Work in Process: Objects of Common Interest share ‘the magic of surprise’ at their Piraeus workshop

Welcome to Wallpaper’s video series, ‘Work in Process’, where we delve into the creative methodology of today’s most inspiring artists and creators. For this episode, we head to Object of Common Interest's workshop to discover what a day in the life looks like at an award-winning studio's space for experimentation.

The founders at Objects of Common Interest, Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis, never stand still. Sharing an architecture background, they decided early on not to confine themselves to building design, the speciality of their first joint practice, LOT (featured in the Wallpaper* Architects Directory in 2014). Instead, they set up LOT's younger sibling – their now-renowned design outlet Objects of Common Interest, in New York in 2016. Splitting their time between their native Greece and their current base in New York, they swiftly and boldly expanded into the world of product and installation.

International recognition soon followed (including being named Wallpaper* Design Awards Designers of the Year 2022), and the pair now find themselves at the forefront of the design world, a position that developed organically and that they don't take for granted. Did they rest on their laurels? They did not. Their resin workshop in Greece, which opened its doors in 2022, is proof of that.

Step inside Objects of Common Interest's Piraeus workshop

Petaloti and Trampoukis launched their resin fabrication workshop in the Athenean port of Piraeus as a physical extension of their commitment to 'artisanal craftsmanship and human-centred design’. Its manifestation in the two-storey, 800 sq m industrial building it currently occupies behind an unassuming – if not slightly mysterious – blank wall came to be thanks to a series of unplanned, and possibly unexpected, events.

Master craftsman and artisan Ovidiu Colea maintained his own resin workshop in Long Island City, New York, for years, and a chance meeting with Petaloti inspired an interesting possibility. Looking to retire, Colea offered to pass on all his machinery to Objects of Common Interest and relocate it to Piraeus, to be managed by the two designers and their team. It was not something the pair necessarily had on their to-do list but, intrigued – and fuelled by their desire to keep experimenting, making and pushing the boundaries of materials and objects – they jumped at the opportunity.

Taking Colea's knowledge, legacy and techniques and pushing them even further became a fascinating challenge for the duo, who share a deep appreciation for craft and artisanal skills that deserve to be preserved – such as resin craft. One of their goals? To make resin fabrication a circular process, as they test saving and reusing the same material in new moulds. Meanwhile, their manufacturing offering also includes resin types from cast to lucite and mineral powder.

'The method of resin making is simple, but at the same time has a certain complexity,' says Trampoukis. 'During every process, there is an amount of uncertainty. We can be surprised ourselves that something started as [one thing], but that it evolved into something new.'

Objects of Common Interest embraces this unexpectedness, which sits at the core of its approach, and is even enshrined in its name. 'Our name has a certain amount of ambiguity that leads to curiosity,' says Trampoukis.

In a similar way, resin's qualities, such as its fluid nature and malleability, continue to attract the designers – precisely because it's a material not without challenges. Trampoukis explains: 'Resin is a very demanding material because it needs precision and needs the context to be able to be cured properly. Temperature, heat, dust all affect its quality. So there is a certain type of predictability in how you can achieve a perfect result, controlling the environment and controlling the circumstances. But then there is this magic of randomness and the magic of surprise that comes when you open the mould.'

This workshop offers the perfect space for experimentation. '[In] our fabrication studio in Piraeus, it's where we develop our ideas. And it's a place that we can test any crazy idea, fail, and start a new one,' Petaloti says. 'For us, the most exciting moment is the process: starting an idea and seeing it being developed.'

Video credits
Directed by Sebastian Jordahn. Director of photography: Evan Maragkoudakis. Focus puller: Nick Sempos. 2nd AC and data wrangler: Argiris Papatheodorou. Sound recordist: Yiannis Zervakos. Editor: Mikołaj Denysiuk. Colourist: Nielsan Bohl at Selected Works. Sound design: Indústries Sòniques. Production : 10 AM. Prodution manager: Yiannis Anagnostou. Title animation: Berke Yazicioglu. Opening track: Extempore by Musical Meandering

With thanks to Objects of Common Interest