Most recently updated on February 12, 2025
Today, postmodern tectonics™ and Casa Ysasi are proud to announce the launch of MUSICAL FURNITURE — a collaborative design project centered on building furniture pieces that serve a musical purpose.
In [CASE STUDY - 01], we built a plywood credenza that is simple in form, simple in construction, and has a scientific attention to proportions, tuned primarily for one variable — vinyl disk jockeying.
Cut down and routed from five sheets of AB Marine Grade Plywood, this piece was ideated around the concept of the hearth — the focal point in a space of gathering, centered around a warm, fiery glow. Casa Ysasi elegantly installed the fire that brings this piece to life by utilizing their quintessential Amate paper, a reoccurring theme throughout their natural light installations.
Whether you’re hosting a dinner party or playing for a small crowd, this natural light source establishes an inherently human connection around the room.
As living rooms grow smaller by the day, we increasingly like to think of this piece as a contemporary fireplace... or perhaps the future grand piano.
In the short term, our goal is to design a foundational furniture piece for the traditional vinyl DJ.
In the long run, our hope is to provide a versatile catalogue of furniture parts that work together and allow customers to outfit their spaces with the appropriate musical attire.
This endeavor first took shape over a year ago. Since then, we focused an incredible attention to detail as we try to solve some of the most simple, yet painstakingly common problems for a DJ behind the booth.
Where do you put your headphones when you look for that next record? Where do you put your record sleeve while that next track is playing? How do you organize those six — sometimes more — power cables to look aesthetically pleasing? And most importantly, where do you put your wine glass while chatting with a friend or foe?
We’ll show you.
*[CASE STUDY - 01] will be on display at Ysasi Studio starting Saturday, June 21. Please email office@pomotect.com if you’re interested in purchasing [CASE STUDY - 02] and beyond.
in early 2025 we worked with @creative_entrs to design and produce a range of commemorative objects for the launch of The Creative Entrepreneur.
the centerpiece is a limited edition zine.
the front and back cover design direction uses vellum layering to convey layered meaning, including a hand-drawn motif throughout that plays on the work in progress, non-linear nature of the creative process that Creative Entrepreneurs live by.
uncharacteristically for this A5 format, we executed the binding using screw posts.
this further draws on the visual language and toolkit of creative production, as this is often how large format physical look-books or architectural drawings are bound.
we also took over the DJ booth at the event to play a big set celebrating Nile Rodgers biggest hits, as well as some more ambient explorations to keep the pace right all night.
and to boot, we shot film through out the night — true party photographer style...
A MACHINE FOR LIVING
Postmodern Tectonics (LA + NY) and Amaxi Autosport (Bellevue, Washington) today announce the release of our capsule collection of lifewear tees, [A MACHINE FOR LIVING].
The starting point for the art direction is a rejection of Le Corbusier’s famous maxim that a house is “a machine for living”. Because, actually, it’s a car — the Porsche 911 to be exact.
It’s not just a machine for driving, it’s a machine for living.
Amaxi are experts in classical European restorations, so this felt like a natural place to build the collection from, an homage to the most classic of classic European cars.
One of the main principles that Steve Jobs tried to teach the entire early Apple team was the notion of "imputing".
It basically means sweating all of the details of a product — from design and manufacturing to delivery and unboxing — so that the consumer FEELS the care and attention to detail you've put in. That feeling is normally instinctual, subconscious or unspoken.
It's a fabulous idea. And it's fabulously hard to pull off.
But it was something that we thought a lot about when the three of us were concepting Object #1, The Service Manual Tee.
We of course had control over the actual design, yet we wanted to go a bit further with the packaging and the experience of opening it.
We landed on a few key concepts which you'll hopefully have noticed.
First, we wanted to do away with plastic. It's a pretty shit material in general from an aesthetics standpoint, and it's obviously not great for the environment.
Second, we wanted to nod to our shared passion for collecting records and the way in which we can serve other DJs out there. So we opted for a record sleeve-type orientation and packed the t-shirt inside a spare one so that you can reuse the packaging to take care of that rogue 12-inch everyone has floating around.
Finally, we raided Home Depot (which is an amazing repository of vintage stickers and packaging design) to create our own tags that use a simple safety pin and stamped logo to attach to the t-shirt. So now there's no more accidentally ripping off part of the fabric.
This is all part of our commitment to making practical tools for the people we are eternally inspired by, to outfit them for purpose with our products and celebrate them through our brand. And it's a design concept we're going to continue to build on down the line into our next releases in fashion and beyond.
So watch out for that non-standard packaging!