ae office presents warm regards at alcova
Berlin-based design studio Ae Office presents Warm Regards, an exhibition bringing together works inspired by the different locality of Jeju Island and Berlin at Alcova during Milan Design Week 2024. Held in a maid’s room in the historic Villa Bagatti Valsecchi just outside of Milan, the exhibition featured the debut of HAUS, a modular storage unit inspired by traditional wooden furniture juxtaposed with psychedelic imagery of Berlin. Versatile and adaptable, it can be configured in endless ways, transforming from a wall shelf to a container, basket, table, and more.
all images courtesy of Ae Office
haus: a modular storage unit inspired by diverse localities
HAUS, drawing on the beautiful chaos of Berlin, is inspired by the combination of German wooden furniture and disorganized surfaces that can be easily found in the city. As such its modules are neither right-angled nor square. Composed of U- and I-shapes and made in two sizes, they are made by bending flexible plywood, a building material often used to create curved structures thanks to its lightweight and flexible properties.
Ae Office conceived the two modules to be assembled with each other’s wooden dowels, and when combined, the layered images of natural wood intertwine to form an unexpected visual relationship. Their surfaces are veneered with different types of natural wood such as oak, mahogany, sycamore, and birch, and cut into organic patterns.
Ae Office, a design studio dedicated to furniture, products, space, and creative direction, led by Hee Choi and Myungnyun Kim, is based on a nomadic journey that took them from Seoul to the volcanic island of Jeju and now to Berlin. Aiming to deliberately immerse themselves in unfamiliar environments to explore the unique context and materials of each place, they believe that the naturalness of objects comes from a reflection of the context, expression, and native materials of the region.
