Founded in 2021, BằNG is a Vietnamese furniture and lighting brand, known for its combination of innovative ideas and excellent manufacturing. Co-founded by Thomas Bình-Minh Vincent, a French designer based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, the brand is rooted in materials and processes inspired by its workshop environment. BằNG creates unboring objects that awake curiosity and invite interaction, while staying functional and being designed with good sense.
“bằng” is a vietnamese preposition for “made by” (a process) or “made from/of” (a material). For example: “made by hand” is “làm bằng tay”, and “made of steel” is “làm bằng sắt”.
Lớp Sculptural Lighting
The Lớp sculptural lighting collection embodies a simple idea: a sphere floating amidst layers. When lit, reflections of the sphere materialize on the acrylic layers, evoking images of a sphere in motion. Even though the sphere is stationary, its multiple reflections instill a sense of movement. In Vietnamese, ‘lớp’ means ‘layers’.
The latest addition, Dreamy Lớp, introduces iridescent acrylic. The Dreamy Lớp is luminous, shifting in colors, and almost immaterial, constantly changing with light and perspective.
In addition to acrylic, the Lớp collection exists in a stainless steel version, entirely hand polished to a mirror finish. In this version, Lớp presence is monumental, sculptural, and highly reflective, giving the object a more solid and architectural presence.
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- Photo credit: BằNG
Đan catch-all
Đan catch-all is a tray collection designed by Thomas Bình-Minh VINCENT. It explores the relationship between conception and function — how a catch-all can hold the most, while using the least. With Đan catch-all, its simple conception is aligned with its simple function. Drawing its name from the Vietnamese word for ‘weave’ or ‘plait’, Đan reflects the brand’s focus on materials and processes.
The tray presents itself as a soft, structured volume, formed by two linen bands and slender bamboo sticks. It can be gently reshaped by hand, or even stand on its side as a decorative piece, shifting between forms while maintaining a clear geometric logic. This flexibility allows the object to adapt to everyday needs, holding keys, coins, or personal items in a form that responds to use, rather than dictating it.
Qua Mirror
Qua is a mirror collection designed by Thomas Bình-Minh Vincent that explores reflection through material and surface. Drawing its name from the Vietnamese word meaning ‘through’, the Qua mirror is more than a passive object; it’s a curious tilt in stainless steel that reflects unexpected details of your space, from a painting behind a desk to a passing cloud through a window.
Crafted from high-grade stainless steel, rather than traditional glass, Qua rethinks what a mirror can be. Replacing fragility with a durable, polished metal surface, it is a mirror that doesn’t break. The manufacturing process balances machine precision and handwork. The main sheet is machine-polished to achieve a clean, mirror-like reflection. For the frame, the process shifts to hand finishing — edges are carefully sanded and polished using handheld tools. Machines handle what cannot be done by hand, while handwork brings the sensitivity and control needed for the final details, which the machine cannot achieve.
Điểm Furniture and Accessories
Điểm is BằNG’s first furniture and lighting collection designed by Thomas Bình-Minh Vincent. Rooted in the brand’s relationship to workshop processes and materials, Điểm explores how a monolithic form can emerge directly from single metal sheets and traditional metalwork techniques. Its matrix-like perforations echo the familiar window pattern created by lighted buildings of Saigon at night.
The collection is built from perforated steel, developed through traditional processes such as cutting, sanding, bending, rolling, and welding. Using the fewest possible metal sheets in the manufacturiing process, the objects take on sleek, monolithic forms. The square hole matrix defines the surface — an aesthetic shaped as much by what is removed as by what remains, reducing weight while creating a distinctive visual rhythm.
