Visibility at WantedDesign for Kontextur and Good Thing
Visibility is an industrial design studio founded by Joseph Guerra and Sina Sohrab. The studio work on a variety of projects focusing on distilling an object down to what it wants to be. “We want to design products that communicate with the user on a utilitarian and emotional level, considering the user in a more human way,” say the designers. This year, Visibility have had the privilege of working with two wonderful brands: Kontextür and Good Thing. More
At WantedDesign this year, Kontextür will be premiering the Plus Coat Stand, as well as a new lighting project. The Plus Coat Stand was initially shown as a prototype last year. At the time Visibility was discussing the possibility of working with Kontextür, and the product hit the right note. “It was the start of our relationship with Kontextur, and gave way to several more projects which we hope to see through in the next year,” the designers explain.
The Plus Coat Stand uses the iconography of the ‘+’ and the ‘o’ signs to hang and to hold one’s coats and umbrellas. This object simplifies the process of arriving home, allowing for one place to gather one’s belongings. In the same way that the ‘+’ and the ‘o’ work together, so do the materials. The wood, steel and rubber form an efficient structure allowing for lightness to combine with usefulness. The horizontal ‘+’ at the top uses rubber caps to ensure that garments stay on, deviating in form from traditional hook employing coat stands. This innovation to the archetype creates a product with new usefulness and value.
For Good Thing Visibility have designed a series of pocket mirrors, a clothes hanger, and a bottle opener.
The pocket mirrors are an extension of the Utility Mirror. They are scaled to fit into a bag or purse. Moving away from the Utility Mirror in concept, they explore a more playful formal language, utilizing shape and color to have a dialogue with the feeling of vanity.
The clothes hanger is a nod towards the classic hanger but with a nuance to the form as well as the construction and material. Metal moves in a continuous line and meets a cedar end piece. The cedar is used to deter moths as well as to freshen the clothes. It creates a nice material composition that’s functional in nature and gives a sense of value to an often overlooked household object.
The bottle opener borrows a similar language from our mirrors with Good Thing but takes a step in a new direction. It had a subtle form that looks and feel right to the hand. Rubber coats the object entirely, only showing metal where the opener mouth is present. It speaks to utility, ritual, as well as capturing the confidence that opening a beverage entails. The designers like to think that this is the only bottle opener you would ever need.
