Based in San Francisco and Seoul, the work of multidisciplinary design duo SF-SO is centred around applying new technologies to everyday objects.
Founded by Hoyoung Joo and Jaehoon Jung, the studio—whose name is composed from acronyms of the two cities—focuses on reducing their products to their most essential functions, instead of adding endless, high-tech components to devices, as is common practice in the industry. The ‘Tamed digital devices’ aim to counteract this tendency, with products including ‘Ball internet radio’, a gray rectangular analog radio with three orange magnetic balls that can slide to change the radio’s frequencies; and the ‘Wheel digital radio’, a circular-shaped radio with a lime green needle that changes the channel in the manner of traditional analog radios, but with a modern look.
"The goal of this project is to make our lives more relaxed and enjoyable"
“Ironically, new technologies have been developed for convenience, but they also confuse people with lots of things,” explains the studio. “For example, people always need to learn the latest features and functions built into products, and spend too much time doing so. Also, advanced technologies like touch screens also make us unable to have multi-sensory experiences, such as the sense of touch and sound that we could feel when using analog devices. The goal of this project is to make our lives more relaxed and enjoyable by taming our technologies.”
In addition to these products is the ‘H Beam’ lamp series, inspired by the shape of an H-beam—a strong construction material typically used in building sky-scrapers. The H1, H2, and H3 Lamps each feature the beam as the base section of the lighting fixture; for aesthetic reasons, and to help the user stably adjust the angle and height of the light source.
All images © SF-SO
