Studiomama turns scrap wood into charming animals

Studiomama presents The Off-cuts, an interior design book chronicling the design studio’s collection of animals made in its workshop using scraps of wood. The collection of wooden animals results from the studio’s ‘Pallet Project’, a 2009 initiative that saw founders  Nina Tolstrup and Jack Mama create furniture using discarded wooden pallets found on London streets. The leftovers gave life to the ‘Offcuts’, assemblages from wood scraps, nailed and screwed together into zoomorphic guise – some obvious in their forms, some leaving the viewer to guess.

Studiomama's Offcuts: from waste to charming animals

‘[Studiomama’s practice is] never guided by preconceived aesthetic ends but by a compelling sense of curiosity,’ comments curator Libby Seller in the book’s foreword. ‘Play and wonder are vital parts of their ongoing process of discovery and experimentation.’

The studio’s playful and humorous personality emerges through the pages of the book, showcasing a succession of bunnies, owls, elephants and more creatures that could be birds, or could be dogs. ‘We normally start by taking the workshop bin and tipping all of the offcuts onto the table,’ says Tolstrup, who founded the studio with Mama in 2000, in an interview with Max Fraser within the book. ‘We have a mountain of bits in front of us and we’ll freely play around with what we find, usually finding a head or a body that would inform the rest of the pieces.’

The project is an exercise in working with the expressive opportunities of wood: a knot becomes a bunny’s belly button, two emerging branches the eye of a mysterious long-torsoed creature. ‘We respond well to materials that are lying around: we are scavengers in that way!’ adds Mama.

The pair have always championed a sustainable approach to design, and the ‘Offcuts’ project is a testament to this direction. ‘These creatures are a small part of a bigger conversation around finding value in everything, including what we deem waste, and maybe a lot of creative minds can help with that,’ says Tolstrup. ‘The agenda has changed and taking care to repair and repurpose has become really cool.

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