UJ art gallery hosts Studio 4332 collection

Profile vase

The launch, which coincided with Dion Chang's 2010 Flux Trend Review and the Digital Lab launch, gave practical life to the ideas and concepts presented at both workshops through its Muse Missions.

These identify lifestyle trends into which marketers and brand owners should be tapping in order to engage more deeply with consumers and then create products centred on a particular trend to demonstrate to clients the extremely practical ways in which creativity can be commoditised to meet a communication need.

Personalisation

'Placelet'

The current theme is personalisation, a global trend triggered by the ease with which technology enables people to individualise their possessions and lifestyles.

The studio's designer Ludwig Breedt has come up with the idea of a 'placelet' - a wooden bracelet on which is engraved the features of a road map related to an address to which the wearer has an emotional attachment. The house or apartment is marked by a small hole drilled into the wood. Breedt says wood ensures that the placelets have a natural feel and the roads on the map form interesting patterns, partly because the zoom-in is so tight and partly because the engraving process creates intriguing negative and positive spaces in the wood.

"It's not immediately obvious that you're looking at a map and because the address is personal to you, it enables you to carry a precious memory with you in a way that actually embellishes your personal appearance."

Hoarding old clothes?

Another of the collection pieces is a designer belt made from clothes that you can't wear anymore but just can't bear to throw away. The 'relive belt' is the brainchild of its copywriter, Nkaela Mocumi, who admits to being sentimental and therefore a hoarder of clothes in which she felt most comfortable or that held good memories.

"Turning them into a designer belt means being able to keep the associated good feelings, literally, around you - while being distinctive and expressing your personality," she explains.

Replicating your uniqueness

Skin wallet

A 'profile vase', designed by Monique Bissell, puts into an extremely tactile form the profile of the owner's face. "No-one, even an identical twin, has exactly the same facial features as you do. Therefore, a vase cut in the shape of your profile is an extremely personal item. Also, a profile is such a simple line and yet it captures so much essence. It's 'design' at its natural best."

Another item is a human skin wallet. It's made of synthetic leather on to which is printed an extreme close-up of a section of the owner's skin. Designer Jaré Emile Dippenaar says that he always focuses on creating something "that will be good or do good for someone" - hence synthetic leather.

When it comes to personalisation, "nothing can be more personal than one's own skin," Dippenaar says. "It's unique because it both protects and decorates and the more features, such as moles, freckles or wrinkles it has, the more fascinating it is in terms of texture and design."

Lighting up identity

ID lamp

The final item in the collection is an ‘ID lamp', which is a desktop lamp that has holes corresponding to the owner's ID number drilled into the lampshade. Each lamp therefore has a unique pattern and sheds its own particular light.

The studio is a progressive boutique of creative thinkers able to both think and execute across all disciplines and all mediums. Brands already influenced by the team in this way include Cell C, Redgwoods, EuropAssistance, Europcar, Hollard, Hospitality Portfolio Fund and The Economist.

Go to www.store4332.com for more information.