Masi
2009
Masi is a flat-packed home product designed from a flexible aircraft ply.
A solo project, in collaboration with the Granville Island Wood Coop and designing for the Pan Pacific Hotel as client.
Masi is a simple vessel for a flower, which doubled as a creative presentation dish for gourmet hors d’oeuvres and drinks. It was essential that the project be flat-pack and inexpensive, to meet the needs of the Pan Pacific Hotel. Their secondary intent for the design was as a takeaway gift for patrons, or as a souvenir in the gift shop. The wood co-op also wanted a flat-pack item, for sale to Granville Island tourists.
Developing this product was a process of iterative model-making.
It was also essential to design a product that could be easily assembled. The packaging, instructions and complete product had to be simple, clear and sustainable. I chose a recyclable acetate and simple black-and-white print on recycled paper with vegetable inks for the packaging.
Masi was a word I came across around the same time as this project. It’s slang for ‘Merci,’ meaning ‘Thank you.’