Ideal Live/Work Space: Aeolab’s Nikita Pashenkov and Elise Co
We first worked with Aeolab when Broodwork presented a short film of theirs at the Trajector Art Fair in conjunction with Art Brussels last April. We also love the OUIP! and Sony ODO - both designed with children in mind, plus their many other technology-based solutions for modern problems. Aeolab is a partnership between husband and wife Nikita Pashenkov and Elise Co. Their consultancy integrates technology and design to work on many types of projects from hardware and software to graphics and research. Their multi-pronged approach, in which they tackle a wide variety of problems and work with different groups depending on the scope of the project, is reflective of what we see in similar partnerships that cross boundaries to visualize new ways of working. Here they reflect on their ideal live/work studio, which needs to include both their son Felix and space for inspiration.
Some notes for the fairy-godmother who is planning to conjure up our dream studio* for us. We like a clean, minimal and zen space with lots of natural light but we are pack rats who like to leave things out (e.g. we don’t put things away), and we have many things in progress in parallel which need space for the following:
- A place for our son Felix (2.5 years old) to start apprenticeship via crayon and cars
- Place for innumerable gadgets, pieces of gadgets, materials and objects
- A past-projects archive and storage for lots of books
- 4 permanently-allocated computers, with another 3 in various rotation with no glare on computer screens
- Space for 1 etching press, 1 small cnc mill, 2 sewing machines, dedicated space for thousands of tiny electronic components and, lastly, a dedicated space to use a blowtorch.
*Please fit this into 450 square feet.
Some places that inspire us:
Above: Brancusi’s studio, tool area. A dedicated place for every tool. If only cables could make such a composition.
Above: Eames House. Our current fabrication lair has a buckled floor, sloped roof, and crooked walls, so rectilinearity is a dream.
Above: Brodsky and Utkin Turtle House etching. An encapsulated jumble of assorted spaces, with the bonus of being portable.
Above: STORA+NYGATAN: Eclectic, tidy, and we have a lot of paper prototypes to turn into lamps.
Above: Library in the Ryotaro Shiba Museum, Tadao Ando. This is the kind of storage we need.
This article opened with a blatant contradictory statement: “We like a clean, minimal and zen space with lots of natural light but we are pack rats who like to leave things out (e.g. we don’t put things away), and we have many things in progress in parallel which need space………” Pack rats who like to leave things out are not minimalist minded with a focus on zen space. It’s OK to acknowledge being a pack rat and one who enjoys the interaction with objects and things in your living space. It shows you actually have a personality and are not a Rosa Tabula or blank slate. Too many hip young designers today identify with the minimalist movement (reflective fantasies from the 40s and 50s) and attempt to replicate what’s cool with their personal twist of creative thrown in. Read “thrown in” as it is intended. I do love this blog space. Thanks.