Texture is central to the appeal of leather, more so than any other material. And leather’s appeal to the senses – feel, smell, look – inspires GreenRoom’s designs. The brand continues to push the boundaries of design and challenge conventional wisdom.
In its small studio in Taipei, GreenRoom has grown and prospered for ten years, just like the tree growing by the window. Full of energy, its dreams and aspirations are written on leather!
Back in 2011, Taiwanese industrial designers Hao Ming Yang(Ethan Yang) and Hsiao Yung Ming (Nagaaki Shaw) were tired of their usual work. They founded GreenRoom, aiming to put some fun back into their lives.
“We started with the idea ‘backstage’,” says Yang. “For tours, designers group people with different capabilities behind the scenes, and come up with an outstanding performance for clients. One day, we notice that opera houses in the UK used to paint their backstages green to relax performers. As they often called the backstage the ‘GreenRoom’, we chose it for our brand.”
Design definitely happens behind the scenes. It’s also the ultimate challenge for them, to differentiate among all leather brands in the market. “We are worried about being generic with standardized processes, so we never go to conventional courses,” says Yang.
“Instead, we learn by ourselves and utilize personal design backgrounds to develop production methods and ideas. Therefore, our products look and feel different from traditional leather goods.”
At the beginning, they intentionally avoided other leather brands in the market, so they would not be influenced or “humiliated by comparison”, Yang laughs.
GreenRoom’s works have now established themselves in the market. With Italian vegetable tanned leather, hand stitching, and three-dimensional design styles, it has developed a solid customer base. Its crowdfunding project, WALDEN, at the end of 2020 was very successful, and demonstrated their capabilities after a decade of experience. “We have actually studied for this product for two years. We reviewed details, collected feedback, and tested iteratively. This product is an epitome of our experimental attitude and objective over the past ten years. I hope this lightweight bag will create some changes in life.
“Besides being physically lighter, it is also about a sleek and simple attitude in life.” As to maintenance requirements, “using every day is the best care for quality leather products”.
As WALDEN aims to be “lite way, design for everyday”, GreenRoom will continue to deliver sophisticated handworks and unconventional design in fascinating leather goods for daily use. After all, leather should be about liberation, not burden.
By Ian Liu/ Damanwoo
Nothing evokes luxury like the scent of leather. From the fragrance of the hide upholstery in a Bentley to the enveloping aroma of a Chesterfield settee, leather’s smell, as much as its look and feel, is essential to its enduring appeal.
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First round winners of the 2021 China Student Design Competition have been selected.
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