Brooks Atwood: In Search of the Perfect Chair
Designer Brooks Atwood of POD DESIGN, the award-winning design studio based out of Clinton Hill, moved to Brooklyn from Manhattan two years ago, and now considers himself a permanent Brooklyn resident. “The most unique thing about the artistic community in Brooklyn is the avant-gardeness of the work that’s happening now and that the community is all about design,” he says of his new environment. Last year, Atwood, along with his team at POD, designed the Sylki, a lightweight chair made out of a single sheet of recycled metal. The idea was to create a design that reduces as much cost and waste as possible while producing a sturdy, durable, and innovative final result. Not only is the chair economically- and environmentally-conscious, but twenty percent of all its sales go to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. “I’m inspired by the everyday, by the lost, unnoticed objects,” Brooks says of his designs. “I’m inspired by all of our failed experiments, failures and tests gone haywire.”
Brooks tells us that he gets much of his inspiration from his students at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where he is an Assistant Professor of Industrial Design. “Teaching is a huge creative outlet,” says Brooks.”You get to challenge yourself constantly because you’re questioned all the time… I try to curate creativity both at school and at my office.“ Brooks also finds the city itself reflected in the geometric and architectural lines used in his designs. But it’s the communal feeling of the neighborhoods in Brooklyn that have inspired Brooks to make his home here. “There’s an insatiable appetite for creativity and involvement both by artists themselves and the local community,” Brooks notes. “Who knows what will happen next?”
Craig Robinson jacket, vest, and pants
Won Hundred shirt
Grand Street Bakery vintage pocket square
Barney’s New York belt
Warby Parker glasses
Giles & Sons bracelets