In our daily lives, the structures we encounter are usually built with function in mind. A pair of scissors has two differently sized holes not for the beauty of asymmetry, but because you use a different number of fingers to operate them. A chair is ergonomically designed to sit on, and if it exists in a public park, it may be built in stone or metal to survive the elements, or contain painful elements to prevent the homeless from sleeping there. “Form follows function” is a time-honored principle which informs most of what we use each day.

The newest ArtPort show takes this principle and turns it on its head — in a most thoroughly delightful and satisfying way.

The show, open now, is called “Form or Function.” Kingston Wire caught up with curator Laurie De Chiara for a tour.

“The main concept of the exhibition is really this idea of design, craft and art and having this divide and differentiation, of blurring the boundaries and having a dialogue between all these different ways of thinking or learning or functioning, and their practice,” she said. “It’s about form and function, but to think about them in a different way.”

And that is exactly what you encounter. Artist Inna Babaeva has taken consumer items like an Ikea chair and clock and depicted them being invaded and attacked by some kind of amorphous alien life.

Artist Courtney Puckett gathers upcycled objects, perhaps from a yard sale or rescued from the trash and with yarn and fabric and transforms those objects, combining different elements to tell us an alternate story — one from our imaginations.

Jim Osman, a professor and artist, went back to the basics for his pieces, and simplified the concept in a beautifully put-together way.

Rachel Urkowitz and Gabriell Hamill, both professors and artists, collaborated on small couches that are functional and actually pull out into a mini-sleeper. These are simple elements that have again been transformed into something more unusual and playful.

Versions of stuffed-animal letters and amorphously-shaped mirrors with soft fabrics from artist Traci Johnson are functional, and play with form and shape.

Jeane Atkin, an artist-slash-jeweler, took woven steel and formed it into a shopping bag of sorts, with a piece dedicated to a family memory. “The pieces inside belonged to her grandmother,” said De Chiara. “She’s trying to hold on to her memory.” The result is an interplay between soft and hard elements, with beauty in the rendering.

The pieces by artist Karen Jaimes reflect on her Pre-Columbian and Peruvian history. “She’s trying to document people, refugees, who have this story of leaving and coming and being in a new place. It’s about travel, transition, and remembering where her roots are,” said De Chiara. “These coffee beans are spilling over with their history and their story.”

Artist Ellie Murphy created a site-specific work that has elements and lines of very formal architecture. Colorful threads stream down and create spaces of wonder within spaces, all with simple lines.

And our throwaway culture gets a re-boot with the re-invented packages by Barbara Marks. Little boxes that have been transformed into something else.

“So, when you have these leftovers,” said De Chiara, “what do you do with this packaging? You turn it into an art form, and give it a new life.”

The entire show pulls you in — there are elements throughout that engage, and perhaps when you pick up the next pair of scissors or sit on a chair, you’ll see things a little bit differently.

For more information, visit www.artportkingston.com, or head over to the Cornell Steamboat Building, 108 East Strand, Kingston. Open Hours: Saturday and Sunday, noon-5 p.m. The free show runs through June 6.