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Monday, 8 January 2007 | Levent OZLER
OKAY Studio
The award winning OKAYstudio was launched in November this year. Comprising of recent graduates of the Design Products course from the Royal College of Art the studio represents a diversity of approaches to design, from top notch industrial lines to fantastical mythical musings...
The Design Products course directed by Proffesor Ron Arad encourages plurality in all its forms, and the cosmopolitan nature of the group reflects the rich environment from which it emerged. Boasting seven different nationalities, the OKAYstudio designers have been fine tuned by the expert creatives Daniel Charney, Roberto Feo (el ultimo grito), Gabriel Klasmer, Noam Toran and Shona Kitchen.
Based in the cultural hub of London N.16, the group are working towards their first exhibition to be realised during the Cologne Furniture Fair in January. Exhibiting next door to many big names of the industry and also a number of dynamic growing brands, the exhibition promises to be an exciting first view of many new products and concepts as well as a dip into some of the favourites that have featured widely in the press this year.
OKAY Studio: http://www.dexigner.com/directory/detail/8558/
OKAYstudio Designers
Jorre Van Ast - Holland
Following a solid grounding in industrial design in the Netherlands, this giant of design spent a further two years learning the ropes with the Flex design consultancy before joining the RCA. His interests explore the blurry line between industrial design and the messy human world. He works within many different fields, from furniture to product design and the work he will be showing will play on the curious family of so called 'Clampology' objects, he will also present his current prototypes for a project with Artek (headed by Tom Dixon) which is in collaboration with Tomek Rygalik. He was recently awarded three major prizes at Interieur 06 Belgium, and is a 'lovely boy'.
Ed Swan - Great Britain
Swan followed a seemingly simple path from 3D design into the RCA (picking up several high profile awards en route such as Sun Microsystems public furniture competition, Finalist for Garrard (Crown Jewellers) and Icon magazine's business card competition)... but then around 2005 his interests took a bend into the weird world of optics. A fascination with lenses as a medium to create magical environments and new typological design pieces can be seen in his work....for this reason he has been referred to as the Lens Doctor!
Oscar Narud - Norway
Oscar 'the lord' Narud graduated from Central St.Martins in 2003. Following a year spent working for Munich based designer Klaus Hackl, Narud joined the RCA Design Products Course. His designs reflect a curious personality - always observing, daydreaming, filtering and attempting to connect the dots as he goes. The results often offer as many questions as they do answers to the daily domestic rituals that we humans perform.
Narud is also a keen illustrator and graphic artist which feeds directly into his three-dimensional way of thinking.
Peter Marigold - Great Britain
Marigold followed a path from fine art sculpture into theatrical scenography, working with props, models, costumes and sets before joining the RCA. Fed by his background in theatrical design, his main interest is in how people cope with tricky temporary environments in which 'making do and getting by' can actually be a rich area for design. Improvisation and adaptation often yield interesting results, and it is this thinking that led him to install radios into coconuts for sale on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro.
He was recently awarded an Esmee Fairbain award following his exhibition at the Design Museum, London. He will be exhibiting alongside Hiroko Shiratori in the British Council exhibition 'Great Brits' in Milan next year.
Hiroko Shiratori - Japan
Shiratori straddles the worlds of high design and utter fiction wielding a fearsome katana. With a base in furniture and spatial design she defines herself as 'a humble dreamer who lives in contradiction'. This is represented best in her imaginary objects from ancient Japan that speak of a world that easily could have been... This way of working allows the viewer to engage with the possibility of a range of new designs. There is a balance of theatricality and realism in the work that reflects the playfulness of the Design Products acolyte. Shiratori has been chosen as one of the exhibiting 'Great Brits' - a prestigious event during the Milan Furniture Fair 07 - organised by the British Council and Sir Paul Smith.
Shay Alkalay - Israel
After leaving Israel with an education in Product Design, Alkalay embarked on a European tour via Italy and then the U.K. His axiom that 'life is a cartoon' presents a colourful contrast to his intelligent designs often based on complex mechanisms. In his previous works he has questioned the logic of gravity and considered how the world could be better for both a human and a goldfish if experienced 'in the round'.
Having exhibited widely both in the U.K. and internationally, Shay has picked up a number of high profile design awards. Most recently he has exhibited with the British Council in both Milan and Tokyo, where his Bin Bag Bears have caught the eye of the international press.
Mathias Hahn - Germany
Emerging from Germany with a solid background in Industrial Design , Hahn joined the RCA and developed an interest in everyday social scenarios. From there he generates functional and subtle designed objects that communicate with their real life context. Using simple forms and colours, driven by an obsessive attention to detail he says 'It is the honest and simple objects we enjoy living with, that give us the freedom to read our own stories into.' He has worked professionally with Volkswagen Design and Tom Dixon's design studio. His work has featured widely in the press including Elle Decoration and the Daily Telegraph Magazine.
Tomas Alonso - Spain
Alonso left Spain to study Industrial Design (and adopt a glamouress lifestyle in the wheel design industry) in the USA and then Australia, Itlay and finally the U.K. His choice to move into product and furniture design via his understanding of the automotive industry results in an intelligent approach that uses simplicity of forms to communicate ideas and functions. The pieces he will be exhibiting reflect on human ways of living - not so much interventions in the home, but rather natural evolutions.
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