Founded in Brooklyn by industrial designer Jamie Wolfond in 2014, Good Thing produces functional household objects focusing on unique collaborations with up-and-coming artists and designers. For its latest project, the studio and New York-based shaving company Harry’s tasked designers to re-imagine the shaving brush and bowl.
The shaving brush has rarely received such attention, and the results are particularly fascinating. The designers include a mix of up-and-coming studios and established names from across the US (Jonah Takagi, Norma, Visibility, Pat Kim, Fredericks and Mae and Harry’s own design team in New York) and around the world (Daniel Emma in Australia, Gabriel Tan in Singapore, and Studio EO in Stockholm, Earnest Studio in Rotterdam, MSDS in Toronto).
Designs vary from brushes with glass bottles by Studio EO’s Erik Olovsson, to double-ended wooden brushes by Norma
Between them they represent a broad spectrum of design approaches and materials. San Francisco contributor Branch Creative, for example, usually designs mass-market products, while New York-based Chen Chen & Kai Williams typically produce limited-editions for art galleries.
The creatives were given the opportunity to generate a number of ideas in response to the simple brief – the brush had to fit a 10” cube. Deciding that results would be more intriguing if the variables were open-ended, the size parameters were the only restraint the designers placed upon the project.
The final collection of brushes is fashioned from a range of materials including glass, stone, marble and wood. The designs vary from brushes with glass handles resembling cologne bottles by Studio EO’s Erik Olovsson, to double-ended wooden brushes by Norma, to Fredericks and Mae’s pumice stone, which comes from the depths of highly pressurised volcanoes.
The selected designers are a mix of up-and-coming studios and established names from around the US
Brushes by Pat Kim (left) and Norma
Household brushes are often tools designers like to toy with, but the shaving brush has rarely received such attention.
Brushes by Erikolovsson
Brushes by Gabriel Tan (left) and Harry’s
Fredericks and Mae’s playful riff on a pumice stone and brush
Brushes by Earnest Studio (left) and Branch Creative
INFORMATION
‘A Brush with Design’ is on view 20–23 May. For more information, visit the Harry’s website and the Good Thing website
ADDRESS
WantedDesign at The Tunnel
269 11th Avenue
New York NY 10011
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