Through their industrial design partnership that reaches from Hong Kong to Istanbul, Bodin Hon and Dilara Kan team up with artisans and craftsmen to create tools for everyday living but imbued with moments of joy and surprise. The duo behind Studio Yellowdot also strives to use materials as efficiently as possible, employing textile offcuts and eggshells from food waste across product categories like furniture, tableware, lighting, wall coverings, and eyewear. Don’t miss their latest debut, the pastel-hued Patisserie Collection in collaboration with Gorbon Ceramics, which will be on view at Spazio Rossana Orlandi through Milan Design Week.
Through their industrial design partnership that reaches from Hong Kong to Istanbul, Bodin Hon and Dilara Kan team up with artisans and craftsmen to create tools for everyday living but imbued with moments of joy and surprise. The duo behind Studio Yellowdot also strives to use materials as efficiently as possible, employing textile offcuts and eggshells from food waste across product categories like furniture, tableware, lighting, wall coverings, and eyewear. Don’t miss their latest debut, the pastel-hued Patisserie Collection in collaboration with Gorbon Ceramics, which will be on view at Spazio Rossana Orlandi through Milan Design Week.
Describe what you make: We are product/industrial designers working with artisans, craftsmen, and industries. In collaboration with them, we transform materials into products and objects that are useful, beautiful, exciting, and playful through design. We’ve designed furniture, lighting, wall coverings, tableware, electronics and eyewear. Every project so far has been quite different in scale and materials, which is great as we enjoy variety in our day to day.
Patisserie Collection. Photography by Ozan Gur…
Patisserie Collection. Photography by Ozan Gur…
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: Our most recent one, the “Patisserie” collection currently on show for Milan Design Week at Rossana Orlandi Galleria. Working with Gorbon Ceramics, a bespoke ceramics producer from Istanbul, gave us the opportunity to explore the world of ceramics and discover various production techniques by creating an entire world, starting from wall tiles, furniture, lighting, objects, and tableware.
Describe the problem your work solves: We create tools for everyday living that goes beyond functionality. We aim to bring joy and surprise through design while using available resources as efficiently as possible.
Describe the project you are working on now: We’re working with off-cut material from the textile industry and eggshells from food waste to create contemporary design. Working on the Hatch eggshell project, through experimentation we found that everyday waste material usually thrown away was quite ideal for use for lighting as it is lightweight, translucent and very strong. The individual eggshell when reassembled together creates an interesting pattern that is mesmerizing to look at. Additionally, we’re experimenting with a different side of ceramics, which is using its porous nature for passive cooling.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: Working on new additions for the Hatch eggshell collection to be exhibited in Paris in September.
Checkered. Image courtesy of Studio Yellowdot…
Checkered. Image courtesy of Studio Yellowdot…
What you absolutely must have in your studio: We love our collection of random small objects and materials collected from all around the world. We like to play and find inspiration. And of course sunlight, to see the world in full colors!
What you do when you’re not working: We enjoy cooking at home for friends. We like going to markets and looking at the ingredients, but end up cooking a fusion of Turkish, Asian, and Italian. We like to travel a lot, to give us an immersive experience in a different place. Everything is different—the food, language, colors, materials, landscape, and even the background noise. All your senses are stimulated in a new city and the difference is interesting.
Sources of creative envy: Nature always amazes us when we find elegant and wild solutions, like why flowers are so colorful and the shape of the petal—to attract bees and the symbiotic relationship. It’s interesting to take the time to slow down and appreciate the design in nature.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Noise and paperwork.
Millstone Tables. Photography by Ali Gulsener…
Millstone Table. Photography by Ali Gulsener…
Concrete or marble? Marble. Each piece is unique, and the natural patterns and texture are just mesmerizing.
