Under The Same Roof

by Joel Tobman

OKAYstudio at ARAM
110 Drury Lane, London
18 September - 8 November

If variety is the spice of life, then the nine designers from seven countries who form the loose London collective OKAYstudio have combined to offer a welcome dash of diverse design with their *Under the Same Roof* exhibit at the ARAM Gallery.

This rough, eclectic show was one of the few bright points at an otherwise overly staid London Design Festival. Although they share a common studio space, Royal College of Art graduates Shay Alkalay, Tomas Alonso, Jordi Canudas, Mathias Hahn, Peter Marigold, Yael Mer, Oscar Narud, Hiroko Shiratori and Jorre van Ast have individually managed to produce an engaging mix of unique new objects.

Situated at the entry to the exhibit, the lanky LED-based *Mr. Light *floor lights by Alonso have an interesting personality with their tubular housing supported by wooden feet that appear to pierce through both the tube and each other. Their energy-efficiency is sure to attract interest, but the small exposed screw holding the base together is a rough detail on these otherwise slick lights.

To the left of Alonso's pieces sit *Raw Edges'* (Alkalay and Mer) explorations into seating, which merge felt and form to generate a variety of seat designs. Their *Cavities *chair is the most successful and is particularly captivating with its two-toned felt, while a collection of smaller stools and benches also presents interesting further investigations into this approach. Their *Tailored Wood* seats fold thin veneer into beautiful forms which are then filled with foam to solidify their structure and, like bespoke clothing, each seat is individually sized to fit the body of a particular user.

Even with the generally coarse aesthetic of the show, Canudas' *Light Meets Chocolate *and *Chocochandelier* seems a bit out of place with gory splotches of chocolate on a large spherical light and a ring of 24 variously-melted chocolate bars. Perhaps these designs require the interaction and dynamic of performance to truly engage the visitor, but in their post-performance, static incarnation, they leave much to be desired.

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Mr Light series by Tomas Alonso

Moulds by Raw Edges 2008 photo Luke Hayes

Tailored Wood by Raw Edges 2008 photo Luke Hayes