design42day

It’s LIQUID International Contest – First Edition 2012: Miriam Aust & Sebastian Amelung

Miriam Aust and Sebastian Amelung, the designers of aust&amelung design studio, are the product design winners of It’s LIQUID International Contest – First Edition 2012 with their artwork “Like paper”.

aust&amelung creates and develops furniture, interior and exhibition architecture in Kassel. In their free work they are interested in the way we interact with objects in our daily life and the changes that happen through new developments in society. The human desire for individuality is a topic in their work that reappears in various ways. The individual product produced in a series is a reflection on this idea. This results in using existing objects, forcing the user to take an active role, or manipulating the production process.

Miriam Aust, studied product design with a focus on furniture and exhibition architecture at the School of Art and Design, Kassel (Germany). For her diploma she researched the combination of living and plant culture. The result was the product “Vase & Leuchte” which won the grand price of the international furniture design fair “Interieur 2010” in Kortrijk (Belgium).

Sebastian Amelung, studied together with Miriam Aust at the School of Art and Design, Kassel where he focused also on furniture design and exhibition architecture. His development process is based on construction and research. As a starting point for many of his projects it is important for him not only to get to know the properties of a certain material, but also to question its conventional use. The first product that he created through this method was the light “Biegbar”. The resulting design is a completely deformable and customizable chandelier.

Since fall 2011 Miriam Aust and Sebastian Amelung share a studio in Kassel where they design and develop products together, therefore complement each other in their work. In their current project “Like paper” they take an active role in the production process making every object unique while maintaining the character of a series. What seems to be folded paper, is made out of slewed concrete.

The lamp series ‘Like paper‘ results and exists through distortion. While some lamps shine downwards by dangling from the ceiling, others lay exhausted on the table, the cabinet or the floor and gleam diffused in strange directions. Again others remain as table lamps without referring to any constructive support. The design not only fools our viewing habits by imitating other material properties, but also with our common sense of dealing with light and room. “Like paper” is not only placed in a room to illuminate it, but to stage it.