Developing a new ecosystem for multi-disciplinary design? Will this need high-end design hub earmark space for sustainable design?
If you think Ikea has got the top modern décor, you should check out some of Dror Benshetrit’s designs for products, interiors, architecture, art installations. The studio named after the innovator will be relocated to SoHo this month, spreading out in a 13,000-square-foot top-floor space intuitively named “WeCross.”
“We love to think at the intersection where art, design, and architecture meet,” they say. And what a crossroads it will be: The Studio Dror team is intimate, with only about 10 people, but WeCross will bring 200 friends, clients, collaborators, and even competitors together to work side by side, under one roof. Benshetrit has designed the studio himself.
Places in the office will yield somewhat of a VIP status, as individuals, despite their being “hand-picked,” must “pay for the privilege” of joining this exclusive club.
“When you have a lot people nearby who can help you with lots of different things at once, that’s not exactly a disadvantage,” Benshetrit says.
The notion of interdisciplinary professionals sharing the workspace designated for a single company is revolutionary. Although it might strike us at first as random and inefficient, it will actually act as a breeding ground for new ideas and creativity – and serendipity. Coworkers will inevitably become collaborators.
Benshetrit, Israeli-born but now fully engaged in the Big Apple, will be the god of this diverse mini-world, this professional “salad bowl” community. The next time he needs to spearhead a new project for Target household items or Tumi luggage, he can get a variety of opinions and approaches without going too far.
Management is calling WeCross an “ecosystem.” The almost all-white interior will aid Benshetrit’s wish for “a very clean, very simple environment that promotes…casual interactions between people.”
Benshetrit’s openmindedness and right-brained freedom will serve him well in this new environment. “I start with a vague idea or a concept and see where it goes. Sometimes a design idea can start as a light and evolve into a chair. It depends on how the thought process progresses, so I never try to force an idea or give myself limits.”
So the idea is to reach for the stars – but it’s perfectly fine if something changes along the way and the objective becomes to shoot for the moon instead.
:: Co.DESIGN
Author: Kelly Vaghenas
A recent graduate of Montclair State University, where she double majored in Dance and Anthropology and minored in Arabic, Kelly loves exploring cultural and performing arts, learning foreign languages, cooking healthy food, and frequenting her favorite ethnic restaurants. Her wanderlust keeps her intent on traveling the world, and starting in the summer of 2011 during her trip to Lebanon, CouchSurfing became her way of finding free accommodation and new friends. She is obsessed with Pinkberry frozen yogurt and, after recently discovering that the majority of the chain's international locations are in the Middle East, is determined to place an order at every counter in the region during her lifetime...
