在。
The three designs, each distinct in form, distil the thoughts and experiences he has gathered over the past seven years. “I first met the brand at a talk in 2018, but I wasn’t ready at the time, so we did not officially begin working together until 2025,” he says. His calm tone reveals how carefully he treats every step forward. He would rather move slowly than move without conviction. As is often his practice, he arranged the first meeting with the brand’s head of development at the factory, so he could understand the brand from the inside out. After seeing the sophistication of its flame technology firsthand, he began to consider a more fundamental question: how could fire create value in contemporary life? Fire carries a life of its own. It is both beginning and end. From the outset, the design strategy was clear: these pieces could not simply serve as vessels for flame. Even when unlit, they had to hold their own presence within a space.
➤ Volcano
於是，便有了彷彿正在融化中的錐形火炬 Torch ，藉由金屬與玻璃的異材質結合，呈現出超現實的懸浮感；而受到火山群啟發的 Volcano 系列，則使用循環水泥，以捕捉岩石般粗礪的溫度與觸感，呈現由專利氣流所塑造的獨特火焰型態，或螺旋上升，或山形躍動；Halo 則一如現代雕塑裝置，流露鏡面光澤、靜靜折射環境光線，讓火所創造出來的光暈與氛圍，形同藝術。其中的思考不僅止於創作出「漂亮的產品」，同時更蘊含嚴謹的材質敘事邏輯。他深知，當一個產品從解決需求、滿足功能出發時，終究有其天花板，所以他需要先創造一種「渴望」，一種精神性的願景。
Torch takes the form of a cone-shaped fire piece that appears to be melting, pairing metal with glass to create a surreal sense of suspension. Inspired by volcanic clusters, the Volcano series is made with a recycled cement-based material, capturing the rough tactility and latent warmth of volcanic rock. Through Tenderflame’s flame technology, the flames take on distinctive movements, spiralling upward or rising in mountain-like forms. Halo, meanwhile, has the poise of a contemporary sculptural installation. Its mirrored surface quietly reflects ambient light, turning the glow and atmosphere of fire into something close to art. These works are not simply about making “beautiful products”. They are grounded in a rigorous understanding of materials and the stories they can carry. Hsu knows that when a product begins only by solving a need or fulfilling a function, it will eventually meet its limit. For him, the first task is to create desire: a vision that reaches beyond use.
➤ Halo
➤ Halo
➤ Torch
以設計回答未被定義的價值
Designing for Value Before It Is Defined
常有人說他是擅長使用材料的設計師，然而在他講述作品時，不經意流露的思維卻往往並不著重在談論「怎麼做？」而是「為什麼要這麼做？」他也坦言這是自與 Cappellini 合作時養成的習慣，「我與品牌合作時，第一件最重要的事情，是先想好最終目標，以及這件作品要創造的價值。」以 X Table System 系列為例，他所面對的命題並非是要讓桌子多好看，或更好生產，而是「如何讓它不只是桌子？」它有沒有可能是一個模組化系統，解決義大利家具運輸成本過高的問題，同時又像藝術品一樣吸引人，符合當代需求與精神？命題設定好之後，接下來才是材料實驗的階段。雖曾一度嘗試過鋁合金，然而考慮到後期加工成本，以及表面處理所造成的污染，繞了一大圈最終還是選擇回收塑料。在這個過程中，結果不符預期幾乎是創作的常態；甚至，當進行的太過順利時，他反而會沒有安全感。因為「已知」，往往才是創作真正的風險所在。
Hsiang Han Hsu is often described as a designer with an instinctive command of materials. Yet when he speaks about his work, his thinking rarely begins with how something is made. More often, it begins with why it should be made at all. This habit, he says, took shape through his work with Cappellini. “When I work with a brand, the first and most important thing is to define the final goal, and the value the work is meant to create,” he says. With X Table System, the question he faced was not simply how to make a table more beautiful or easier to manufacture. The question was: how can a table become more than a table? Could it become a modular system that addresses the high transport costs associated with Italian furniture, while retaining the allure of an artwork and speaking to contemporary needs and sensibilities? Only after the question had been clearly framed did material experimentation begin. He initially explored aluminium alloy, but after taking into account later-stage processing costs and the environmental impact of surface treatments, he eventually settled on a plastic material containing recycled content. In such a process, unexpected outcomes are part of the work itself. In fact, when everything proceeds too smoothly, he tends to feel uneasy. For him, what is already known is often where the real risk of creation begins.
➤ X Table 系列
➤ X Table 系列
➤ X Forest
➤ Vortex
有趣的是，他也從不預設作品會如何進入到生活情境中被使用，這種在材料特性上精準把控，卻在使用目的上保留曖昧空間的表達，時不時貫穿他的作品。Vortex ，意指漩渦，形似一件不鏽鋼雕塑，使用脱蠟鑄造技術，意圖捕捉螺旋槳轉動時水流捲起的漩渦。「它可以是邊桌、凳子，或任何你想怎麼使用的東西。」而為了呈現金屬容易氧化、在使用中留下指紋的敏感性，他和製造商反覆討論，堅持呈現不鏽鋼自霧面到完全拋光的漸層研磨過程，這讓一件純粹的工藝品增添了人手介入的溫度，有別於可輕易複製的工業化物件。這份再現時間痕跡的敏銳，正是他的設計忠於材料本質的寫照，也是讓國外藏家對他另眼相看的理由。
Equally intriguing is his reluctance to predetermine how a work should enter everyday life, whether it is to be used, viewed, or reinterpreted. This balance between precise control over material properties and a deliberate openness in function runs through much of his work. VORTEX takes its name from the swirling motion of a whirlpool. Resembling a sculpture in stainless steel, it is made through the lost-wax casting process and seeks to capture the whirl of water set in motion by a rotating propeller. “It can be a side table, a stool, or anything you want it to be,” he says. To express stainless steel’s sensitivity to oxidation and its tendency to retain fingerprints through use, Hsu worked closely with the manufacturer and insisted on revealing the gradual polishing process from a matte surface to a mirror-polished finish. This lends the object a trace of the human hand, setting it apart from industrial objects that can be readily reproduced. His sensitivity to the traces of time reveals his fidelity to the material’s own nature, and it is also one of the reasons international collectors have taken notice of his work.
➤ 數控 CNC 雕刻細切削
➤ 人工研磨不鏽鋼雕塑表面
➤ 不鏽鋼雕塑脫蠟鑄造
今年，他第七度踏上米蘭設計週，並同時在四個展區展出作品，過去的辛勤耕耘，似乎已初步開花結果。談及今後的計畫，他仍熱衷於接觸新材料，一有空就往工廠跑，也計畫做更多跨界嘗試，他也並不急著定義何謂「許向罕風格」。 Cappellini 的總監曾與他分享：「風格是讓後人定義的，你只需要專注開心地做自己。」而走在這條路上，尋找靈感之於他，也早已是如同吃飯、呼吸一樣自然，他會去公園散步、感受陽光灑落、觀察沙子被風吹過留下的紋理，這些素材都會慢慢累積，從自然邏輯中內化成屬於自己的表達。「我好像除了做創作，做任何事情都不會這麼開心。」最後他這麼說。彷彿那個年輕又執著的自己，仍然站在櫥窗前，與如今的許向罕對視。一樣真誠，一樣渴望，一樣專注於回答：那個還未被定義的可能價值，將在未來家具史中占據什麼位置？
In 2026, he made his seventh appearance at Milan Design Week, presenting works across four exhibition venues. Years of steady work seem now to be taking visible form. Asked about his future plans, he remains eager to work with new materials, visiting factories whenever he can and planning further cross-disciplinary experiments. He is not in a hurry to define what a “Hsiang Han Hsu style” might be. A director at Cappellini once offered him a piece of advice: style is something later generations will define. All you need to do is stay focused and enjoy being yourself. For Hsu, seeking inspiration has long been as natural as eating or breathing. He walks in parks, takes in the way sunlight falls, and observes the textures left in sand after the wind has passed over it. These fragments accumulate slowly, then, through nature’s own logic, settle into his language. “I don’t think anything makes me as happy as creating,” he says. It is as if that young, determined version of himself were still standing before the display window, looking back at the Hsiang Han Hsu of today. The same sincerity remains. The same longing. The same focus on a question that remains open: what place might a value still waiting to be defined claim within the unfolding history of furniture design?
➤ 2026 米蘭設計週
許向罕