Shape Shifters: Harnessing the magic of technology and craft
Design consultancies like San Francisco’s IDEO, founded in 1978 by Stanford’s David Kelley, once worked quietly behind the scenes, shaping early tech products like the mouse. But as former clients—Apple, for instance—built their own in-house design divisions, firms like IDEO had to reinvent themselves. The solution: become co-branders.
At IDEO, the shift happened organically. In 2015, Dutch designer Marcel Wanders—along with his whimsical Amsterdam-based brand Moooi—joined the studio for an unconventional design “internship,” eager to explore IDEO’s signature “human-centered” approach. Collaborating with design director Thomas Overthun, then-managing director Clark Scheffy, and engineer Niko Vladimirov, Wanders co-created Piro: a tubular, pirouetting scent dispenser with a chrome torso, swiveling top, and fragrant rings of light. “It did not need to look like a cute character to be a cute character,” Overthun said.
Unveiled at Milan’s 2022 furniture fair, the joyful little robot—its movements inspired by dancer Catie Cuan—captivated crowds. “Technology does not just solve problems. It can create joy,” said Scheffy. With AI, Piro could someday become a robotic pet.
The collaboration continued with 2023’s Pallana, a bar-shaped chandelier with six manually adjustable reflector rings. “Pallana’s rings are not motorized but have unlimited movement,” Overthun noted. Around $4,000 via Moooi or DWR, the aluminum lamp marks IDEO’s first co-branded commercial hit.
Pattern Language
Patricia Buse’s colorful, translucent acrylic resin constructions—designed to be placed outdoors—might never have seen the light of day, so to speak, if not for what she calls “a fluke.” Gallery 107 at Minnesota Street Project recently had an unexpected opening in its roster, giving Buse the chance to finally mount her first public show, Architecture of Light and Color, alongside complementary abstract paintings by her partner and fellow artist, Stephen Singer.
Buse, of German descent, is also an molecular scientist. Unsurprisingly, the low, mostly rectilinear tables and benches her company Pale Blaze has been developing over the past eight years echo the visual language of microscope slides.
Deliberately low—like Japanese furniture—the UV-resistant pieces are intended for outdoor placement. Sunlight plays across their surfaces, casting overlapping colored shadows resembling a Josef Albers painting.
Sculptors James Turrell and Donald Judd are strong influences on Buse, who uses her creations as instruments to refract light and multiply perceived planes.
“How does nature’s ever-changing visual phenomena shape our daily perceptions?” Buse wonders. In the evolutionary game of pattern recognition, “What tricks does the eye play on us?”
From $250-$10,000. Paleblaze.com, gallery107.arts
