note design studio: marginal notes

‘marginal notes’ collection by note design studio all images courtesy of note design studio

swedish design group note design studio have created ‘marginal notes’, a collection of seating, lighting and storage pieces presented at the 2011 stockholm furniture fair.

the beginnings of the furniture objects happened one morning, when the collective decided to release themselves of any strategic ideas and conventions and just ‘play around’ a bit. flipping through their notebooks, they began observing doodles and sketches found in the margins – the ones that occur intuitively and which are often disregarded and forgotten.

they decided to embrace these drawings and scribbles, their odd proportions and lack of clever functions, transforming them into reality. among the resolved furniture pieces are objects which have not been fully defined, and which acted as catalysts through the process.

  ‘tembo’ high table

in swahili, tembo means elephant. when these lumbering animals walk, one foot always remains on the ground, and due to their straight legs and pad-like feet, they have the ability to stand for long period without fatigue. the ‘tembo’ high table and stool is a construction of wooden, cork and metal elements, of combined hybrid shapes which overall take on a thickness in form similar to that of an elephants leg.

‘tembo’ stool

‘tembo’ stool and high table

‘yesterday island’

the ‘yesterday island’ and ‘tomorrow island’ draw their forms off the diomede islands located in the middle of the bering strait situated between alaska and siberia. it was their awkward man-made separation that was a starting point for the group. sometimes called ‘tomorrow island’ (big diomede, russian territory) and ‘yesterday island’ (little diomede, US territory), as their time difference is that of 20 hours even though they are a close 3 kilometer distance from each other.   ‘tomorrow island’

‘duesphere’

‘duesphere’ is a family of lights which draw  from the many small organisms and fungi found within our natural environment. they peek up, out from the dark, humid undergrowth like small candles. the double spheres represent what is hidden under ground and what is visible above ground.

‘boop’ lounge chair

the ‘boop’ sofa and lounge chair: 1. boop: the mystery of the boop will or shall not ever be revealed. but when one says this word, they must poke a random person on the nose. 2: boop: to poke an animal or something cute on the nose. – as indicated by the large circular buttons placed on the middle of the seating objects’ back cushions. ‘boop’ sofa

‘low tide’ shelf

‘high tide’  and ‘low tide’ shelves differ in vertical height, drawing on tides whose rise and fall determine the sea levels as caused by the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and sun in relation to the rotation of the earth. the main storage components of these units appear as if they are floating on stilted legs. the furniture marks the tidal ranges of the strait of magellan – the calmer pacific versus the dramatic atlantic.

‘half-time’ object

‘half-time’ objects are the prototypes and sketches note design studio developed during their process. they are considered the early seeds that influenced the final objects. though they are not fully functional yet, they were the catalysts for the collection and could be developed in to working pieces eventually.   ‘half-time’ object

designboom has received this project from our new ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication.we have already acquired many submissions, so keep on the lookout for more of your projects to be published in the coming days!