A California-based furniture brand that celebrates traditional Chinese woodworking techniques.
Born in Santa Cruz, California, Antares Yee grew up in a family who owned and ran a furniture business. Later, he moved to Brooklyn, New York, and started working as a digital designer. His work in a visual medium, coupled with the city’s vibrant design scene made him recognize the creative potential of furniture design. While he previously saw furniture pieces as strictly functional products, he began looking at furniture design as a tool for creative self-expression. In 2017, together with his mother, Antares Yee established Sun at Six.
Based in San Jose, California, the furniture design studio and brand makes beautifully minimalist and versatile products that are much more than practical objects. The company aims to redefine the meaning of “made in China” and to also challenge people’s perception of Chinese identity, culture, and craft. At the same time, Sun at Six designs furniture for spaces where people can come together and share intimate moments, relax, or simply slow down. The brand follows a simple principle: furniture design can help to improve the way people live their lives and the way they feel, day after day. Creating living spaces that nourish relationships and enable meaningful interactions is one of the brand’s main missions. To achieve this, the Sun at Six team works with quality materials and master artisans.
Crafting contemporary furniture with age-old Chinese joinery techniques.
Making furniture that lasts requires quality materials as well as specialized techniques. In the Sun at Six collection, every product comes to life with the help of traditional Chinese joinery masters. Handcrafted by family-run workshops, artisans, and classic joinery experts from Guangzhou, China, the brand’s furniture line pays homage to ancient woodworking techniques. Now a slowly disappearing art form, the sun mao joinery method uses intricate joints that don’t require any nails or screws. This technique also ensures that wooden furniture easily acclimatizes to changes in temperature or humidity without warping or cracking. Instead, the solid wood “breathes” and subtly expands or contracts without damaging the intricate joints. Sun at Six uses this highly specialized crafting method to create contemporary furniture.
Sustainable materials and custom finishes.
The company also uses sustainably sourced white oak as well as custom-made finishes. Developed in-house, the brand’s tenna oil finish is nut-based and natural. While it protects the wood from daily wear, stains, and spills, it also highlights the textures and patterns of timber. In the Sun at Six collection, you can also find products made with full-grain, vegetable tanned leather. Determined to develop strong relationships with people, not corporations, the brand works with a family-owned tannery in Italy to source the leather and with Chinese joinery masters, who craft each piece of furniture by hand.
In terms of finishes, Sun at Six offers standard and custom finishes. The former comprises sienna and nude options, while the latter includes hues like fog, fawn, and shiitake. Light or vibrant fabric colors can also alter the way a piece of Sun at Six furniture looks.
The Sun at Six collection.
Minimal, sculptural, and versatile. The Sun at Six furniture line is contemporary and creative as well as skillfully crafted. Each product showcases the beauty of solid wood and natural leather while also highlighting the intricacy of traditional Chinese joinery. The collection includes everything from dining tables, coffee tables, and side tables, to chairs, stools, sofas, consoles, beds, shelving units, and accessories.
Featuring clean lines and simple forms like hefty cylindrical elements, sharp rectangular planes, and rounded, organic shapes, the furniture blends into any living space while also creating focal points. The designs work well on their own, alongside other pieces from the collection, or together with other minimal furniture. Their versatility makes them ideal for modern living spaces. At the same time, their hardwood build brings warmth and a tactile accent to interiors. Available in nude or warm sienna as standard, the furniture also comes in black. Customers can also order custom finishes that enhance the oak furniture with natural hues. The collection also includes seating made with abrasion-resistant fabric in colors like Lavender, Cream, Forest Green, or Mostaza.
Made to order, the handcrafted furniture currently ships to continental US only. You can find the Sun at Six collection in the Gessato Design Store. Photographs© Sun at Six.
