Kevin Kars and Cynthia Boom together are Studio Kars + Boom, a creative studio making illustrative objects, prints, and installations to play with or to marvel at. They find inspiration in landscapes, both rural and urban, and search for the playful geometry of landscapes; the rhythm of shapes, planes, and lines. These interacting patterns are at the centre of their work where they create new worlds in which they’d wish to wake up.
Kevin and Cynthia invite you to play with their work – to be amazed by what looks like everyday life scenes at first glance. However, if you look twice, you’ll see the beautiful colours and dancing compositions of their surroundings. The duo’s work is created through play, by experimenting with different techniques and materials. Playfulness is the most important factor in Kars and Boom’s process and vision. “Sometimes the way that our society is organised can set a distance between people and make them drift apart. Playing together can help forget differences in backgrounds and culture. It can offer ways to connect and move forward together on an equal footing,” comment the pair.
In the time of our lives where we explore the most, our childhood, we learn through play in so many different ways. It’s this mindset that Studio Kars and Boom want to evoke with their work, and the way they want to create their work. Their products offer a large variety of possibilities for anyone to engage with, while their play installations provide a place for playfulness to anyone.
Kars and Boom often design products from assignments or in collaboration with different labels. They’re currently developing some exciting new works, such as a tapestry, floor rug, and toys that grow along with the kids they belong to. At this moment, the creative duo are also working on multiple play installations for museums and public spaces. Aside from these projects they like to create their own artworks. Kevin and Cynthia often make paper collage prints, and recently finished a large-scale triptych of landscapes.
The creative pair enjoy the freedom and possibilities that come with large assignments and creating art autonomously, but they are also convinced art and design should be for everyone, no matter their background, financial situation, and abilities. As such ,they make accessible, uncomplicated, fun objects and art that speaks to anyone who loves colour and playfulness. Sometimes these are products to be used daily in homes, sometimes they are more architectural contributions to the public space in our cities.
Different projects require different approaches, but at the heart of Studio Kars + Boom lies the innate urge to go deep. Through any means of research available, they want to discover every detail of the subject before starting the design phase. When working on installations that are out in the open, such as playgrounds and outdoor sites, Cynthia and Kevin like to include the intended audience in their design journey. They organise workshops with children, city walks for neighbours of the upcoming art piece, and take on every chance they get to meet anyone who may come across their installation. For their own and their commissioned projects, they try to make sure they have plenty of time for their research in the shape of reading books, connecting online and doing fieldwork.
After collecting all the information and inspiration, it’s time to play. Playing with materials, sketches, experiments; anything and everything is welcome at this point. From this brainstorm a lot of ideas get the opportunity to evolve into a couple of clear concepts. These concepts get developed a bit further until one of them is chosen and gets to grow into a fully realised project.
Because the design process is experimental and free, the materials and skills needed to create the final piece wildly vary between projects. Sometimes, Kevin and Cynthia use their own workshop and artistry, for example producing prints on paper and painted wooden objects. Other times, they may collaborate with other makers or businesses to create metal structures, giant printed foam blocks, or conceptual light objects. Part of their excitement for their projects comes from knowing that they never know what they will end up making and which people they will meet on the way.
Kevin Kars completed his studies in graphic design and illustration at the St. Joost School of Art and Design. During these years he focused on his observant practice; seeing details others overlooked and viewing the world as if he still was a kid. Meanwhile, Cynthia Boom found her love for visual rhythms at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute. She loves the repeating shapes that occur everywhere; in textiles, in nature, in architecture. Their different backgrounds, strengths, and interests complement each other perfectly. Cynthia sees the bigger picture, aims to work on the border of what’s unfeasible and likes to playfully push this border. Kevin, on the other hand, has great attention for detail. He’ll notice the barely noticeable and his day is easily made if he can spend it aligning every little piece of the image. He thinks up the stories and gives them shape, while Cynthia fine-tunes the concept and medium. Kars and Boom are not only a creative duo, they also have a family with two kids and a dog. The way their kids play and interact with the world around them inspires them every day.
Looking to the future, Kars and Boom are hoping to continue working with large scale projects such as the play art installations. The collaborations needed to bring these projects to life always provide new insights and inspiration. Additionally, the duo would like to see how they can tweak the surroundings of a neighbourhood by small interventions in the public space. Especially in newly built areas, where the new neighbours often still have their social networks outside of their current neighbourhood. Kars and Boom want to contribute to the playful connection within communities and the establishinging of cohesive neighbourships.
To create their own creativity jungle gym, there are plans to add a workshop to Kars and Boom’s studio space so they can experiment more freely. Through experimentation they can learn, design, and develop new products and art installations. This workshop would include machines and tools for many different materials and skills, and would function as a playground for creativity by inviting to think through making.
www.karsenboom.com
@karsenboom
(Photographs by Charlotte Visser)
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