DESIGN TALK: ROOMSAFARI

Design Talk means taking some time to meet the face(s) behind a brand. Today, we would like you to get to know Christine Nogtev and Chul Cheong, the founders of roomsafari.

The duo have been designing together since 1996. After completing their studies in industrial design at the UdK Berlin, Nogtev and Cheong founded their own label in 2001. Roomsafari only uses materials from local suppliers in Germany, favouring small businesses. This cuts down on long delivery trips that are harmful to the environment, and allows local artisans to thrive.

Their furniture and accessories for living are meant to communicate a relaxed living and working feel. The objects are flexible and light, have a sense of humour but one of responsibility as well. Roomsafari pieces are economical and ecological, with a strict less-is-more focus of using the least material to create the most purposeful objects possible. All products are flexible and transport-friendly, with elegant and detachable connections.

Nogtev and Cheong hold that ecological furniture doesn’t have to mean that everything must be made from joyless recycled paper and jute, with all the fun taken out of it. But a respect for, and the protection of, the environment is crucial. Their motto, when it comes to the use of material, is “as little as possible, but as much as necessary.” Most of the time, less material can be used than you may assume, the duo says. The proper construction, and suitably chosen materials are much more important for stability and durability.

The products are delivered in the smallest packages possible, and are easy to assemble in minutes. The inherent simplicity of this approach makes for products that are durable and easier to fix, while being simple enough to be adaptable to changes and never boring.

Take a look at roomsafari’s objects on DECOVRY, where we feature several of their ingenious items: minimal clothing hangers, genius leaning wardrobe racks, expandable and customizable coat racks pared down to the essential, and quirky hangers and hooks.

Discover the roomsafari collection here