The intersection of academic curiosity and physical form took center stage at the ICFF x WantedDesign Launch Pad, where designer Siyun Xue unveiled the PolyEye Divider. As a space dedicated to fresh, rule-bending ideas, the Launch Pad felt like the perfect home for the space divider’s debut. For Xue, the exhibition wasn’t just a showcase, but a chance to step out of the studio and into a lively dialogue with the design community.
The concept behind the PolyEye space divider is deeply human, even if its roots are in nature. Inspired by the intricate structure of insects’ compound eyes, Xue wanted to play with how we perceive our surroundings, intentionally fracturing our vision to make us look closer. Interestingly, the making of the space divider actually started on a micro-scale.
Xue first explored the idea through a delicate jewelry monocle, setting tiny lenses into a copper plate. Bringing that intimate concept into a shared space meant reimagining it entirely. Xue transitioned from jewelry to architecture, trading metal for warm, grounding cherrywood, and modularizing the frame into a clever, transportable lens system. This way, the space divider becomes a new vision for people of how the same things can have different perspectives.
As a practice-based design scholar, Xue treats a new piece as a fresh research project rather than a repeatable formula. It’s an approach focused on how materials and techniques can give abstract thoughts a tangible presence, deeply impacting how an object as simple as the space divider can interact with the space.
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In the end, the most rewarding part of the Launch Pad wasn’t just showing the work, but the human connection. Chatting with people from across the design world and hearing their immediate feedback opened up new possibilities for the piece.
Xue told Homecrux, “I enjoyed speaking with people from different parts of the design field and hearing their feedback on the concept. Their perspectives helped me see the potential of this concept in ways that went beyond my own expectations.” Those diverse perspectives pushed the concept further than Xue ever anticipated, proving that the PolyEye Divider is just the beginning of a larger conversation about how we see our world.
