What do you get when you mix childlike wonder, a masters degree in engineering from MIT, and an eye for design?
Meet Jessica Banks, CEO and founder of RockPaperRobot, an engineering and design firm out of Brooklyn that is weaving fun into furniture. Her focus is on kinetic furniture, pieces that move and react to their environment, which create a more fluid and inventive sense of space. You need look no further than the Float and Ollie lines to fall in love.
Banks says much of her inspiration starts with physics principals, hoping to capture that moment of eureka we all had once in the high school classroom. With every new design she asks, "How can we have that moment of wow in a product?"
"It was like learning to use my hands again. I realized everything in my life has been made, hands have touched these things."[/pullquote]
And we have to admit, we're wowed. Just watch the Float table wiggle and bend like the best looking jello mold you've ever seen. The secret is in the "magnetic" blocks that repel one another, but are kept equidistant with tensile steel cables. Imagine your friends' surprise as they put their feet up on your sure-to-surprise coffee table.
"I always liked design," Banks told BostInno, noting that MIT is really where she discovered her passion for building. "It was like learning to use my hands again. I realized everything in my life has been made, hands have touched these things."This new, physical awakening has driven Banks to create products that promise quality and ingenuity. She says she wants her customers to keep their products for life and to actually enjoy them. Unlike a typical couch that you may sit on hundreds of times without really noticing, Banks's furniture announces its presence with every use and keeps you marveling use after use.
This ongoing conversation between object and owner often leads people to reach out to Banks directly. She said, "So often I get emails like, 'I saw your stuff and it made me think about this.'" By breaking down the largely artificial boundary between producer and consumer in the design world, her approach leads to smarter, more tailor-made products.
"Imagine your desk and your chair could help you," she says, adding that quantified self-data may be the future of furniture. She imagines a chair that can register how your sitting in it and then will send this data to a designer so that they can make a seat more custom-fitted to your needs.
The newest product to come out of RockPaperRobot is the Ollie table and chair sets, which disappear before your very eyes (video below). The table folds seamlessly onto the wall, moving from table to art piece in a matter of seconds. The surface is also customizable, making a perfect statement piece in any home or office. The line is likely to come to the market in October, and holds a certain appeal to city-dwellers pressed for space.
Banks says that there are also more cool projects in the works including an LED embedded, 3D printed chandelier and a clock that puts a modern twist on the hour glass. But with every new product, Banks looks backward to the kid she was when science first struck her fancy. She is constantly reminded of the freedom of youth and that having little idea what tomorrow will bring is exciting rather than frightening.
"There's something special about the notion of not having to know when you're little," she says, her voice lilting with the promise of imagination. And I think we can all anticipate whatever comes next from the wonderfully cool design firm in the same way, not knowing what's next but giddily excited all the same.
RockPaperRobot Ollie Collection Debut @ ICFF 2015: Testimonials from RockPaperRobot on Vimeo.
Images furnished by RockPaperRobot