ddp design fair

Nice Workshop is a design studio that explores properties of materials and tries to come up with ideas so that they can be transformed and expanded into various pieces of furniture. Lowlit Collective is a repurposing studio that reuses non-recyclable leftover plastic to produce furniture and décor items.

The two companies started their collaboration for the 2021 DDP Design Fair to create a piece of furniture called <REST IN PIECES CHAIR (hereafter RIP)>, which is made of fully threaded bolts and plastics most commonly thrown away as construction waste and household waste. Niceworkshop and Lowlit Collective put together the byproducts that are produced and thrown away throughout our lives from the cradle to the grave to create one of the most commonly used everyday furniture — a chair —  which captures the experience of returning the pieces of waste back to our lives.

In the case of non-recyclable leftover plastic, the color varies depending on the material or its supply. Since the randomness of colors is one of its most appealing qualities, it was a little difficult to select colors at first. However, Niceworkshop and Lowlit Collective were able to reach a consensus on the patterns by constantly talking to each other.

“We specialize both in design and production. Niceworkshop not only focuses on design but also has experience in a wide range of areas including production so we wanted to collaborate with Niceworkshop,” Lowlit Collective CEO Jaesik Choi explained the reason for collaborating with Nice Workshop. He said that the way they worked together was effortless. They understood each other very well even when they first met and talked with each other due to their similarities in style.

In fact, the chair created by the collaboration has a meaning that goes beyond the area of design. CEO Jaesik Choi worked with the local community to collect non-recyclable leftover plastic and emphasized that design is an area that also embraces social values. He also outlined his ambitions. His primary goal is to build an ecosystem for non-recyclable leftover plastic. The parts used in RIP played a huge role. His secondary goal is to create blocks in modular units with non-recyclable leftover plastic.