The Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven is the largest design festival in Northern Europe. Every year we pick nine designers that we think are this year’s hidden gems. You can read their stories here. Today: OS ∆ OOS and their Body of Work
Marking the fifth year they worked and operated in Eindhoven, OS ∆ OOS wish to present their ‘Body of Work’ this DDW. The studio is known for its lamps, mirrors and other objects that are almost works of art in themselves. The duo also designed the interior of various Ace & Tate shops. How do they look back at the past few years? ‘Traffic flows in shops? It was all new to us.’
It is a warm Tuesday afternoon, about two weeks before Dutch Design Week is coming to Eindhoven again, when Sophie Mensen and Oskar Peet have a break at the wooden table in front of their studio. We are at the edge of Strijp-T. Opposite the studio is the renovated TQ building, next to it the recently opened office of Additive Industries. A little further down the road is the immense Innovation Powerhouse, which opened last year after a major renovation. ‘The city is slowly moving towards us’, notes Oskar.
Studio OS ∆ OOS has been here for about four years now. A small office in a former Philips building with a large workshop attached to it, which they share with a number of other makers on the site. They don’t have a lot in stock, Sophie explains. ‘Our designs are launched in limited editions and most of our products are only fabricated once they are sold’. Oskar describes their ‘handwriting’ as layered. ‘We play with transparency and optical effects and we work a lot with glass and aluminium, but it is mainly the combination of different materials that defines our style.’
Sophie and the Canadian born Oskar got to know each other at the Design Academy in Eindhoven. During their studies, they already recognize the same sense of aesthetics in the other person and they help each other with projects. ‘Sometimes it wasn’t really clear what it was going to be, but we both knew immediately what the atmosphere and style of the product should be.’
The first thing they make as OS ∆ OOS is the Syzygy lamps series, which are later taken into production by the Italian brand FontanaArte. It is still one of their favorite designs. Another favorite are the large room dividers ‘Perspectives no.1 & no.2’, a project supported by gallery Roerhs & Boetsch, Zurich. ‘I think it’s our most autonomous piece of work’, says Sophie.
Syzygy lamp by OS ∆ OOS
Last year they expanded their field of work to interior designing. Eyewear store Ace & Tate opened a flagship store in Eindhoven and wanted to collaborate with local designers and came into contact with OS ∆ OOS. Initially they were interested in just the lamps of Sophie and Oskar but then they were asked to design the entire interior as well. ‘It was fake it till you make’, says Oskar about their lack of interior design experience, ‘Traffic flows in shops? It was all new to us.’ But their approach, with a great eye for the industrial history of the city, works out well. Ace & Tate is very pleased with the end result and commissions them to also design the new offices in Groningen, Dublin and Brussels. This DDW brings everything together in a ‘dream location’: the TQ 1 building opposite their own studio. ‘It is a large, empty space’, says Sophie, ‘a wonderful place to show our work.’
Location: building TQ 1 at Strijp-T
The DDW Hidden Gems are published in collaboration with Dutch Design Daily and curator Katja Lucas of DDW. Would you like to visit the hidden gems yourself? Every day Brandstore Eindhoven/VVV organises a bike tour to the selected designers. For more info check the website or use this link to book a ticket.
Special offer for IO readers: the first 25 people receive a 10 euro discount on their ticket. Use the action code ‘Gems18’.