1. Where were you born and where are you from ?

Mia/Paul: Born in Busan and Halifax. Studied, lived and worked in Seoul, Toronto, Montreal, LA and New York. Now based in Paris since about 10 years ago.

2. What is your first memory connected to the art world ?

M: When I first read about Nam June Paik, his work.
P: First time in New York as a kid.

3. Have you always worked in the art/design field ?

M/P: Yes.

4. What led you to the design creation ?

M/P: Our inspiration comes from our daily life. We draw from a compilation of our memories and what we see around us. The work is precisely our taste, so it is quite personal. When we started the studio, we had a simple desire to be surrounded by objects with no extra noise; to eliminate distractions. It’s about keeping only the good stuff.

5. How would you describe your creative process and it influences ?

M/P: We are developing the language of goons with each new piece. The vocabularies of this language are the design principles. We don’t decide if a piece fits in a collection. We just keep making pieces and expanding the language.

6. Could you describe a typical day of your work ?

We usually talk about the upcoming projects and tasks. It’s pretty ordinary, we look at lists. Some Days we are in the studio and sometimes in our apartment. Each day is very different. It’s either sourcing out material and content or references and some days at the studio building, or testing.

7. Why did you choose the specific materials you work with ?

We currently work with 21mm Baltic Birch Plywood and reclaimed architectural wood. The Baltic Birch Plywood fits perfectly within the language of the studio: it is simple, abundantly available, dimensionally accurate, stable and consistent. The type of reclaimed architectural wood we use is dimensioned structural beams. If another material fits the language of the studio, it is considered.

8. What are the technical particularities of your creations ?

Our work is very straightforward but technically precise. We are really focused on not complicating our lives and setting up efficient processes. After years of working in design ateliers we are conditioned to care for the quality of anything that leaves the studio, even if the design is super simple.

9. What advices could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works ?

Start making things.

10. If your works had to belong to a design movement, in which one would you define it ?

By appearance it might seem close to minimalist or brutalist but our philosophy is way more straightforward than that.

11. What designers have influenced you ?

It’s impossible to say. Too many over the years.

12. What contemporary designers do you appreciate ?

We enjoy looking at works by younger generations.

13. What contemporary artists (in any kind of art) have you been inspired by ?

We are always looking at new things.

14. If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be ?

We don’t know. Goons language is always expanding.

Proust Questionnaire with very short answers (one or a few words) :
(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust. Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde, Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)