Hasta La Ideas

pimg alt=”wrongstore6b.jpg” src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/wrongstore6b.jpg” width=”468″ height=”328″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” /br /
emTobias Wong, right, celebrating outside The Wrong Store in 2007/em/p

pThe design world lost a dear friend early Sunday morning with the passing of D. Tobias Wong, whose wit and daring will be terribly missed, and whose design provocations provided a consistent touchpoint throughout much of the last decade./p

pI remember meeting Tobi more than a decade ago on the corner of Prince and Mercer in SoHo, an eager graduate from Cooper Union set up behind a stool adorned with a corrugated box on top, filled with his now famous vials of a href=”http://www.brokenoff.com/silver.html”silver leaf capsules/a amidst assorted other design gestures. We chatted for just a few minutes that afternoon, and I remember walking away with a particular delight, sure that we would be seeing a lot more of Tobi’s work in the years to come. /p

pFavorites were his Andy Warhol print wrapping caper at TROY for the holidays, where customers could have their purchase wrapped in an actual Andy Warhol screenprint for an additional $5000 (“…we got very close with one customer,” Tobi recounted when it was all done); The Wrong Store, when he never broke character when asked what the hours of the store were #151;I was behind on my coverage and needed to be sure the place would be open when I arrived (it emnever/em opened, of course); the Killer Diamond Ring; and his storied a href=” http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/events/core77_owns_up_to_the_great_tobias_wong_switch_74330.asp”stunt/a at Core77’s Offsite event, a href=” http://www.core77.com/offsite/”Design Wit and the Creative Act/a, moderated by Ze Frank. Here, Tobi elected to have a stand-in for himself on the panel and for the QA session#151;the skillful Rama Chorpash#151;with whom Tobi rehearsed tirelessly to prepare both the a href=” http://www.core77.com/blog/broadcasts/core77_broadcasts_tobias_wong_at_core77_offsite_nyc_8581.asp”presentation/a (as Tobi would have given it), as well as the panel discussion talking points. Tobi sat in the audience, inconspicuous, taking it all in with a smile on his face. Even some of the panelists didn’t get the decoy (Tobi’s face hasn’t been design-star plastered in the media), and one attendee drove down from Toronto to meet his idol (we arranged a secret#151;and genuine#151;get-together during the cocktail hour). /p

pWell, there are too many great pieces of work to mention, but we also like this remark from a short a href=”http://www.core77.com/reactor/tobi_wong.html”interview with Core77/a back in 2002: “Leaving room for meaning is a cheap cop-out#151;the best designers/artists have always been focused on what and how they want to be read. Leaving room for meaning is for those not so confident with their ideas.” Nice./p

pAric Chen has written a moving release, with a beautiful summation of Tobi’s career:/p

blockquoteThrough his work, Wong helped bring forth much of what is now taken for granted in contemporary culture. Influenced by Dada and, especially, Fluxus, he questioned authorship through appropriation; held a mirror to our desires and absurdities; upended the hierarchy between design and art, and the precious and the banal; and helped redefine collaboration and curation as creative practices. Working within what he termed a “paraconceptual” framework, Wong prompted a reevaluation of everything we thought we knew about design: its production, its psychological resonance, its aesthetic criteria, its means of distribution, its attachment to provenance, its contextualization and its manner of presentation. Wong was a keen observer, an original mind, a brilliant prankster, and an unerring friend./blockquote

pTobi Wong’s work was widely exhibited, including at MoMA, Cooper-Hewitt, Colette, Prada, and more, and he was named Young Designer of the Year by Wallpaper* magazine (2004) as well as the Brooklyn Museum of Art (2006)./p

pCore77 would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to Tobi’s family and to Tim Dubitsky. Tobias Wong was a bright spot for us all, and his work will continue to inspire countless designers, artists, students and friends. He left us too soon, at 35 years of age./pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/we_will_miss_you_tobias_wong_16660.asp”(more…)/a
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