Studio Gorm, a husband-and-wife creative team based in Eugene, Oregon, elevates the mundane with their quietly elegant designs.
Wonhee Jeong Arndt and John Arndt, founders of Studio Gorm, met in 2004 at the Design Academy Eindhoven. John grew up in Wisconsin. Wonhee is from South Korea. For three years they were outsiders studying and living in Holland, which “made for a very stimulating design environment,” John says. “We always discussed everyday objects, from traffic lights to kitchen utensils to electrical outlets and plugs. We were aware of everything around us, rather than taking things for granted.”
Those early experiences inform the work they produce even today. “We’re still always looking at simple objects and figuring out how we can reinterpret them,” John says. “We’re always rethinking traditional typologies or archetypal forms.”
Since 2008, they’ve both worked as professors in the product design department at the University of Oregon in Eugene, a sweet gig by any measure. Because the university is a research institution, “you’re required to spend 40 percent of your time working to benefit your field,” Wonhee explains. For Studio Gorm, that means developing new products in its on-campus studio and taking advantage of the university’s myriad resources—CNC routers, laser cutters, ceramics studios, and more—to build and test prototypes.
Even with the wealth of cutting-edge technologies at their disposal, their most important laboratory is their own home. Before a piece goes into production, the couple lives with it for a long time, testing and refining it until it’s pared down to its essence. As a result, Studio Gorm designs are never flashy or glamorous; rather, they are quietly confident, intuitive to use, and extremely well made and well thought-out. They’re timeless pieces you’ll want to live with for a long time.
“We don’t wait around for someone to give us a brief. We are self-driven and interested in making work all the time. Our own curiosity and desire to make stuff pushes us.” —John Arndt
Studio Gorm first developed its Peg series in 2009 and continues to refine and expand the line. The idea came from a dinner party the couple threw when they first moved to Eugene. They took a door off its hinges to create a large table, and their creative gears promptly started turning. “In Korea, they have traditional wall-hung tables, and you sit on the floor for eating,” Wonhee says. “We thought it would be nice to take something off the wall when you needed a table, something that could be low, or a traditional sitting height.”
The modular system includes a Shaker-inspired peg rail and individual components including tabletops, bench seats, legs of varying heights, and accessories including a bookshelf and a lamp.
Both John and Wonhee have art backgrounds and like to work with their hands to shape new designs. They frequently build physical prototypes and sketch together as a way to generate ideas. “Sometimes we make small paper models as a quick way to explore form and proportion, or to figure out if a chair is stackable,” says Wonhee. “We make our students make them, too. They usually say, ‘Oh, cute!’”
“When we go out to dinner or lunch, we always bring a sketchbook and pass it back and forth or draw on either end of it. A lot of our best ideas happen in restaurants when we’re waiting for food. It’s the most productive time for us. We don’t mind slow service.” —Wonhee Jeong Arndt
