studio job's playful objects for qeeboo at milan design week 2017

launched in 2016, qeeboo is stefano giovannoni’s furniture and accessories brand. with a philosophy that prioritises the idea of democratic design, qeeboo’s objects are made for daily use and suitable for all. by resuming and reinterpreting icons of our imagination and under the careful direction of giovannoni, the brand presented during milan design week 2017 three new all-plastic pieces by studio job — killer, an umbrella stand and container; mexico, a stool, lamp and planter; and flash, a table and wall lamp — available on the designboom shop here.

‘killer’ umbrella stand 
dimensions: 350 x 380 x h. 655 mm

by holding the umbrellas in its jaws, this killer shark is a playful take on the animal’s head emerging from the floor. available in black, blue-denim, grey, light grey and chrome, ‘killer’ can be also used as a container. (buy it on the designboom shop here.)

‘serious fun, in a fictive world lives a shark. his name is mr. holder. he loves to swim but he can’t so other sharks bully him. they call him a pussy, stuffy or stiffy. poor him you’d say. so true, but what can you do? and honestly, most like mr. holder better this way.’

‘mexico’ – stool, lamp and planter

symbolic to vibrant mexican culture and the dia de los muertos festival, this playful skull is called ‘mexico’ and is available as a stool, a lamp, and a planter. by mixing technologies and industrial techniques, along with aesthetics and invention, the ‘mexico’ collection results in a hybrid object with different uses. (available on the designboom shop here.)

dimensions: stool (382 x 530 x h. 450 mm), lamp (382 x 530 x h. 450 mm), planter (382 x 530 x h. 450 mm)

‘scary stuff, ‘mexico’ is the name of a massive hit of a singer called ‘zangeres zonder naam’ (singer with no name.) she was ver well known in the low countries and used to live in the village of stramproy, not far from where we lives,’ comments studio job. ‘so, when i was a little boy, I sometimes passed by her villa trying to get a glimpse. but her velvet curtains were always closed. unfortunately she died in the nineties.’

available in avory, black, green, terracotta, gold

‘flash’ – table and wall lamp

last is ‘flash’, a table and wall lamp that stems from a previous work presented during milan design week 2010 by studio job: the ‘torch’ lamp. part of a limited edition collection, and presented by gallery dilmos, the lamp sees a comeback in plastic.

‘the light bursts out of the flash to then keep still in a solid form that adheres the tool to the wall or to the table. is light stronger than matter?’

dimensions: 230 x 290 x h. 480 mm

job smeets and nynke tynagel founders of studio job with a few of their limited edition pieces distributed through design gallery channels
image courtesy of studio job

job smeets: ‘for me its very hard to describe my thoughts, to translate them into words. I express my feelings through the pieces. it is always the archetypical form we are searching for. we prefer working on an object that communicates and that is not merely functional… but not just a symbolic object-subject, more a mute emblem of our hyper-communicating society.’

job smeets
image © designboom

(continues…) ‘we work more as artists. I draw mostly on paper and  NT is drawing with the computer to translate to 3D. these plans go to our atelier, and we make the maquettes in form of real-size sculptures, followed by prototypes and eventually the molds to realize the projects. we supervise, but usually don’t work with our hands anymore. we have a lot of projects running at the same time and the workload is simply too much to be more actively involved in the ‘making’. we collaborate with sculptors and craftsmen, people we have been working with for many years already. they are all really devoted.’