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Friday Five with Evan Clabots of Nonlinear Studio

Evan Clabots, who studied at RISD and the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Finland, not only won awards as a student, but designed a licensed a product with IKEA before graduating. In 2004, he joined Dror Benshetrit’s studio as Benshetrit’s first hire, where he headed both the Product Design and Interior Design departments. In 2010, Clabots founded Nonlinear Studio, a multidisciplinary business that offers aproduct design, furniture design, interior design, brand identity, and art direction. For Clabots, design is a process of developing a complete story. He seeks the interconnected play between what something looks like, how it works, and how it interacts with someone’s life. Let’s see what he chooses for inspiration for this week’s Friday Five.

1. Hotel Basicó
This hotel in Playa del Carmen, Mexico is beautifully constructed of repurposed materials. The swimming pools are made from sections of old petroleum tank.

2. Issey Miyake Twelve by Nato Fukasawa
This watch is so subtle and simple. The slightest tweak makes minimal functional.

3. Wrench Monkees’ #11 Gorilla Punch
The #11 is a modified Honda CB750, stripped down and redesigned with a nuanced feel for propotion and finish. It inspired me to redesign my own CB350F.

4. Persol PO714
I’m a sucker for the classic style and genius mechanism.

5. May Day Lamp by Konstantin Grcic for Flos
Stripped down to functional beauty, this lamp made me want to be a designer (and move to Europe).

Marni Elyse Katz is a Contributing Editor at Design Milk. She lives in Boston where she contributes regularly to local publications and writes her own interior design blog, StyleCarrot.