Who:
With their backgrounds in fine art and architecture respectively, Studio Swine founders Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves met while they were studying product design at the RCA in London. They founded their multidisciplinary design practice, Studio Swine, in 2010 with both designers based in London. So what’s with the unusual name? ‘We choose the name Swine because we admire the versatility of pigs: how they consume scraps and are then used to make a hugely eclectic range of products,’ say the design pair.
Why:
Operating across the disciplines of art, design and fashion, Studio Swine has exhibited work at the Barbican Art Centre, V&A, New York and London Fashion Weeks, and the Gwangju Biennale, curated by Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei.
Where:
studioswine.com
kieren@kierenjones.com
1. Made entirely of plastic recovered from the oceans, Sea Chair is collaboration between Studio Swine and British designer and self-professed ‘professional amateur’ Kieren Jones, a fellow RCA graduate.
2. Exhibited as part of last year’s London Design Festival, Prism Cabinet contained a 180-degree holographic representation of architect and designer Keiichi Matsuda’s Prism installation at the V&A. Each of the hologram’s facets live-streamed data gathered from around London – information such as the Thames’ tidal levels, number of TfL cycles currently in use and energy consumption of the Prime Minister’s residence?- was displayed throughout the day.
3. Studio Swine proved that small is beautiful with its design of this diminutive office for a media company in Soho. The space, measuring just 10 sq m and accommodating two or three people, has a mahogany desk made of reclaimed parquet flooring from a local school and shelves made from the radial off-cuts of sustainably sourced Kentish oak. Marmoleum tiles, which are made up of 97 per cent natural materials, are used throughout the office for cladding, cabinets and box les, are also stitched into hanging pouches to hold stationery.
