Tomas Alonso

Jordi Canudas

Mathias Hahn

Peter Marigold

Oscar Narud

Hiroko Shiratori

Jorre van Ast

18 September - 8 November 2008

OKAY Studio is a collective of individual designers sharing a bit more then a workspace. Each has broken their own ground, with some also working for leading design studios while others work on consultancy projects. But they share the drive to generate self-initiated projects, produce work with their own clients and exhibit in galleries and museums internationally. This will be the first curated exhibition of the group.

Coming from different countries, they all met while studying at the Royal College of Art Design Products course, and have continued working alongside each other, sharing resources and sometimes collaborating on client work and exhibitions.

Under The Same Roof will be a unique insight into the way this group has set up their way of working in London.

The exhibition has transformed the Aram Gallery into a series of ‘rooms’ that represent the working spaces of each of the members of the studio, reflecting on how they operate successfully as colleagues rather than as a branded consultancy. Collectively, the exhibition will explore how, just as in London, many different approaches to life and a creative existence are possible under the same roof offering insight into the ambient ongoing process of being a designer in London today.

The ‘roof’, or ceiling, of the gallery is a unique installation of drawings, sketch models, workshop jigs, failed projects and other studio ephemera that form each of the members daily studio existence.

Under The Same Roof shows the work of: Shay Alkalay, Tomas Alonso, Jordi Canudas, Mathias Hahn, Peter Marigold, Yael Mer, Oscar Narud, Hiroko Shiratori and Jorre van Ast.

The Aram Gallery is delighted to invite these nine emerging professionals to exhibit new and yet unseen work and promises to deliver an exciting addition to the Gallery’s award-winning programme from previous years (Stage by Jaime Hayon, 2006 London Design Festival Icon Magazine Trail, Best In Show).

Curator: Daniel Charny
Assistant Curator: Alison Norris

FEDERAL ANIMALS

It is an understatement to say that London is a challenging environment for young designers to set up shop. If not crushed by rental or travel costs, simply generating a profit can prove an insurmountable barrier for many an aspiring independent practitioner. But among other things drawn by the first class work produced here and excited by prospects of being noticed by media and clients, more and more designers choose to make London their base.

For those early in their careers a logical step towards launching an independent studio is to team up and share resources with other like-minded individuals. London’s creative ecology has spawned many more and less successful collaborations, joint ventures and groups, in fact this is probably one of its key characteristics.

But the principle of independent designers pooling resources is not a new idea. The history of design has been made rich by such groups, whether their coming together was on ideological, cultural or commercial grounds. While some groups have become legendary and others became springboards for one or two significant individuals, many are long lost and forgotten. What characterises the ones that make a difference? Maybe their content reflects the values of their times or their social fabric is robust enough to withstand turmoil; most often there has been a distinctive aspect to their communication as a group.

In OKAYstudio we see perhaps one of London’s more interesting current evolutions in joint working. Heralded by some as the freshest and most promising contemporary design collective working in London today, OKAYstudio, set up in 2006, has spent two years evolving its own type of collaboration. And while the terms collaboration and cross-fertilisation are often used with little follow-through in the actual fabric of the work, the OKAYstudio gang are thriving from a freedom enabled almost only by collaboration.

In UNDER THE SAME ROOF, the first curated exhibition of OKAYstudio, The Aram Gallery is keen to explore the diversity of the individual work, all new and never seen before, in the context of their federative model. It is interesting to understand how they work together while retaining independent authorship. What is it that they actually share? How do they take decisions? How much are they actively developing their burgeoning identity? What is the impact of the group character on their personal visions?

The group, made up of seven individuals and one duo, today share a studio, a workshop, nicknames and jargon, healthy competition, and the odd night out. They also share an educational background, as they are all graduates from the Royal College of Art Design Products course directed by Ron Arad.

What about the work itself? What, if anything, connects the designs that they are producing? With a heady mix of training, practice and interests which include industrial and automotive design, furniture, fine art, set design, illustration and socio-critical design there are currents of influence running between them. They share interests in experimentation, specifically trying out a wide range of materials and production technologies. They share an approach that champions the relationship of details to the core design concept of a particular piece. Perhaps the most interesting of shared interests is the significance of the social context of the designs. The objects they create all exist to serve, support and in some cases create (in one way or another) a social interaction. Another vital aspect that OKAYstudio share is their sketchbooks, their discovery through making, the physical experiments that parallel the design drawings which have become very much part of their studio culture, and enable the inputs of one person into another’s work.

These are early days though. Most of OKAYstudio members still have other jobs, either freelancing for more established designers or in remnants of jobs from their pre-design career, while they continue to develop their own work. We know this must be difficult to do, but they have intuitively set things in place to help themselves through. The continuity offered by their shared environment works in their favour, allowing a better chance of getting somewhere with personal work and the exhibitions they undertake set deadlines for new work.

But what will happen when the phone calls requesting OKAYstudio increase; how will they handle it? Will they start to exist anonymously under the OKAY name, or direct the client to an individual relationship? How would that work? Will they start explaining that they are not exactly a consultancy? Perhaps the most critical of questions remains whether their joint umbrella will prove to be the hothouse it promises or will it eclipse their personal visions?

For a gallery focused on exploring the way designers think and work, the show UNDER THE SAME ROOF, is right here at the heart of the matter.

The Aram Gallery thanks all the people who have put their best efforts and support into making the exhibition possible and happening, and hopes that one day we will look back at this as an exhibition that raised the roof.

Daniel Charny
August 2008

www.okaystudio.org

Press Release

This project has been supported by:

SNOG website

Jorre van Ast - ‘HB’ Table

Sebastian Bergne - ‘Array’

Studio Makkink & Bey - ‘S.L.A.K.’

Martino Gamper - ‘Sit Together Bench’

Martino Gamper - ‘Arnold Circus Stool’

Thomas Gardner - ‘Pixelwave Bench’

El Ultimo Grito - ‘Hump’ Bench

El Ultimo Grito - ‘Micos Pig’

Gitta Gschwendtner - ‘Burning Books’ light

Gitta Gschwendtner - ‘Plant Cups’

Gitta Gschwendtner - ‘Shuttlecock Chandelier’

Ineke Hans - ‘Jolly Jubilee’

Matthew Hilton - ‘I Beam’ stool or small table, ‘Fin’ chair, ‘Thin’ table

Ben Panayi - ‘Out of the Woods’

Tomek Rygalik - ‘RAW’

Floris Schoonderbeek - ‘Axechair’

åbäke - “Thank You Geri’ Flag

The Aram Gallery has initiated a series of displays made up of prototypes and experiments sourced from designers’ studios. The displays will form a long-term and ever-changing exhibition, with a new piece brought into the gallery each time another is sold or returned to its owner.

It included work by a.b.a.k.e., Jorre van Ast, Sebastian Bergne, Jurgen Bey, Martino Gamper, Thomas Gardner, El Ultimo Grito, Gitta Gschwendtner, Ineke Hans, Matthew Hilton, Michael Marriott, Ben Panayi, Tomek Rygalik and Floris Schoonderbeek.

Prototypes and experiments are critical elements in the development process of any new design.

The prototype is the manifestation of the design idea on its way to production; experiments are more like steps on the way. The prototype, being part of a process, makes more real an idea that will lead to a final piece, and is not made with the intention of being sold or shown outside the designers’ studio. Experiments are also unique artefacts but are even less refined and sometimes constitute a partial sketch on the way to the prototype.

These objects however, can hold a rare charm; there’s an increased closeness to the designer’s imagination, and a directness to the making that often changes when manufacturing and marketing forces are fully integrated. The objects might be characterised by a technical or material discrepancy, compared to the final product, due to a lack of access of the designer to technology at the process stage. It’s a stark contrast to the current wave of limited editions - which has made for the unique to be diluted by multiples and for the production piece to be restrained in order to increase the value of singular pieces.

The Aram Gallery is interested in the way designers think and work. We have chosen to present these unique artefacts as part of our ongoing search for insight into the design process. The new programme will start with fourteen pieces sourced from the studios of established and less known designers.

Prototypes and Experiments will include selected drawings alongside the pieces taken from the designers’ physical or digital sketchbooks.

Curator: Daniel Charny
Assistant Curator: Alison Norris

This project has been supported by:

All pieces are for sale - prices on request.

daniel@thearamgallery.org