Wilén-Jong’s artistic practice centres on storytelling through objects, materiality, and spatial experience. Working in the intersection between art and design, we explore how physical forms can carry emotional, social, and cultural meaning—how they shape behaviour, invite interaction, and become part of everyday life.
2025
BURNOUT
Cast Glass Armchair & Charred Maple Side Table
first-of-its-kind
glass chair
This work stems from a global pandemic — burnout — a quiet, consuming collapse that arrives when persistence becomes self-destruction. We wanted to give form to that helpless tension between drive and depletion. The semi-translucent glass embodies anxiety’s paralysis: fragile yet heavy, light trying to break through darkness. The burnt structure supporting the armchair and side table symbolises the moment before collapse—the illusion that we can keep pushing, burning, and producing endlessly. Together, these elements form a meditation on exhaustion, resilience, and the fragility of the human need to endure.
First presented at Design Miami/ Miami Beach Dec 2025. Exhibited in Wexler Gallery (US).
2025
DUK
Mycelium-grown biomaterial functional objects
Functional surrealism
DUK series is a study of illusion and material transformation. What appears to be draped clothes are, in fact, sculptural forms—blurring the line between softness and solidity. Enveloped in a mycelium-grown biomaterial, each DUK piece carries nature's unique imprint.
First presented at Milan Design Week Le Labo, April 2025. Exhibited in New York ICFF, Reishi House Paris.
2025
WE ARE NOT THE CUSTODIANS of earth
Hand-built ceramic functional objects
POst-humanism intrigues
This series was inspired by Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael, a book that profoundly reshaped how humanity’s place can be viewed in the world. The series reflects on our illusion of superiority—our arrogance and entitlement to decide what deserves to live or disappear. Through sculptural ceramics, we question this deeply ingrained hierarchy and our struggle to simply coexist, both with other species and with one another. This work invites reflection - the Earth does not belong to us; we are part of it—brief visitors within a larger, self-sustaining system that needs no ruler.
First presented at Design Miami/Miami Beach, Dec 2025. Exhibited in Wexler Gallery (US).
2024
contourage
3D-printed Quartz Sand Console
digital craft and sculptural design
Contourage is created to explore how 3D printing with quartz sand can express both precision and emotion. The console’s flowing form and coarse texture are printed as one continuous piece, then hand-finished by skilled artisans to retain the natural tactility of the sand. It’s a piece that blurs the line between digital craft and sculpture—functional yet bold. It has sparked curiosity in so many.
First presented at Milan Design Week, Alcova, Apr 2024. Exhibited in Melbourne Design Week, Alcova Miami, Wexler Gallery (US).
Since our international debut at Milan Design Week 2024, our work has been exhibited across US, Europe and Australia; and presented across international platforms, including Elle Decor, AD, Wallpaper*, Hypebeast, Dezeen, and more. In 2026, we were named Designer of the Year by Elle Decor Sweden. AD highlighted our studio among the designers who made a strong impact at Design Miami 2025. These honours reflect a growing recognition of our ability to merge artistic narrative with craft execution. We are committed to building a practice that values reflection, responsibility, and longevity—creating works that foster connection, curiosity, and meaningful engagement rather than spectacle.
We are the founders of Studio TOOJ: Johan Wilén-Jong (born 1983, Sweden) and Ash Wilén-Jong (born 1985, Hong Kong) who are currently based in Stockholm, Sweden. Collectively known as Wilén-Jong, we are represented by the reputable Wexler Gallery in the US.
DESIGNER of THE YEAR 2026
2023-2026
sculptural furniture
Project Highlights
