There is nothing like a project that's born with a good story behind. At times, the concept can be much more powerful and meaningful than the result itself, and in turn lends extra value to the end product.
That was what came to mind when I first read about Note Design Studio's Marginal Notes series.
The Marginal Notes series came about when, one morning, the team at Note Design Studio (a Stockholm based design company) decided to let go of all ideas on strategy and simply let themselves "play" for a bit. Flipping through their notebooks, they started looking at the scribbles and doodles at the edge of their pages - those that appear out of boredom maybe, or from intuition; seemingly direction-less and meaningless.
"We fell in love with the scribbles and embraced their odd proportions, diverse materials and lack of clever functions. Some were left for later but others were pushed further, into the physical world. Among prototypes and sketches we also developed some half-time forms; early seeds that influenced later objects. These not yet functionally defined forms acted as catalysts throughout the process. In the end it became an exhibition. Maybe it will give you some new ideas."
"TOMORROW ISLAND/YESTERDAY ISLAND:
lamps The Diomede Islands are located in the middle of the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia, and their awkward man-made separation inspired us. The islands are sometimes called Tomorrow Island (Big Diomede, Russian territory) and Yesterday Island (Little Diomede, U.S. territory) because the time difference between them is 20 hours, but the distance only three kilometres."
"HALF-TIME OBJECTS:
Among prototypes and sketches we also developed some half–time forms; early seeds that influenced later objects. These not yet functionally defined forms acted as catalysts throughout the process."
"BOOP: sofa, chair and lounge chair
1. boop: The mystery of the boop shall never be revealed. But when saying "Boop" you must poke a random person on the nose. 2. boop: To poke an animal or something cute on the nose."
Once again, I love the concept, and the amount of thought that has been put into each of these products. To see more, hop over to here, or visit Note Design's Facebook page.
Sometimes, a really clever idea can strike just when you stop trying too hard, don't you think?