ICFF, INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY FURNITURE FAIR, JACOB K. JAVITS CENTER, NYC MAY 17, 2014
Introducing NON’s collection of new products ranging in size from furniture to jewelry, all of which are made in the NONdesigns studio in Pasadena, California. NON’s studio includes both a design office and fabrication facility with all of the toys needed to serve the designers’ imaginations.
NONdesigns is a multidisciplinary design studio led by Principals Scott Franklin and Miao Miao. NON creates experiences that bring life to retail, event, exhibition, living and working spaces. They build environments and everything within them from furniture to lighting, floor to ceiling, inside and out.
“More than discipline, the thing that all of our work has in common is its goal of creating refined experiences that communicate emotionally.” Says Scott Franklin, “And it takes alignment from all ends of the creative disciplines to make that happen.”
The places that we inhabit have the ability to convey clear messages, awaken the senses and create vivid memories. Their approach weaves these emotional interactions throughout the strategic design of each project. It can turn a retail space into a playground of exploration and information, or it can increase the efficiency of an office space while stimulating its workforce. With the NON product lines, they constantly develop furniture and objects that carry on a dialogue with their surroundings. These meaningful relationships between people and the objects and spaces that they use are the defining elements of NON’s work.“
NON BOX – the NON BOX, bridges furniture and architecture with a customizable system of frames, floors, ceilings and walls. NON BOX allows you to easily assemble commercial environments that can be expanded, reconfigured and moved over time. “People get bored with their surroundings, so wouldn’t it be nice to be able to change them just like fashion?” Says Miao Miao, Principal of NONdesigns. “The climate of offices, retail and restaurants has changed and how we create spaces needs to as well. With NONBOX, you can own your branded interior, change it, rearrange it and take it with you to create a new space.” It assembles like furniture and all of the modular elements are independent, making the space a truly blank canvas for each brand to customize and play with over time.
NON COMMON DESK – To create collaborative and fluid workspace, NON designed the COMMON DESK, a large surface with a playful approach to organization and dividing workstations. “We designed a pair of desks similar to COMMON for our studio a couple of years ago and they changed the way we worked. That’s how COMMON was born.” Says Scott Franklin. “The one addition was the divider system because Miao’s mess would often drift onto my area of the desk.” Acrylic panels drop into a modular array slots in the tabletop creating movable bookends, folders and dividers that can be personalized. Taking it a step further, COMMON glows, keeping those who work late illuminated. A cable trough runs through the axis as a roomy home for cords, power supplies and hard drives. Made of laser cut aluminum, COMMON is available powder coated in any combination of Pantone colors.
NON LINEAR LIGHTING – LINEAR is a lighting installation based on a simplicity of form and organized chaos. The thick slabs of acrylic are bisected by a glowing line of light, while colorful woven cords dance from one light to the next. “These pieces are simple in form, but how they are arranged opens up opportunity for creating different formations.” Says Miao Miao. The LED lighting embedded in the acrylic can be dimmed and even adjusted smoothly from warm to cool color temperature via remote control. LINEAR is available in 8-foot and 4-foot models with a variety of color options for the woven cords.
NON BRAILLE BAG - The BRAILLE BAG is part of a collection encoded with pieces of a short story. The soft wool felt is smoothly embossed, leaving the dots in the pattern soft and fuzzy. Nickel rivets hold together the durable construction. “We had to invent the process for this.” Says Miao Miao. “It started with sandwiching felt in a waffle iron and went from there.” More encoded felt pieces are under way which complete the quirky short story.
NON FLIP LIGHT - The FLIP LIGHT is a fun and tactile luminaire that changes color when it rotates. An equilibrium sensor patented by NON, enables every movement of the fixture to be reflected chromatically in its glow. Playing with a FLIP LIGHT enables the user to find any color in the spectrum of light by simply rolling it, tossing it and spinning it, creating animations of light which are in direct response to the interactions taking place. “It was the moment that we abandoned the computer chip that this project was set free.” says Scott Franklin. “Rather than offer the user a series of options of light qualities, our goal was to create an infinite potential of colors that could be created through this one simple act of rolling a ball.”
NON ANALOG JEWELRY - This series of jewelry takes industrial and electronic components such as capacitors, resistors and diodes into a new context. Each piece is available with a jewelry box milled from a solid piece of hardwood. “Every time we were at an electronics store, I couldn’t help sifting through the brightly colored and intricate components.” Says Miao Miao, “They always end up going unseen, so I wanted to create pieces that showcase the detail of each individual one.”
NON MAJIANG SET - The Majiang set is NON’s version of the classic Chinese game. Made of layered white Corian and black walnut, all of the symbols have been simplified and engraved into the surface. The case is made from a solid piece of walnut with a precisely fitting Corian lid. “I remember playing with traditional sets when I was growing up in China.” Says Miao Miao, “Some were layered with precious materials. I wanted to foster these nostalgic elements, while adapting them to a new lifestyle through the use of materials and graphics.”
NON REFLECTION VASE - This vase has a different proportion than most others. The shallow basin creates a reflective surface that mirrors the plant that it displays. Three necks hold a simple arrangement emerging from the water similar to a lily from a pond. “I grew up on a lake and we had one large flood once. The image of the forest being under water stayed with me and must’ve influenced the concept for this piece.” Says Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey native and co-designer of the vase, Scott Franklin.
NON WALNUT AND POPLAR BOWLS - These bowls showcase the natural beauty of hardwood lumber. The process starts with a 2” thick rough cut slab that is milled to a smooth finish. A teardrop shaped depression is precisely machined into the surface using our computer-controlled mill and a natural oil finish is applied by hand. “Sometimes when we build something out of a thick slab of wood in the shop, I save the cutoffs because just the simple block of wood has so much personality to it.” Says Scott Franklin, “The goal of the bowl was to let the material be the dominant element.”
NON LAYERS COLLECTION - This series takes birch plywood and literally turns it sideways. Each layer is cut out on our computer controlled cutting table and then stacked to create the finished design. No glue is used in the process and furthermore, the layers are hollow, which makes the piece unexpectedly lightweight and strong. The chairs stack 4 high and the table’s legs hinge in for transportation. The pieces come in natural, black and white finish while custom colors are available upon request.
NON RAIN DESK - The RAIN desk accepts all the stuff that collects on work surfaces. Holes receive utensils like pencils and scissors while slots along the back edge hold books, magazines and notes. Depressions in the front collect smaller objects like paper clips and USB drives. The top is made of sculpted and seamlessly glued Corian and the legs are solid hard maple. “I used this desk for six months before we finalized the design.” Says Miao Miao, “we had to figure out the right size, quantity and locations for the holes. It’s just right.”
NON BATH CADDIES – This collection is made of precisely laser cut panels of fluorescent acrylic that snap together with no glue. The BEAUTY, TOOTH, SOAP, COTTON, SWAB, BOX CADDY and CADDY TRAY keep bathrooms tidy and full of personality.
BEAUTY CADDY: holds cosmetic and makeup tools ranging in size from compacts to eyeliner.
TOOTH CADDY: holds four toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss.
SOAP: holds a bar of soap while neatly draining its water.
COTTON: holds a stack of cotton pads and dispenses them from a slot near the bottom.
SWAB: holds cotton swabs that can be plucked from a slot near the bottom.
BOX CADDY: holds all that other stuff neatly in one place with a tip-open lid.
CADDY TRAY: keeps your caddy collection up off the counter and even has mounting holes so that it can become a shelf on your wall.
NON TOPO TABLE - One of NON’s first products, the TOPO TABLE now has a new edition with hardwood maple legs. TOPO is a series of Corian tables with built in, reconfigurable landscapes. Molded plastic inserts drop into the table to create functional topographies that make a home for plants, paper clips and oranges. TOPO uses rapid prototyping technology in a way that enables each table to be different. It’s a very simple design but the process of ordering one is a lot of fun. Our customers get to color in the areas that they want the inserts to be placed and then the CNC cuts out the holes. The inserts sit in the holes and can be swapped out and rearranged. “We got tired of perfectly flat tables so we made TOPO. I have an herb garden in mine, but people put all kinds of stuff in it.” says Scott Franklin, “We spend a lot of time sitting at tables, so it’s nice to have some basil planted nearby.”
NON WET LAMP - The WET LAMP is an elegant and playful series of hand blown glass lamps, each with an alluring water-submerged light bulb at its center. Putting an exposed light bulb in water certainly raises some eyebrows, but it also creates an intriguingly simple dimmer switch. When a thin silver rod is slid into the water, the WET Lamp turns on and becomes progressively brighter as the rod is submerged. The silver rod slides smoothly through a silicone gasket, carrying current into the water and creating an infatuating user interaction. Despite its precarious concept, the WET LAMP is a completely safe and isolated system of low voltage power and easily replaceable bulbs. The WET LAMP is approached with caution, but users can’t stop playing with it. “My mom always said not to play with electricity near water, but I couldn’t resist the allure of testing the preconceptions of such a familiar material. The same properties that make water dangerous can also be useful and beautiful, if done properly,” says Scott Franklin
