Studio O+A is based in San Francisco, California. A group of enthusiastic and passionate designers who deal majorly with space making projects for offices. They believe that everyone has a story to tell and their workspaces are well suited as the narrators. They use the process of ‘bespoke design’, where they first get the technical and spatial requirements of the project and also spend some time to know the people who are going to be using the spaces and amalgamate it into the very basis of the design program. Their product designs are no different.
Following is a list of ten product designs by Studio O+A
Primo Orpilla of O+A Studio had been thinking about the ideal work desk design for almost 25 years. So when Kimball Office approached with the opportunity to Primo, he got the chance to realise his idea. The design recognises the fact that work is dependent on people’s mood, the nature of the project and also on how it has progressed in the day. The design allows reconfigurations to suit the different functions- private workstation, standing work table, miniature huddle space.
Ideapaint is a concept which triggers the child in you who wants to write on all the walls and make them his own. Ideapaint, in partnership with Happier Camper, developed writable surfaces which would suit any setting- mountain campus or a dense cityscape-into which this office on the go might roll. Wherever you place it, the adjustable whiteboards turned the sites into conference rooms, where one seemed to be writing not just on the walls but the open air.
Designed in collaboration with Mafia Bags of San Francisco, this product was exhibited at the annual furniture exposition at Milan. Its name clearly suggests its function- a prosthetic vest that converts a person into a mobile workstation. The product identifies the various postures one assumes while working, every day- sitting, standing, moving or reclining.
Co-Designed by DFM Furniture, the blend workstations, the Blend workstation series has unexpected materiality. It identifies the need for connected yet separated work desks in an office. The designers agree that they are unconventional, but they are beautiful- in the way they divide the people, bring about utility, elegant and humble- much like home.
Blend needed an office which conveyed the dexterity of their new approach to the field of financial services. Working with Uhuru design, Studio O+A designed a custom reception desk for their Interior Designing project at Blend Labs, as a twist to urhu’s waterline table. The desk features a strikingly seamless blend of hard and soft- stone against wood, steel and bronze.
Abaca is a plant that produces the fibre that is used to make rope. It started off in 1856 as the Tubbs Cordage Company. Studio O+A designed a custom pendant woven from abaca fibres and turned it into a light fixture which hangs from the ceiling of their project at Abaca. The lighting was in collaboration with Brendan Ravenhill Studio.
Studio O+A don’t just dwell with office space or furniture- they also design for fun! To get into the holiday spirit they designed a series of custom playing cards, all 4 suits of which are designed by different graphic designers for their 25 year anniversary.
Alan Baverman always sought satisfaction which was quite unbecoming in all the office spaces he worked in- be it as an employee, a co-founder or an investor. So when he started Giant Pixels, he got the opportunity to realise his dream office.
The reception desk at the Giant Pixels office is made as a sweeping structure of concrete under a chandelier composed of desk lamps. Its seamless white finish makes it feel as if it emerged from the wall that it supports.
To continue with their tradition of designing holiday ‘cards’, Studio O+A with Nervy Designs created a custom tote bag by deconstructing the logo of the studio. The design transforms the seasonal Christmas gifts into something unique- in terms of design and in terms of aesthetics as it chooses to do away with the traditional red and green theme of Christmas.
The Cardboard Shelf is a simple design idea of a custom shelf made of cardboard compartments for the Pretend Store by Fuzzco. The design features a cardboard working station as well.
Pursuing his bachelors’ degree of architecture, he is still exploring whatis it exactly that draws him to it. He believes that every story is worth knowing and wants to exchange them with the world irrespective of the form- brush strokes, words, musical notes or bricks and mortar.
