zerolab, stool365, mixed materials, 2020
There is a design studio that has had an active presence in various major exhibitions including ‘Typojanchi 2015’, ‘Hangeul Design: Prototypes and the Future of the Korean Alphabet’, ‘FORTUNE LAND-Gold Leaf’, and ‘Amateur Seoul’. It is zerolab (co-principals, Kim Donghoon and Jang Taehoon). As they say, ‘we do everything a person can do’, and the studio works not only on exhibitions but on other activities such as graphic design, spaces, products, publications. SPACE met with zerolab, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and asked about the stool365 project on this auspicious occasion.
interview Kim Donghoon and Jang Taehoon × Choi Eunhwa
Choi Eunhwa (Choi): Since the 1st of January this year, you are presenting the project stool365, which introduces one stool a day on Instagram (@stool365). As you have been engaged in a range of activities, it seems you were also thinking about the format when you were planning your work for the 10th anniversary. Why is it about a stool?
Jang Taehoon (Jang): When we began the studio, there was no goal such as ‘being famous’ or ‘let us do this kind of work’, but ‘let’s do it for 10 years’. But 10 years have gone quickly. (laugh) When we thought about the reasons behind enduring this time, it is far from performing something outstanding or having a great sense of things, or being good at showing off. We have simply been doing our job silently. I think that consistency is the driving force. This doesn’t mean however that we are making stools ‘to demonstrate 10 years of consistency’. It all started with the words Kim Donghoon threw around lightly: ‘How about making stools for a year?’ It sounds like it is going to be a lot of fun. This was also something that we could do as a studio that does everything from design to production, while the others cannot make such attempts as easily. After the beginning, the project contains all of the workings, the know-how, and attitudes towards design accumulated over the past 10 years.
Choi: Your love for the stool did not emerge this year. You held a stool making one-day class as part of a zerolab stool workshop in 2014 and made variations on stools by using wood at stoollab of ‘Cheongju Craft Biennale in 2017’. Furthermore, you presented prefabricated metal stools at ‘SeMA Artist Guild: 萬Lab’. What are the similarities and differences between your previous works and the stool365 project?
Kim Donghoon (Kim): Zerolab stool workshop was a project through which to share our manufacturing experience with others, and stoollab is an archive of our stool works. The purpose behind commercial developments was added to our approach to the metal stool. The stool365 is an extension of these projects. It was planned to follow a form that encompasses shared experiences, archiving, product development, and exhibitions, and is ongoing.
Jang: The previous works are closer to the practical realm. If they were the result of considering production periods, costs, and various conditions, stool365 is a kind of pop-up project. It is a project through which we can celebrate our 10th anniversary. Still, on the other hand, there was a desire to insist ‘we aren’t done yet’. (laugh)
Choi: When the furniture is produced through exhibitions, the result is inevitably affected by the space in which it will be placed, the objects or exhibits to be put together, and the client’s requirements. On the other hand, all the choices belong to zerolab in this stool365 project. You are playing the role of a client, designer, and producer all at once. How do you hold it in balance?
Jang: Role-playing is not a new challenge for us. As you work on the exhibition, you will be called by many different names. There are various roles given to us, such as artists, designers, directors, and a contracted service company. We are used to changing according to the situation, and we just did it naturally in this project. There is, however, a point on which we always focus, that we are designers.
Kim: It is also essential that we run the studio by holding this centre as designers. Since zerolab works directly from design to production, and even runs workshops, it is sometimes seen as a studio that is biased toward production. But for us, production is the means of showing our designs.
Choi: Hearing that story makes me wonder what kind of designer zerolab wants.
Kim: Since the early days in the studio, we have decided to ‘not to divide the boundaries of design’ and we are still practising along this line. We define ourselves just as designers. It is neither as graphic designers, space designers, nor as product designers. There are various genres in the design field, but we often feel such classifications restricts action. Zerolab will remain a studio for different reasons, and by performing a wide variety of design works, as always.
Jang: The difference between art and design is demand. I think that the person who handles the demands that emerge from oneself is an artist, while the one who deals with external conditions or requirements is a designer. Specifically, designers tend to soften in their desires under certain conditions. In that sense, I think we are following this line.
Poster of zerolab stool workshop
Exhibition view of ‘Cheongju Craft Biennale in 2017’ (©Cheongju Craft Biennale)
Exhibition view of 2018 ‘SeMA Artist Guild: 萬Lab’
Choi: I would like to know your ways of working together and how you distribute tasks. And what are the differences in your work styles?
Jang: We work on each project by dividing the work across each project. The same goes for stool365. We take turns each week from design to production, taking pictures and uploading them to Instagram. Each of us sees subtle differences in each work. It is not classified by form or production method. I tend to make the structure excessively sturdy, and Kim tends to work at an appropriate level. On the other hand, the size of my stool is generally smaller. I think my subconscious desire to craft on a smaller-scale finds form in this work. (laugh) I cannot stand it if a stool is visually unstable or if its structure is precarious. Still, in stool365, I tried out a stool with one leg. I wanted to try something new and out of the ordinary.
Choi: Tell me about your production period. There is only one upload to Instagram a day, but how long does it take from the idea to the result? And how do you feel about the speed of your own work?
Jang: Making one takes around 30 minutes to one and a half hours. When we go to the studio in Pocheon, Gyeonggi-do, we usually work for three to four hours. I make two or three stools on average, and Kim makes about three to four. This is possible because the system and environment are all in place. Generally, we are not making sketches. We think in our heads, model it in 5 to 10 minutes in 3D program, print out the cutting drawings, cut and assemble the material to complete.
Choi: In addition to your schedule of showing one a day, there seems to be a principle behind maintaining this pace in making a total of 365 stools.
Jang: From the start of this project, we promised ‘not to be too serious’. I did not try to create meaning or a theoretical standpoint for each stool. On the contrary, I wanted to work freely with such things, without much trouble, steadily, as if practising. So, I go to the studio and do it according to my mood and situation. In fact, we were not convinced from the beginning. For the first month, We made our Instagram account as private and worked on it. we were worried that there might be a problem. But after a month, we thought we should just be brave and do it. So, we opened the Instagram account in February and have continued to run it over the past few months.
Choi: However, it will not be easy to work drawing the same breath all the time. I would like to hear about the most challenging case you have ever worked on.
Jang: My daughter likes to make things. She once made a chair from a cardboard box, and I wanted to resize and remake it using wood. I put more effort into it than usual because it had been devised by my daughter. I was full of ideas as I wanted to make it the best I could. One day, I decided to use a bonding method that I did not always manage to master, and I threw it once because it did not work well. That is what happens when you get greedy. But I made it again the next day. (laugh) Not long ago, Kim also threw one.
Kim: Similarly, it makes me upset if there is not enough time to assemble a design, or if there is a mistake in the CNC cutting. It is a project in which I started to have fun, but at some point, it can be stressful. (laugh)
Choi: You have both woodworking and metal machines in your studio, and you chose mainly to use wood and metal in this project. You do not outsource the production, and so perform it all yourself using the given equipment and working environment. For this reason, is it sometimes difficult to think of new modes of expression?
Jang: Not all tasks are handled internally. We outsource the work of cutting sheet metal with a laser. However, in fact, it is unlikely that there will be tremendous freedom if all processes are outsourced. I think that we have the kind of authority to be as free as possible within given parameters. Of course, it is true that there are parts where physical properties and techniques are repeated, but we try to express it in as diverse a manner as possible. The most important part of the stool is the junction between the upper plate and the leg. In this project, we use various methods, such as bolts and nuts, pieces, bonding, forced joints, and wedging. It seems we are gathering all of the techniques that have informed our work over the past ten years. Despite all we have done before, there is always something new to me. It feels like beginning with the basics again.
Kim: The stool is manufactured using woodworking and welding techniques that we have always used. Because we work with familiar technologies, I think that it is rather a quick process and responds in various ways and manifests itself as a project. There is no new and special technology at all, but we are thinking about various users and tastes in the stool365 project. For example, it is impossible to mass-produce it as a product, but it is a way of combining various colours only for one person.
Choi: The stool365 project has been introduced on Instagram and in exhibitions, but I am curious about your ultimate goals.
Jang: After stool365, we intend to complete the table52 project, which produces one table a week for 52 weeks. If 365 stools and 52 tables can be combined, the number of cases would be huge. After that, it could be bookshelf12. We want to expand this principle into a brand by constructing objects that can be used in real life.
Choi: How can you be so sincere and diligent? What is your secret?
Kim: Are we diligent? I have no idea. (laugh) But I think being steady is essential. It is about connecting ideas that ‘grow big’ and ‘sustain’ zerolab. It seems to be helpful to carry out a project of a regulated pace.
Jang: I do not want to be built up so much. We are very lazy. (laugh) I think we did it because we just had to—we don’t say it is diligent to eat meals every day. We’re working with stools now, but there is nothing special because this is as same approach as that which has characterised all of our working days. I think that might be the secret.
Choi: The next decade will soon pass. What will zerolab look like on its 20th anniversary? Can you already imagine your 20th anniversary project?
Jang: I cannot really imagine what it will look like. By that time, aren’t we working on a project through which to change ourselves? (laugh) Even after ten years, we want to be designers who work and make rather than simply direct.
Kim: We told ourselves to stop making but planning when reached 40 years old. However, seeing that we are still making plans at 40, it does not seem like much will change by the time we reach our 20th anniversary. (laugh) It would be great if we could be working on a publishing project that documents our 20 years of experience.
zerolab, stool365, mixed materials, 2020
https://zero-lab.co.kr/