boyms' babel blocks

Meet Moishe, Nafisa, Mary, Chen & Jose. These solid wooden blocks, by Constantin & Laurene Boym, were designed to promote tolerance & respect, as well as to celebrate New York City's unique melting pot. Each member of the posse is 6" tall & features silk-screened clothing. The Babel blocks were featured in Metropolitan Home this month, so I'm a tad late on the tip ---> sorry!

Ask yourselves: What is truly unique about New York City? The museums? NOPE! The opera? GUESS AGAIN. The architecture? Well kind of. BUT, what truly makes NYC unique is its people. Yes, the men & women busily going about their day on the noisy city streets - a fascinating mix of races; religions & cultures.

Boym Partners do a fantastic multi-media job celebrating this spirit with a souvenir of New York's religious & cultural diversity. The hip, peace - loving crew's available for purchase for $75, per set of five. They can be found at various design-y stores like Moss. And, each block has its own MySpace page (click on each name in the first paragraph to go there). The Boyms' page ---> here.

BABEL VIDEOS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->

the BABEL TOURISTS: watch as a "Jesus Saves" t-shirt wearing construction worker aides Moishe & Nafisa:

the BABEL ELEVATOR: watch Moishe, Mary, Jose & crew get into the same elevator & not spark "beef":

BOYM BIOS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->

Laurene Leon Boym born in NYC & earned a BFA from School of Visual Arts in 1984 & earned a MID from Pratt Institute in 1993.

Prior to joining BOYM Partners Inc., she worked at Smart Design, Inc. & Carbone Smollan Associates. She was the Designer in Residence at Cooper Hewitt in 1993. Also in 1993, her work was the subject of the ground-breaking exhibition Mechanical Brides @ the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. She joined BOYM in 1994, bringing humor / fun to products & exhibitions.

Laurene Leon Boym was a founder of Association of Women Industrial Designers (AWID) in 1992, co-curating Goddess In the Details in 1995 & ran the organization between 1995-97. She's been teaching product design @ Parsons since 1995 & is the mother of seven-year-old Bobby Boym.

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Constantin Boym, born in Moscow in 1955. He graduated from Moscow Architectural Institute & in 1984-85 he earned a Master's degree in design from Domus Academy in Milan.

In 1986 he founded Boym Partners Inc. in New York City. His studio's designs include tableware for Alessi & Authentics, watches for Swatch. Exhibition installations include: Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum & the National Building Museum. Objects designed by Boym Partners are included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Constantin is the author of the book New Russian Design, published by Rizzoli in 1992. From 1988 - 2000, he taught at Parsons School of Design, where he was a coordinator of Product Design Department.

UPCOMING BOYM PARTNERS STUFF ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->

Deitch Projects is known for their interactive performances that incorporate the artist and their space, eg. Fisherspooner. "Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far" is a new exhibition by Stefan Sagmeister, one of today's most innovative and influential graphic designers. Boym Partners has been commissioned by Stefan to initiate a live performance in the gallery window on January 31, 2008 (76 Grand Street: SoHo, NYC). Can't wait!