What happens when design minds come together, merge their notable talents, and refresh the contract industry’s notions about furnishings?
These adventuring designers shift perceptions of the possible with products that influence specifiers, attract orders, and earn awards.
Two dynamic duos of product design provided evidence of such at NeoCon 2021. One is the San Francisco-based firm Mike & Maaike, and the other is UNION, located outside Philadelphia in Perkasie, PA.
“Ours is a good combination of individual freedom while knowing you have to make a business work, and that’s where collaboration comes into it.” That’s from Shaun Smith, who co-owns UNION with Jeff Theesfeld.
Photo courtesy of KFI Studios
UNION’s award-winning designs for KFI Studios, based in Louisville, Kentucky, lend proof of collaborative success. Tioga seating was a HiP Award Honoree, with Willow, an accessory table, winning in the Accessories category. And UNION’s Vaux table collection for KFI featured in officeinsight’s Delights of NeoCon issue.
Honors for this design work follow an award-winning legacy for Jeff Theesfeld and Shaun Smith, graduates of Philadelphia University with industrial design degrees. Both worked at Shea+Latone, an industrial design firm that developed products for Humanscale, Teknion, and Global, among other market leaders.
The designers purchased Shea+Latone in 2013 and then, after growing aggressively for six years, made significant changes.
“The product development world was changing, and we saw a vacuum for what we considered good design,” said Mr. Theesfeld. That and the feeding-of-the-beast involved in administering a 16-person firm caused a reevaluation. “Shaun and I agreed we couldn’t continue down that path and wanted to follow our passion for design.”
UNION’s business model upended their approach to placing their work with manufacturers. “In changing to UNION, we are designing products for manufacturers to license,” said Mr. Theesfeld. “We’re applying all we know from over 15 years of development toward making really smart designs.”
Has morphing into UNION changed how the co-owners design? Yes, it has.
UNION has become a celebration of their individuality. While one partner might be leading a project, input from the other is sought and valued. Both have the experience to question, test, and challenge one another.
“Because of our backgrounds, Shaun and I can perform every stage of the product development process,” said Jeff Theesfeld. “That means our designs consider technical challenges in manufacturing and engineering, which clients appreciate because it speeds products to market.”
What of melding their aesthetic sensibilities? “Shaun might in some ways be more grounded than me, but not in his sense of aesthetics,” says Jeff Theesfeld. “His aesthetic is more freeform, where I’m more minimal in what I do.”
In reply, Shaun Smith says, “I’d be lost in no man’s land without Jeff course-correcting me, and he’d be off on an artistic cloud without my keeping him in reality.” The pair agrees that having complementary talents makes for the best outcomes in product design.
The method for best outcomes at Mike & Maaike involves talent, certainly, while infusing a healthy dose of project variety.
“Different subject matter feeds our creativity,” said Maaike Evers. “We started our company to have a broader focus.”
The firm takes on furniture, soft goods, and other projects outside the Bay area’s work buffet in the healthcare and consumer electronics sectors. This firm intends to moderate its share.
In fact, Maaike Evers and Mike Simonian founded their business on that premise.
“We had a rule during our first year in business that we would have no clients and no income,” said Mike Simonian. “We wanted to do a lot of independent projects to create a direction in our work different from our past.”
They met at Fitch RS, a design consultancy in Columbus, Ohio. Ms. Evers graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands, with Mr. Simonian graduating from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Following moves to San Francisco, they established Mike & Maaike there in 2005.
What came from that year of independent designing?
They found the subjects, applications, and problems inherent to their self-initiated projects challenging — in good ways. Half of their firm’s work begins as self-initiated projects to this day.
More than a few have made it into production, with Haworth’s Windowseat seating providing one example.
Mike Simonian explained that Windowseat’s development began as a furniture-making exploration. “We made a prototype, which bears a close resemblance to the final production version.” They exhibited the prototype at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in 2007, and Haworth eventually licensed the design.
Coming to furniture design from a tech background punctuates the sharp contrasts between two product development paths. From Mike Simonian: “With technology products, there’s the inside nobody sees, and the outside everyone sees. With furniture, everything is seen, so every connector, fastener, and detail must tell the same, consistent design story.”
Where their design thoughts begin is literally a story unto itself. “We start a project discussing the story of what it will be or what it should be,” said Maaike Evers. Beginning this way for Watson Furniture Group’s Haven, a NeoCon 2021 introduction, led to Best of NeoCon Gold Awards in four categories.
Ms. Evers cites collaboration within their firm and Watson as a factor in Haven’s development. “First, Mike and I showed each other the way a particular solution works with the story and intent, then we worked through prototypes with Watson, making sure they liked the line and where it was heading.”
From this peek inside two bright, innovative firms, one can sense new directions in product design.
Expect the design minds at Mike & Maaike and UNION to help shape where those directions lead.
Stephen Witte writes, speaks, and consults for the design industry. Contact him at stephenmwitte@gmail.com.