I was a teenage in the 2000 room

Work in progress

A couple of weeks back Quicksilver had their 40th anniversary party at the Grand Palais in Paris; as part of the event there was an exhibit called “I was a teenage in the…” put together by Fandango Projects. I know the design studio in charge of the room of the 2000 and since they are in the Wallpaper December issue it is a great opportunity to feature them. Juan Pablo Naranjo and Jean-Christophe Orthlieb of Nooc tells us about their design studio, the Quicksilver project, and their projects for 2010. Laura Minquini

About NOCC
NOCC is a Paris-based design studio formed by Juan Pablo Naranjo and Jean-Christophe Orthlieb in September 2008. NOCC held its first show at the Greenhouse during the Stockholm furniture fair in 2008. Naranjo’s Help Me Darwin project was part of the exhibition European Talent 2008 at Designhuis in Eindhoven, and was recently awarded the “Observeur du design 10″ honor in France.
Both NOCC members have studied science, and each project evolves following a scientific method. We observe facts, the environment in which the objects are. One of the subjects that is recurrent in our research in design is the concept of evolution. We try to imagine how an object would evolve in a particular environment. If we state that the objects are to humans what species are to Nature, we can extrapolate a few concepts that may help us to understand and create these new objects.
That is why we try not to take an object for granted; every aspect of it has to be justified, from the concept to the use, the aesthetics, the materials etc. We believe that this method grants the objects we create different layers of understanding by playing with archetypal codes in a poetic yet useful way.

QUICKSILVER PROJECT
It all started when we were invited by Fandango Productions to participate in the “I was a teenager in..” installation for the 40th anniversary of Quicksilver event at the grand Palais. The idea behind the installation was to create (or recreate) the room of a teenager within every decade since Quicksilver started. So there was a room for the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s. NOCC was commissioned to do the 2000’s.
To conceive this room we decided to take the essence of what is shaping this decade: the presence of technology in everyday life and a consciousness towards the environment all set in a very urban atmosphere.
We wanted to play with the contrast between high tech and basic materials. So we created a room all made of cardboard. From the walls, to the furniture and the lamps. We had digital picture frames encrusted to the walls as well as a flat TV screen that showed images of the Quicksilver history through out the 2000’s decade. We also had a closet and a chest with all the latest and most technologically advanced equipment of the brand. All the products were lit with LED and fluorescent lighting, which gave a very cold feeling that contrasted with the warmth of the cardboard.
The main feature of the room was a wall with a 3D mosaic representing the Quicksilver logo made of 10×10cm cardboard tiles. We called it the “Pixelwall”. We used more than 2000 tiles to make it, each placed by hand, one by one. This piece embodied the whole feeling of the room: Low High Tech.

UPCOMING PROJECTS
NOCC was chosen as on of the 6 “Talents à la Carte” for the January 2010 edition of the Paris furniture fair Maison & Objet. We were given a showcase to present our work. So we took this opportunity to keep on exploring the theme of the evolution of objects. We are presenting two pieces of furniture from a new collection called “Radiation”. It’s a set of stereotypical furniture pieces where we play with mutations and adaptations that lead to new features and uses. We will also present more recent work like the Objects of Sound collection.

See Nooc’s work HERE