When Design Becomes Philosophy

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The Office for Lost Objects™ is the intriguing name of a furniture design practice led by Jarrod Beglinger. It creates conceptual furniture and uses design philosophy to question our relationship with objects and everyday life.

This philosophy is based on six principles:

• Respect the Super Normal.
• Revel in the infra-ordinary.
• Honor craftsmanship.
• Follow a logic.
• Express an integrity.
• Seek an essence.

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Jarrod started with engineering studies at MIT which later led him to do an internship at BMW in Germany where he became more aware of design. He decided to spend more time in Europe and applied to Eindhoven’s Design Academy where he was accepted to pursue a Master’s degree. There, he discovered a new way of seeing the world through design and started to make design pieces that worked as social commentaries. His strongest design influence is the “Super Normal” as practiced by Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa: a type of design thinking that emphasizes less on aesthetics but rather focuses on making “normal” objects that integrate so well in everyday life, people don’t even question them.

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Up in the Air

For furniture designers Dexter Thornton and David Larabee of Doublebutter, traditional marketing strategies were not quite affordable and seemed too conventional. So instead they decided to use their skills and have a little fun on the streets of Denver by throwing miniature versions of their Roadrunner chairs up in the air.

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Each miniature is carefully made in their studio. The mini chairs work as a pair (usually green and red, or green and yellow) and are attached together with a thread. The locations are chosen for their backdrop and potential in creating an interesting site specific installation. We liked the idea so we took a few of them to chuck during our US cities tour. The Roadrunner coming to a city near you!