Super Nature's Beautiful Play World
Published 17 months ago
The Shanghai collective create beautiful glowing playgrounds for grown ups
- Text by William Oliver
Super Nature makes big multi-coloured and glowing playgrounds for grown ups. What drives them is the desire to create environments that allow the user to get away from the stresses of everyday life, and remember the sense of excitement they felt as a child. “The toys we used to play with and how free we felt as children inspires us,” explains Billy Wen, one member of the three-part collective. “Our ideas come from the whole fantasy and ideology of a Wonderland. We want to make something that sparks new dreams, allowing us to go back down memory lane and remember childhood happiness”.
All three members of Super Nature – Wen, Cheang Lin Yew and Yeoh Guan
Hong – live and work in Shanghai, and the aesthetic and pace of the city are
obvious influences on the installations they create. The city’s 24-hour,
neon-lit, futuristic aesthetic are all clear in the work, but what they make is
the complete opposite – serene, relaxing and fun. “We all live in Shanghai and
the city gives us great energy and movement,” says Guan Hong. “It is full of
cultures that really inspire us, and we enjoy the excitement and new
opportunities that it allows us. However, it is a sense of calm, happiness,
inspiration and enjoyment that we want people to experience in our work.”
Meeting while at design school in New Zealand, the trio has been
collaborating since 2003, but they were physically divided when Billy moved
back to Shanghai after graduating. They continued to collaborate regularly
despite the 6,000-mile distance between them. Eventually, Cheang and Yeoh made
the decision to also go back to Shangahi and solidly establish Super Nature.
“We all work so closely together to form this unique group, so that we can
share each others experiences and try to achieve our dream goals,” says Wen.
“We want to make great, interactive design that is able to deliver an
experience that reminds people of their best memory from childhood. We are
trying to realise the never-ending fantasy of a childhood dream.” Super Nature
has had work installed for brands including Nike, Coke and Courvoisier, and
featured in the Seoul Design Awards.
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