Swiss Precision Meets Australian Spatial Thinking in Hanya Leo’s Latest Collection.

Australian-born, Zurich-based designer Hanya Leo dropped her Artefacts Collection this year, and the result is exactly what happens when you take Aussie spatial thinking and run it through Swiss workshop precision.

The hero piece is the F12 dining table—a swooping, undulating beast that Leo calls “active furniture.” Instead of just sitting there like most dining tables do 90% of the time, this piece creates its own energy zones. Available in either moody black lacquered ash or warm oiled cherrywood, it’s the kind of table that makes you rethink how furniture should behave in a room.

“I wanted to create pieces that activate the space in various ways and add intrinsic value when unoccupied,” Leo explains. Translation: why should a massive table just take up space when it could be doing something interesting?

The stool game is strong here too. Leo’s F08 and F09 designs are crafted by Surber Metallbau AG. The F08 goes bold with chunky, flared legs that scream 1970s confidence. The F09 is pure elegance with slender legs that stretch out like daddy longlegs spiders (Leo’s words, and she’s spot on).

The lantern collection deserves attention. The L01, with its geometric form and “silt” textured fabric, throws light up and down in all the right ways. The L04 series takes inspiration from denim draping—and before you roll your eyes, it actually works. That “moody ocean” ribbed fabric has serious tactile appeal.

The F05 plinths might look simple, but they’re solving real problems. Leo knows urban living means everything gets pushed against walls. These cylindrical platforms at 800mm and 900mm heights break that habit, creating what she calls “islands of happenings.”

What makes this collection work isn’t just the individual pieces—it’s Leo’s understanding that good design needs to earn its place. Every piece here justifies its footprint through function and form. In a world of furniture that’s either purely functional or purely sculptural, this balanced approach feels just right.

[Images courtesy of Hanya Leo. Photography by Kim Pham.]