How did your career in design begin?
I had a very different career working as a software engineer in San Francisco but I was getting very disillusioned and burnt out because everything felt very abstracted and intangible. I craved a bit of physicality in my work. I had always been interested in design and had been working on small products ever since I had been in college. In particular I was really fascinated with tools like 3d printers and laser cutters - tools that could take something defined on a computer and translate it into physical space. At the time, there was a business called the Tech Shop in SF (RIP), a maker space that had all sorts of tools and machinery that you were able to use as part of a subscription - kind of like a gym for making stuff. Working there, I was able to learn a lot about the tools that I use today. At a certain point, I realized that I really wanted to be working on physical products, even if it would mean that I didn’t have the financial security of a tech job, so eventually I applied to grad school and eventually made my way to Brooklyn. During the pandemic, I posted the Wavy Lamp on Instagram while finishing my grad thesis. Surprisingly, it took off and kickstarted the business and my career.
Tell us about your lighting company, Wooj Design! How important is sustainability to the brand?
Wooj began as somewhat of an accident, when I posted the Wavy Lamp on Instagram while I was still in school. The company was founded on the belief that great products can be made in the US at low cost, without exploitative labor practices and using methods as harm-reducing as we can manage. In our case, that's achieved with a combination of robotics and craft manufacturing techniques. Sustainability is very important to us, and we don't do it perfectly. All of our products are made using recycled plastic filament (no first-use plastic), and packed for shipping using only paper materials. Since 3D printing is an additive form of manufacturing, this means that instead of subtracting materials as we build (e.g. building a chair out of wood, cutting the wood, putting it together, having leftover pieces) or using an injection mold, we precisely deposit the filament we print with into exactly the object we want. However, we still end up with failed prints, prototypes, and ends of filament spools, and until recently this was waste. We're now in a bigger space and have started experimenting with melting this waste and turning it into new lighting products, which is something we've wanted to do since the company's inception and a huge step in our circular design/sustainability efforts.
What’s your favorite part about the New York creative community?
The thing that I love about New York is that there’s a sense of collaboration and competition that happens at the same time. Everyone’s trying to be the best, but even with that in mind, most people are really willing to share and collaborate in some form. This is a really cool dichotomy because it always encourages you to push yourself a little harder - you keep seeing increasingly cooler/more sophisticated/more compelling work from people you know and you’re simultaneously impressed and proud of them, but also a tiny bit jealous that you didn’t think of something yourself. Everyone’s just working really hard on their work and I love that. I feel really proud to be a part of it.
We love the new collaborative lamps Wooj is releasing! How do you find the designers you're working with to bring new ideas in?
Thank you so much! It depends – in the case of Christopher Merchant and Analuisa Corrigan, both reached out to us wanting to make their handmade, one-of-a-kind pieces more price accessible and available to people. We found Mina Wright on Instagram and loved her work, so we reached out to her about bringing the Ruff Lamp into our collection.
Are there any new exciting lamp designs on the horizon?
Definitely. We've got a few more collaborations in the works, and are releasing more colors of our new Brut Lamp on 9/24. We're particularly excited about what we're calling our Puddle Sconces, a favorite version of the melted/upcycled prototypes we've been experimenting with, which will come in the New Year.
Follow along:
@wooj.design
@seanwooj
www.wooj.design