Ajao Shen is the founder of SoSo studio and the Creative Director of PIY. He is a cross-border artist, former Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather and a visiting lecturer of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. His works have been awarded six Red Dot Awards in four consecutive years.
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Soso studio was established in 2012 as an incubator for arts and crafts brands. It is a platform for creating international brands with Chinese humanistic qualities through discovering and innovating the traditional handicraft. It adapts the mode of BDH (brand+design+handmade), covering the overall creative process of the design, production, communication and marketing.
At present, SoSo studio has three original brands: PIY, CU and Liang. There are involved in woodworking, copper work, bamboo, rattan art, pottery, paper arts and other traditional arts and crafts.
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PIY is an innovative and inspiring unique flat-packed furniture brand.
From the passive ‘Do it yourself’ to the active ‘Play it yourself’, PIY believes that when the moment furniture becomes 'toyniture', the meaning of home starts to shine.
Retrieving the traditional handicraft techniques and embracing the natural material, PIY brings the hidden beauty to life.
“We are committed to minimising the environmental impact by creating sustainable, smart and timeless pieces. Producing high-quality design works that anyone can afford is our dream.”
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NUDE
Red Dot Design Award 2014 Germany - Best of Best
Nude is a flat-packed coat rack with very basic assembly requirements. The design is inspired by conventional coat hangers in ancient villages of China. The unique handicraft combines the techniques of mortise and tenon joint, Burr puzzle and Huqin.
It is composed of six poles, which form three sets of mortise and tenon jointing structures.
There are 13 effective hanging points, maximising the function of the limited wood material. This coat rack is able to interlock without glue or metal fittings. It can be disassembled and assembled over and over again easily. The packaging is a simple round paper tube with 10cm in diameter.
BAMOON
BAMOON is a bamboo-weaving lamp with multiple layers that are inspired by water ripples.
Master Wang learned bamboo weaving from the famous bamboo weaving artist Yagisawa Kei in Japan. His great skill merges Japanese delicate sense and Chinese practicality.
The biggest BAMOON light with integrated lampshade is made of 72 bamboo strips. Each strip is about 7-meter long. The layering creates a distinct three-dimensional shape for the lampshade.
When BAMOON is turned on, the light penetrates through the lampshade, as if it is the beautiful moonlight, so the piece is named as “BAMOON”.
GUOZI Chair
This chair has extra strong bounce. The design inspiration is from the childhood snack - ‘GUOZI’, so it is named as ‘GUOZI chair’. GUOZI chair is made by carbon steel in thickness of only 2mm. However, it can bear at least 500kg in countless times, and rebound to original shape.
Following the structure of bamboo weaving, the carbon steel is processed by cutting, weaving, spinning and welding. The seat, back and arm of the chair become one-piece that meets the ergonomics with streamlined design.
BAMAGIC
BANBOO+MAGIC=BAMAGIC. BAMAGIC is an interactive bamboo lamp with changeable shapes. As bamboo weaving has become an extinct craftsmanship in China and the interactive characteristic of the bamboo material has never been fully explored, our team decided to work with a bamboo master to redesign bamboo lamp and make it interactive. Our design is hoping to start a conversation between users and the traditional craftsmanship, as a way to carry over this tradition to new generations. Besides, its flat packaging has saved more than 50% of the transportation costs compared to the traditional bamboo lamps.
BAO
Flat packaging, which only takes up 1/15 space of a conventional wardrobe to save shipping cost. Pine solid wood tenon, zero-paint, zero-metal joints, eco-friendly.
It takes only 30 minutes for 2 people to finish assembling by hand without tools. It is a fun process.
Replaceable waterproof lycra elastic fabric cover, innovative “X” Shape four-end zips. Soft on the outside yet solid inside. It is a ‘sexy’ design.
Minimalist design, paying homage to Lucio Fontana.
A Special Tea Set
Who knows those natural and simple tea ware, incense holders, vases are made of palm leaves, which are often seen as rubbish.
“I have many Palm trees in my yard, and the leaves were taken to the garbage dump by cleaners when they fall down from the trees. I found the leaves to be a very interesting and useful material by chance, and start to research and experiment with them. After numerous tests we designed the products according to the leaves’ thickness, shape and textures.”
Image: Soso Studio