Conceived by Professors Helen Maria Nugent and Jim TerMeer, the year-long whatnot studio is a progressive educational platform focused on creative inquiry and iteration. Positioned as a commercial brand, the whatnot collection brings design experiments to life as fully realized, original products that are publicly launched at Rossana Orlandi Gallery in Milan, Italy, during the Salone Del Mobile.
In celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago the 2016 whatnot collection draws from the world as it existed in 1866—the people, behaviors, beliefs, things, technologies, ideologies, cultural norms, natural events, fads, crazes, and missed opportunities.
Valerie Lopez, Wear and Tear Aprons, 2016
Kyungeum Kim, Bobble Stool, 2016
Gikce Guvenc, Cora Pearl Mirror, 2016
