DESIGN STUDIO MAEZM
Two young Korean designers, Eun Whan Cho and Tai Ho Shin, who stand behind the Maezm studio, have focused their efforts on the creation of experimental design, which playfully seeks to find meaning in simple forms and functionality. The key word in their work is “communication” and it is based on the different relationships between objects, the most important of which is harmony, Cho and Shin are looking for an expression of their ideas in the diversity of graphic design and the design of furniture, lighting, and spaces. It is important for that an object should not only look and function well, but also have a well-marked concept.
Sofa dress, for instance, is a product, which by the words of its creators is only a hint to furniture design, and its essence lies in the idea of transformation. Every chair can be “clothed” with the soft foam wrapping and begin its new existence as an armchair without losing completely its former identity.
The innovative design of Dish-Table-Cover was awarded the prestigious Red dot for 2009 in the best of the best category. The elastic table cloth is in the shape of plates and is made of special thermo resistant silicone, not harmful to one’s health. Breakfast, lunch or dinner can be served on it literally everywhere, even in not the best of conditions, and it is indeed a useful application to the kind of lifestyle that does not depend on categories such as time and place.
The act of sharing and the two-way positive emotion that it brings interests the two designers especially. To share benefits someone else and brings satisfaction to you – this is the leading idea in the creation of the Sharing series. At first glance Sharing Time looks like an ordinary watch but with its face tilted in a 90° angle it is designed to serve the others as much as its owner. Another witty design of the same concept is Sharing Water -a flower pot in the shape of a watering can, which pours out the leftover water. In Sharing Nature the designers use the well-known look of the recycling graphic sign and transform it into a new symbol. The message is that we should concentrate on what already exists in nature instead of producing more and more new things, even if they are recyclable.
