{"id":1487,"date":"2025-05-15T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bimbingan-belajar.com\/?p=1487"},"modified":"2025-06-10T10:43:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T10:43:22","slug":"simplehumans-first-artist-collaboration-rethinks-the-role-of-everyday-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bimbingan-belajar.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/15\/simplehumans-first-artist-collaboration-rethinks-the-role-of-everyday-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Simplehuman\u2019s First Artist Collaboration Rethinks the Role of Everyday Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

Simplehuman<\/a>, a brand best known for its minimal, high-function home products, has taken a creative detour. In its first-ever Artist Edition collaboration, the company has teamed up with Brooklyn-based muralist Katie Merz<\/a> to reinterpret five of its most recognizable items through a bold, hand-drawn lens.<\/p>\n

Merz, who is renowned for large-scale murals that feel part-glyph, part-storyboard, brings a playful weight to the collection. Her signature black-and-white linework, referencing architecture, urban signage, and spontaneous mark-making, wraps around Simplehuman staples like their sensor bins and soap dispensers. The limited capsule collection transforms these utilitarian tools into conversation pieces; objects that don\u2019t just blend in, but ask to be noticed.<\/p>\n

Per Simplehuman\u2019s website, the collection blends \u201cThe best of both coasts \u2014 California design meets the art of New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Collaborating with an artist like [Katie] Merz, whose work is rich with symbols and visual storytelling, marks a subtle but significant expansion of the brand\u2019s design language.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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What\u2019s compelling here isn\u2019t just the aesthetic shift, but the philosophical one. Simplehuman has long championed precision engineering and a restrained modernism. Collaborating with an artist like Merz, whose work is rich with symbols and visual storytelling, marks a subtle but significant expansion of the brand\u2019s design language. In a space where \u201cform follows function\u201d has often meant stripping away visual complexity, this collection poses a new question: why not both?<\/p>\n

Over the past decade, more brands have invited artists into their product development processes \u2014 not merely as surface decorators, but as collaborators who reframe how we relate to the objects around us. While many of these partnerships lean into the hype economy of luxury drops or limited runs, the Simplehuman x Katie Merz collection feels more exploratory than commercial.<\/p>\n

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Merz didn\u2019t merely decorate the products; she responded to them. Her linework doesn\u2019t mask their function, it interacts with it, draws attention to it, and adds a personal layer of meaning. “Partnering with Simplehuman allowed me to bring my visual language into a new, everyday context,” says Merz. “Each product became a starting point, with its shape, purpose, and movement guiding the drawings. These designs are kinetic blueprints, turning functional objects into storytelling surfaces.”<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an immediacy to her drawings, as if they were sketched directly onto the surfaces in a burst of intuitive energy. That looseness stands in welcome contrast to Simplehuman\u2019s otherwise tightly controlled, systems-driven design aesthetic. <\/p>\n

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Each product became a starting point, with its shape, purpose, and movement guiding the drawings. These designs are kinetic blueprints, turning functional objects into storytelling surfaces.<\/p>\n

Katie Merz, artist<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This collaboration also reflects a larger trend in branding: artist partnerships as cultural strategy. In an era where authenticity and visual narrative matter more than ever, brands are increasingly turning to artists to humanize their products and engage audiences in new ways. From IKEA\u2019s collaborations with street artists to Gucci\u2019s work with contemporary illustrators, what once felt niche now signals relevance.<\/p>\n

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What makes this partnership stand out is how quietly it challenges assumptions, especially those about what design is “supposed” to look like in a domestic context. It\u2019s not about ornamentation for its own sake; it\u2019s about rethinking our relationship with the tools we use every day. A soap dispenser doesn\u2019t need to tell a story \u2014 but what happens when it does?<\/p>\n

That kind of thinking opens the door to new creative possibilities. And for a brand like Simplehuman, whose innovations have typically been hidden in sensors, hinges, and touchless features, it raises a bigger question: can design solve problems and still spark joy?<\/p>\n

Whether this collection resonates with longtime fans remains to be seen. But it offers a clear reminder: even the most functional objects can become a canvas.<\/p>\n

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For the branding world, it signals a quiet evolution; from products that disappear into the background to those that become part of our visual and emotional lives. And for Simplehuman, often dubbed the \u201cApple of home goods,\u201d it\u2019s a confident first step into the expressive, unpredictable terrain of art-meets-everyday.<\/p>\n

As Merz herself might say, every line tells a story. And in this new chapter, Simplehuman suggests that even the most routine rituals, taking out the trash, washing your hands, can be moments of subtle delight.<\/p>\n

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A soap dispenser doesn\u2019t need to tell a story \u2014 but what happens when it does?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The post Simplehuman\u2019s First Artist Collaboration Rethinks the Role of Everyday Design<\/a> appeared first on PRINT Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Simplehuman, a brand best known for its minimal, high-function home products, has taken a creative detour. In its first-ever Artist Edition collaboration, the company has teamed up with Brooklyn-based muralist Katie Merz to reinterpret five of its most recognizable items through a bold, hand-drawn lens. Merz, who is renowned for large-scale murals that feel part-glyph, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bimbingan-belajar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bimbingan-belajar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bimbingan-belajar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bimbingan-belajar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bimbingan-belajar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1487"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.bimbingan-belajar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1504,"href":"http:\/\/www.bimbingan-belajar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions\/1504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bimbingan-belajar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bimbingan-belajar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bimbingan-belajar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bimbingan-belajar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}