At the last Milan Design Week, the Parisian agency Studio Booboon unveiled its very first collection of furniture and lighting. A debut that was definitely not to be missed.
April 2024. Heading northeast of Milan. During the Salone del Mobile, the entire Lombard city throbbed to the rhythm of design. And so it was at Assab One, a former printing works now transformed into an art center. In addition to hosting Marion Mailaender's spectacular creations for the fabric house Élitis, this space with its industrial past was the setting for the very first collection by Studio Booboon. This name belongs to a Parisian design firm founded by the two designers Jisu Yun and Richard Bone. The duo works on a whole host of projects, exploring diverse themes ranging from materiality to form, from tradition to modernity. The two designers also explore the elements that "shape our daily lives." This approach is reflected in their first collection, simply titled "Playful Reappropriation." By reappropriation, Studio Booboon means the act of "taking a fragment or element from its original context and giving it a new meaning or significance within a different framework." Thus, for this collection, the studio chose to select familiar or traditional cultural elements from Korean, Japanese, and European cultures and reinvent them.
Among the pieces in this collection is the Gan stool, the latest addition—under the name Coffee Table “N”—to the “Abecedario” collection created with Forma&Cemento. This seat is a Korean interpretation of the Chinese-Korean character 間, often used to denote the concept of negative space. The chair was made of cast concrete. A versatile piece of furniture, it can be used as a side table or a stool.
Another piece in the collection, the Rabbit Chair boasts a playfully whimsical silhouette reminiscent of rabbit ears. Symmetrically inverted, these shapes form the chair's backrest and legs, providing essential support while offering a degree of flexibility. Available in natural and stained wood, this chair features a deceptively simple and minimalist design, and a strong, easily identifiable identity. Equally recognizable is the Silhouette Chair, which pays homage to Korean craftsmanship. Made of solid beech, it is composed of numerous small pieces meticulously assembled to create a stylized silhouette imbued with lightness. Finished in black and earth-red lacquer, the seat appears to be sculpted from a single piece of wood.
Other remarkable pieces in the collection, perhaps the most beautiful, are those in the Jogak Light Sculpture series. This set of lights was created using the technique of "jogakbo," a traditional Korean patchwork style used to make wrapping cloth called "bojagi." Jogakbo is made from scraps of fabric called "jogak," which are sewn together to create a larger piece. From this craftsmanship emerged this sublime collection of lights, available in blue, pink, and beige.
A successful first collection, which makes us want to see the second installment.
STUDIOBOOBOON.COM
