YOY’s work lets us catch a glimpse of an implacable way of working. The two creators, one of them with a degree in Interior Design from the Kyoto Institute of Technology, the other in industrial design from Kanazawa College of Art, always work together on defining the ideas that come before their concepts actually take shape. “Generation Y” forces them, and the duo daily share images, ideas and inspiration by e-mail before moving on to the final stage of the concept in each project.
Their studio creations grab our attention every time, by playing, not without humour, with the decor that surrounds them. Canvas is surely the most beautiful expression of this theatrical aspect of objects borrowed from stage design. As the name suggests, it is a canvas depicting an armchair, which at first seems to be purely decorative, but then in the end it proves possible to sit down on it – it is at the limit between a decorative element, the functional object and the joyful subject of a happening.
It is the same story with Life of Plants and Light, which introduces augmented reality with no help from any digital technology, simply by diverting or bypassing what is real, asking for no more than to be re-enchanted. I was! Functionality in “fictionality” – this is the main guiding line for Naoki and Yuki on their creative voyage. And so these visual effects are not just a pose! The purity of the lines and excellence in the conception of each piece undeniably turns them into poetical creations.
What are their inspirations ?
SANAA, Marcel Duchamp, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec … If the design of the YOY studio seems to be timeless and unrelated to any kind of Japanese aesthetical tradition, this is just to return better and with no complexes to the art of origami with projects like Poster Lamp, issued by DesignerBox. Once again, YOY dives headlong for our own great pleasure into the breach provided by a two-dimensional reality which will invariably encourage us to search for the third.
So Let’s go !
See Studio YOY online shop, by clicking here
