Studio Swine

Studio Swine is a British-Japanese art collective and design studio founded in 2011 by Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves. Swine is an acronym for "Super Wide Interdisciplinary New Explorers". They are known for artistic works in design that combine narrative, film, and process-based object-making with an emphasis on sustainability.

Background and work
Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves met while studying at the Royal College of Art in London, from which they both received Masters in Product Design degrees. Upon graduation, they founded Studio Swine. Murakami is an architect who was trained at the Bartlett School of Architecture. Groves holds an undergraduate degree in fine art from Oxford University.

Studio Swine explores themes of regional identity and the future of resources. Their work combines contextual research and experimental use of sustainable materials which manifest in objects, films and immersive installations. Their work straddles between the spheres of sculpture, installations and cinema, blending poetry and research into immersive experiences.

Their sensory installations are an ongoing series of works they describe as "Ephemeral Tech" in which the boundaries between digital technology and natural forces are dissolved to create unnatural phenomena. Ephemeral Tech looks to a future where technology uses senses to transcend the familiar interfaces beyond the standard visual stimuli of flat screens, projections and LED arrays, and becomes inseparable from both built and natural environments. They explore the concept of Ephemeral Tech in their installations such as New Spring (2017).

Known for their films, they are inspired by the filmmaking of Ray and Charles Eames and have said that they are designers of "mass communication rather than mass production". Their films have been awarded at Cannes and have been featured on National Geographic and Discovery Channel and museums and film festivals globally.

The collective's work has been exhibited at institutions such as the V&A Museum in London and shown in both Venice Art and Architecture Biennales. Examples of their work are held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Centre Pompidou, M+, Vitra Design Museum, and Design Museum Gent.

In 2022, the Murakami and Groves founded A.A.Murakami, which focuses on ephemeral experiences through sensory installations and Web3 and their inaugural project was entitled Floating World.

Studio Swine is represented by Pace Gallery, Pearl Lam Gallery and Superblue.

Sea Chair (2011)
First presented in the Royal College of Art show in 2011, Sea Chair is an open source design and film that explores the issue of plastic waste. In Sea Chair, Studio Swine demonstrate how waste plastic picked up by fishing trawlers can be transformed into chairs on board the boats.

Hair Highway (2014)
Having developed developed a technique to infuse hair in natural resin as an alternative to wood while studying at London's Royal College of Art, Studio Swine travelled to China to visit a hair market in Shandong and film parts of the hair trade as an exploration of human hair as a future resource and a reflection on the global human hair industry in the context of China's past and present trade relationship with the world. As part of the project, they created a series of decorative pieces and accessories influenced by the art-deco architecture and design found in Shanghai and all pieces were made from coloured resin and human hair.

Hair Highway was presented at Design Miami/Basel in 2014.

Can City (2014)
Studio Swine created "Can City", a mobile foundry that operates around São Paulo's streets that smelts aluminium cans using waste vegetable oil collected from local cafes as fuel. The moulds and the finished pieces are all made on location, turning the street into an improvised manufacturing line. In a city with some 20 million residence, waste is on a massive scale. however over 80% of the recycling is collected by an informal system of independent waste collectors known as Catadores who pull their handmade carts around the streets. 'Can City' creates a system where their livelihoods can extend beyond rubbish collection. In Can City, Catadores mine the streets for materials to create objects with vernacular aesthetic, providing a portrait of the streets. The stools are the first line items to be produced, inspired by vernacular design the seating is made for the food market that provided the waste materials.

"Can City" was commissioned by the Coletivo Amor de Madre Gallery, São Paulo and was supported by Heineken.

Fordlandia (2017)
"Fordlandia" is an immersive art installation created by Studio Swine that is inspired by a ghost town deep in the Amazon Rainforest built by the American Industrialist Henry Ford in the late 1920's to secure a supply of rubber for his automobile empire. Through the construction of a fictional domestic space made entirely of Amazonian rubber and other materials from the rainforest, the installation explores the idea of synthesis between nature and industry, questioning Henry Ford's attempt to tame nature in profit of his industrial gain.

New Spring (2017)
"New Spring" is an immersive art installation created by Studio Swine supported by COS. The installation consists of a six metre high tree of aluminium that releases mist-filled bubbles that break upon human contact but can be held by visitors with special gloves. Visitors are invited to interact with the bubbles, triggering the release of scent and mist, while experiencing a unique sensory journey.

Shown at Milan design week in 2017, Studio Swine have said the work is inspired by the ephemerality of cherry blossom and re-examines how we can interact with technology through our senses.

Infinity Blue (2018)
Infinity Blue is an installation by Studio Swine that celebrates cyanobacteria, one of the world's smallest living beings.

They describe their work in the following terms: "At almost 9 metres tall and weighing 20 tonnes, ∞ Blue (Infinity Blue) is an immersive installation that pays homage to the cyanobacteria, one of the world's smallest living beings. Around 3 billion years ago, cyanobacteria first developed oxygenic photosynthesis. In doing so, they changed the nature of our planet. The sculpture is a monument to their vital creation, which continues to provide the oxygen in every breath we take."

On the surface of the monument, Cornish clay and oxide glazes reflect local mining history. The textural pattern on the ceramic tiles are generated by a reaction-diffusion algorithm found in nature from zebras to coral. From the sculpture, 32 vortex cannons fire smoke rings whose scents tell a layered history of the earth's atmosphere. Studio Swine collaborated with Paris perfume house Givaudan to develop fragrances inspired by the aromas of primordial worlds.

Craft x Tech Tohoku Project (2024)
In 2024, Studio Swine's collaboration with Sendai Tansu artisans from Miyagi city was unveiled at an exhibition called Craft x Tech Tohoku Project at Kudan House in Tokyo. Their contribution to the initiative was a geometric chest of drawers made of lacquer coated woods and iron fittings that Azusa Murakami described as a type of "time travel device ... employing age-old techniques and traditions that traverse the hands of artisans across centuries." The show was curated by Maria Cristina Didero and also included works by Ini Archibong, Sabine Marcelis, Yoichi Ochiai, Michael Young, and Hideki Yoshimoto.

Films

 * Sea Chair (2011)
 * Can City (2013)
 * Buttons (2013)
 * Hair Highway (2014)
 * Terraforming (2016)
 * Infinity Blue (2018)
 * St James Market (2016)
 * Floating World (2022)
 * Under a Flowing Field (2023)