About

Office for Product Design is an international design studio led by Nicol Boyd.

The studio was originally formed in Hong Kong in 2007 together with Tomas Rosén, the pair having begun their collaboration while studying at the Royal College of Art in London. In 2022 they parted ways, resulting in a change of focus for the office and a more exploratory approach based on Nicol’s personal design practice and interests.

Known for creating carefully considered products and their associated experiences, the studio works in close collaboration with a diverse client list ranging from new start-ups to multinational brands. The scope of these projects spans a wide range of product sectors, including homeware, consumer electronics, furniture and lighting.

The studio’s practice falls broadly into two categories: studio and consultancy projects.

Studio projects are characterised by their exploratory nature and often start with a client brief or as self-initiated projects which may eventually be proposed to brands or produced by OOO, our self production project. The resulting work is frequently based on simple observations or insights, which are distilled into a form that represents the very essence of the idea.

Consultancy projects tend to have a more commercial focus and see the studio acting as a catalyst for our clients, providing design input and insights to stimulate and support their design activities or explore new technologies. In recent years the office has also worked extensively with technology start-ups, many of whom have launched highly successful crowdfunding campaigns.

All of the office’s work is rooted in the same rational approach, characterised by a search for simplicity, economy and contextual relevance. The objective and guiding principle is for the quality of the work to speak for itself and always take precedence over transient trends and pervasive designer-marketing.

Office for Product Design’s work has been widely publicised and repeatedly recognised with leading international design awards, including iF Gold Award, Good Design Award (G-Mark), Red Dot, German Design Award, Design Plus and Design for Asia Award.

The office is based in Taipei and retains a limited presence in Hong Kong. It employs a small team of designers including long term collaborators Thomas To and Weil Li.