About

Office for Product Design is an international design studio formed in 2007 by Nicol Boyd and Tomas Rosén, who originally began their collaboration while studying at the Royal College of Art in London. With a focus on creating carefully considered products and their associated experiences, the office works in close collaboration with a diverse client list ranging from hardware start-ups to multinational brands. The scope of these projects spans a wide range of product sectors, including home ware, consumer electronics, furniture and lighting.

Office for Product Design’s practice falls broadly into two categories: studio and consultancy projects. Studio projects are characterised by their exploratory nature and often start with a relatively open client brief, but are sometimes also conceived as self-initiated research projects. The resulting work is frequently based around simple observations or insights, which are distilled into a form that represents the very essence of the idea.

Consultancy projects sees the studio acting as a catalyst for the client, providing design input and insights to stimulate and support their internal design activities. In recent years the office has also been working extensively with technology start-ups, many of whom have launched successful crowdfunding campaigns. This new approach has expanded the office’s traditional design remit to offer holistic ‘design for start-up’ services, which consider the wider aspects of product branding, communication and photography, in addition to our typical industrial design focus.

While these approaches may seem different in nature, all of the office’s work is rooted in the same rational approach, and is often characterised by a search for simplicity, a preference for clear forms and contextual relevance. The objective and guiding principle is for the quality of the resulting work to speak for itself and always take precedence over transient trends and pervasive designer-marketing.

Office for Product Design’s work has been widely publicised and repeatedly recognised with leading international design awards, including iF Gold Award, Good Design Award (G-Mark), Red Dot, German Design Award, Design Plus and Design for Asia Award.

The office is based in Hong Kong, with a presence in Stockholm and Taipei. It employs a small team of designers across these locations, including long-term collaborators Shing Lo, Thomas To and Joletta Pang. In addition, the studio regularly partner with external specialists from other disciplines, drawn from an extensive network depending on the nature and requirements of specific projects.