Shein’s hand-painted, plywood Star Seats were originally created for a show at The Mandrake — a Culver City bar owned by Shein’s now-studiomate Justin Beal — which hosts a rotating set of exhibitions in its backroom gallery space.

Last year, the Los Angeles boutique TenOverSix used the sculptures as display cases for its men’s shoe selection. “I’m not that interested in the arguments about design vs. sculpture,” says Shein. “This is one of those pieces that can kind of go either way.”

When I visited the studio, this piece, called (Untitled) Planar Chair, was lying in flat-packed pieces on the floor. Shein assembled it for me using blue masking tape. “On the other hand, this is really more of a sculpture right now. It has no utility.”

“I found the wood from a fence that had been ripped down and I cut and glued each of the pieces separately,” Shein says. “Originally I was going to create a more conceptual piece; I had this idea about a portal. But it got to a point where I couldn’t get the math right so I pretty much constructed this thing on a whim.” One side of the precarious piece is mirrored so that from certain angles, the chair appears to disappear into itself.

Of his process, Shein says, “I don’t really draw a lot and I don’t focus too much on trying to make something perfect. I just make it.”

“At this point, everything is informing everything,” Shein says of a pendant he mocked up using the same material as the Planar Chair. “I like the idea of using the same materials and processes in both sculpture and jewelry. It’s an easy transference. For example, one of the guys in the studio was cutting steel for a project the other day, and I was looking at the offcuts. To me, that’s bangles.”

Likewise, Shein’s Rocktubes are made from the same material as his necklaces — laser-cut Plexiglas in a jumble of colors and glittery hues — but the idea behind them is much more abstract. “They were certainly an exercise in color and form,” says Shein, “and graphically they do look like a slice of rock. But a rock to me is a fairly cosmic, wondrous object, and tubes are interesting as well. Basically it’s a thing that allows something to pass through, but it’s also the thing that’s passing through. It’s the container and that which is contained. Does that make sense?”

Shein’s laser-cut necklaces and cuffs are part of a series called “The Things I’ve Been Told,” meaning someone’s actually said all of the phrases to Shein at some point in his life. Of the above phrase, he says, “My mom has said this to me a million times.”

Other phrases include “LIFE IS NOT FAIR STEVEN,” “DUDE YOU’RE GONNA NEED WAY MORE MONEY,” and the above.

Almost everything in the jewelry line, Shein says, is improvised. “I have a friend who’s an attorney and we were talking about business. He said to me, ‘If you weren’t doing what you’re doing, what would be your back-up plan?’ I’m like, ‘Back-up plan? This wasn’t planned!’”

Shein employs two women to fabricate the majority of his jewelry designs, and on an in-studio laser-cutter, he churns out custom nameplate necklaces in gold-hued Plexi. “International girls tend to love them,” he says. “Right now, I'm doing a Paloma, an Erin, a Monica, and a Kiki.”

A good deal of Shein’s design and sculpture work is flat-pack, which is partly for the practical purposes of shipping. But even more, he says, “I really like the idea of collapsible structure and the way parts comprise a whole. I don’t want to talk too much about quantum physics because I know very little about it, but it’s based on this idea that there are finite particles that work within the phenomenal superstructure that is reality. That’s what interests me about it.”

“It alludes as well to the cycle of life, and they way things fall apart and come back together, both metaphysically and literally.” In some ways, it connects to Shein’s background in architecture as well. “A building, if not maintained, will fall apart,” he says. “I like the idea of this precariousness in a design context.”

“Also, just using this laser cutter for so long, I’ve started to think really planar. The sculpture I was making before was nothing like this.”

An unfinished aluminum side table Shein built to show to a fabricator, this piece also stems from Shein’s obsession with planar construction. When complete, it will sport a super glossy autobody finish, applied by an L.A. painter who’s done work for Jeff Koons and Claes Oldenburg. “I do think a lot of my work has been influenced by living in L.A. and by car culture. I like shiny stuff.”

“I’m interested in the mystical qualities of basic forms like a circle, square, and triangle,” Shein says. “This piece was originally called Mind Body Soul.” (The phrase has since its way onto one of Shein’s Stack rings.) “It also references that idea of forms appearing and falling apart in that the objects are only made visible when the plastic planes come together.”

On the right, a laminated panel, clad in spray-on concrete, with fake breaks. “I’m interested in the space between what is and what isn’t,” Shein says. On the left, something a bit less abstruse: Shein’s Let’s Get High console table, made from plywood covered in mirrored Plexi.

Shein's (Untitled) Chair sculpture has a visible armature and a construction that references construction — it’s made from 2x4s, drywall, and primer.

A chair for the Volume Black show, made from found wood, birch, oil paint, and spray paint.

The view from Shein’s studio. “The landlord who owns this place is a guy named Dan, who’s a phenomenal metalsmith,” Shein says. “Every once in a while after he’s put away some cash, he works on the boat, but it’s never been in the water.”

The space next to Shein’s belongs to Eric Blumberg, a fabricator who’s made work for Terence Koh, Jeff Koons, Paul McCarthy, and Josiah McElheny. “Honestly one of the best things about this studio is being able to have a conversation and talk about these things with other really great artists,” Shein says.

Downtown L.A., as seen from the roof.