How Muk is designing for creative minds
The products Muk Design makes are by designers for designers and include a new collaboration with the Yarza Twins, which you can check out at the London Design Fair in September.
Muk Design is a multi-disciplinary mother-daughter studio that creates truly eye-catching products for artists, designers and makers. Notebooks, cube games, diaries, postcards, puzzles have all been designed with a creative audience in mind.
All of Muk’s products celebrate design, visual culture, colour and humour, both in their approach and execution. Muk believes that creativity needs playfulness to flourish. That’s why its products are designed to encourage people to embrace a childlike curiosity and explore happy accidents.
Muk was founded in 2012, in Istanbul by Elif Gürbüz, a creative director with a background in architecture and many years of art education. Elif created Muk as a platform to pursue passion projects and design beautiful printed objects such as tools, toys and resources for fellow makers.
Muk began as a print studio
Starting out as a boutique print studio for the first few years of business, Muk soon began designing custom stationery for exhibitions, brands and events, and held a product line that was sold in design shops. Muk also worked with businesses, specialising in art and cultural institutions, and created visual identities and bespoke stationery.
After moving to London to study at Central St Martins, Gürbüz soon realised how crucial physical tools were to her mostly digital design process and soon a new product line emerged.
A lot of new connections were made in that time, which later on turned into collaborations. A good way to make use of this invaluable resource, according to Gürbüz, is collaboration. This year, Muk has released a much loved limited edition capsule collection of notebooks designed in collaboration with the emerging new talent Yarza Twins. The real-life designer twins Eva and Marta met Gürbüz while studying at Central Saint Martins, and have built a friendship and creative partnership ever since. This unique collection, Yarza Twins x Muk Design notebook series, will be available at London Design Fair.
Play influences process
Muk is also deeply passionate about play and how it contributes to the creative process. One of Muk’s best selling products is the Architect’s Cube, a unique 3×3 puzzle. Similar to a Rubik’s Cube, the Architect’s Cube is a unique toy that forces you to rely on rectangular volumes instead of colours to solve the puzzle. Muk Design will be at London Design Fair, where you can try the Architect’s Cube, or take a look at their other products.
Elif Gürbüz is a designer and creative director working in the fields of print and digital product design. Her clients include the Financial Times, Fortnum & Mason, Thames & Hudson, Art Basel and Saatchi Gallery, and studios including Jonathan Barnbrook.
Gürbüz lives and works in London, and continues to run Muk Design with her business partner and mum, Sevgi.
Visit Muk Design from 20-23 September at the London Design Fair, Stand 63 in Hall 10, 91 Brick Ln, London E1 6QR.
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