Architectural & Product 3D Visualization

Selected client 01 / Product catalogue

CAT Garage Storage

Product systems translated into a clear 34-page sales catalogue.

MROOMJOURNALWhat was he sitting on? Steve Jobs?

Cover reply

On the floor

In 1982, Steve Jobs could already afford almost any furniture. But in Diana Walker's photograph he is sitting directly on the wooden floor. Nearby are tea and records. In the back is a stereo system. Above it is a Tiffany lamp. There is no sofa. There is no chair. There is practically no table either.

If MROOM had existed then: “No objects found to replace.”

Woodside, California · 1982

Millionaire without a sofa

Apple had already gone public, and its young co-founder could afford almost any furniture. The empty room was not an economy, but the result of a very strict selection of things.

Jobs did not agree to live next to an object just because it is customary to fill an empty corner with something. Each thing had to justify its presence.

Therefore, the famous interior is not about a lack, but about a pause between need and conscious choice.

The photograph does not feel like temporary housing: the records are laid out, the equipment is connected and the light is set.

Emptiness can also be a solution.

1982year of Diana Walker's photograph

Starter kit

Bed + lamp + Einstein

John Sculley recalled that there was almost nothing in Jobs's house. A few items included an image of Einstein, a Tiffany lamp, an armchair and a bed.

This no longer sounds like an interior, but like a starting character set in a very strange computer game.

But behind the strangeness there was a principle: if a thing is nearby every day, it must earn its place.

Steve Jobs' most famous chair is the floor.

3 thingsbed · lamp · Einstein

But he chose one thing

A damn good lamp

Decorative glass, complex patterns and warm light are not at all the image that would later become associated with Apple.

Jobs was not interested in minimalism for the sake of emptiness. He was interested in selection: one thing instead of ten, but with character and quality of execution.

The lamp reveals an important difference between sterility and conscious restraint. A rigorous interior does not have to be impersonal.

Against the empty walls, its coloured glass works almost like an independent work of art.

Warmth comes not from the number of objects, but from one precisely chosen light source.

An expressive accent is best added after the foundation of the room is clear.

One expressive thing is stronger than ten random ones.

1 accentinstead of visual noise

Audio system instead of furniture

Sofa — optional. Good sound — essential

WIRED studied the famous photograph and tried to identify the components of the system. Among the equipment was serious audiophile gear and a Michell GyroDec turntable.

Jobs surrounded himself not with a lot of things, but with objects in which he saw an idea.

Music found its place before the sofa did. Function and the quality of the experience mattered more than a conventional furniture set.

The audio system takes up little visual space, but defines the purpose of the entire room.

First comes the important activity, then light and technology, and only after that — furniture.

The empty living room turns out not to be unfinished, but radically honest.

First — what changes the feeling of life.

GyroDecturntable identified by WIRED

September 1985 · at home after Apple

Spoiler: the sofa finally appeared

A few days after leaving Apple, photographer Steve Ringman photographed Jobs at home on a large sofa.

He did own furniture, but choosing things still remained a project in its own right.

Family theory of furniture

What is the purpose of a sofa?

— Steve, we need a sofa. — Why? — To sit. — But what does sitting mean? — Steve…

Somewhere at this point, the average person has already clicked “Order delivery.” Steve Jobs continued his research.

For most people: like it → it fits → the price is fine → buy it. For Jobs, an everyday decision became a question of how we want to live at all.

Eight. Years. Of discussion.

8 yearsof theoretical furniture selection

Selected client 02 / Digital editorial

MROOM Journal

The History of Things — an interactive issue about furniture, design and people.

Explore journal ↗

Architecture, interiors and products — made visible.

Still imagery.

Technical animation.

Cinema.

Catalogues.

CAT Garage Storage

On the floor

Millionaire without a sofa

Bed + lamp + Einstein

A damn good lamp

Sofa — optional. Good sound — essential

Spoiler: the sofa finally appeared

What is the purpose of a sofa?

MROOM Journal

From model to final frame.

Architectural & interior visualization

Furniture & product CGI

Technical animation

Cinema & animation production

Catalogue design