BOND., AN INNOVATIVE NEW DESIGN STUDIO LED BY JOE DOUCET, LAUNCHES DURING ICFF

Bond. Exhibition Presents Products Designed to Provide Poignant Solutions to Everyday Problems

NEW YORK - Bond., a new multi-disciplinary design studio, will debut on Saturday, May 17th during ICFF, at the Pomegranate Gallery, 133 Greene Street, NYC, from 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM. The studio’s launch event, Bond..,will feature an exhibition of provocative and conceptual work from Director of Design/Founder Joe Doucet, and projects from his team of international designers including Philip Attar (Philippines), Cressida Payavis (United States), Matthis Kaeding (Germany), David Yoon (Korea) and Maria Horn (Columbia).

“Bond. is meant to be an ‘executional’ think tank,” said designer/founder Joe Doucet. “We are a group of specialists with divergent backgrounds and diverse strengths who are united by the goal to utilize design as a transformative process. Design is more than a step towards creating an object; it is also a catalyst for change.”

In the exhibit, this philosophy is realized through the creation of a broad selection of products, ranging from furniture design to urban planning and from digital technology to clothing. Although each design is completely independent from the next, they are all united by the intention to shift focus away from the idea of consumption as a sole end purpose for a product and toward a transformative process initiated by the interaction of individual and object, client and consumer, participant and society.

Scape . Modular Seating Enviornment
Designer: Joe Doucet
Scape is modeled after the urban landscape. Individual seating pads in five different heights can slide into and out of the gridded base, allowing the user the flexibility to customize seating arrangements at will. The dynamic design creates instant environments, bringing the energy of the city into staid interior spaces. Scape is upholstered with fabric by Moroso.

Airate . Wind Park
Designer: Joe Doucet
Airate is an urban development initiative that transforms unused urban spaces into parks anchored by a renewable energy source. Beauty and practicality come together as Airate not only creates a gathering place that serves a community’s recreational and functional needs, it makes green space commercially viable.

iii . Subscription Packaging, Product-Service Concept
Designer: Joe Doucet
III is a membership service which enables subscribers to receive mailed refills of personal products on a regular basis, allowing consumers to save time, minimize waste and reduce their carbon footprint. This subscription service uses an elevated aesthetic to give otherwise disposable objects a sense of permanence, while providing people the reassurance of knowing that they will never run out of a favorite item.

Mantle . Ballistic Couture
Designer: Philip Attar
Mantle is a concept line of luxury ballistic protective apparel. The mating plumage of the male Bird of Paradise inspired the design of the protected chest area, where a colorful pattern is constructed with proprietary impact-resistant fibers. Mantle protects a wearer from attacks, while also allowing him or her to make a fashion-forward statement.

Adieu . Journal of Arts and Events
Designer: Cressida Payavis
Adieu is a magazine highlighting fashion, design, technology and global affairs for a sustainable existence. Printed on recyclable paper with dissipating ink, as the publication’s content becomes outdated, the printed matter fades, leaving behind a blank canvas. By first inspiring, then allowing for an individual to create, Adieu invites the observer to become a participant, the reader to become a creator.

Dot . Driven Companion
Designer: Matthias Kaeding
Dot is a low-emission vehicle designed to be friendly to both drivers and the environment. It’s minimally construction blurs the line between man and machine, better connecting drivers to the terrain they pass through.

Partisan . Socio-Political Plaything
Designer: Maria Horn
Partisan is a trio of three-dimensional puzzles comprised of interlocking positive and negative pieces, representing, respectively, power, energy and religion. A player can explore and materialize various global issues through different assemblies and combinations of the puzzle elements. For example, the sum of all the positive pieces creates a dove of peace; the sum of all the negative pieces creates a weapon of war. This form of constructive play encourages users to engage and involve themselves in world issues in a non-confrontational manner.

Reflection . Interactive Installation
Designer: David Yoon
Inspired by the butterfly effect, Reflection asks us to reflect upon our seemingly benign and ephemeral actions which can ultimately create and destroy things beyond our consciousness or realization. It initially invites the audience to play interactively, but the resulting light generated by the user’s movement begins to affect the photo-sensitive surface it is projected on. Depending on the actions performed, the user can purposefully create art, or destroy it through excess.

Pulse . Mass Transit Positioning System
Designer: Matthias Kaeding
Pulse is a functional light installation that maps and marks the subterranean circulation of the city. High-visibility vertical LED fixtures positioned adjacent to subway stations give pedestrians at street level an instant “read” on the location of their train. Activated by proximity, an increasing number of lights turn on as a train approaches the station. It literally and figuratively takes the city’s “pulse” to provide an easily decodable update on underground traffic. Its aesthetically pleasing play of light also adds a dynamic visual rhythm to the streetscape.