Droog × Metahaven Collaboration
In 2016, Droog joined forces with Metahaven to explore design as a tool for survival, memory, and imagination. Rather than creating conventional products, the collaboration resulted in a series of conceptual objects that treat everyday needs — food, shelter, health, celebration — as carriers of meaning. Each design pairs a basic human function with a statement, turning utility into narrative.
The collection includes Escape is History, a parachute made from a lifetime’s worth of discarded T-shirts; Excess is Essence, a bath that reflects on surplus and abundance; Fiction is Survival, a set of foods that frame storytelling as a vital human resource; and Celebration is Memory, fireworks designed to mark life’s defining moments. Other works include Prescription is Insurance, a series of speculative supplements, Investment is Invisibility, a precious yet discreet screw that questions value, and Story is Shelter, a bed that treats narrative itself as protection.
Together, these designs form a reflection on how we prepare for the future using the remnants of the present. Blending Metahaven’s research-driven visual language with Droog’s long-standing interest in concept-led design, the collaboration proposes objects not just to use, but to think with — where function meets ideology, and survival becomes a story we tell ourselves.
‘Escape is history’ parachute
A conceptual parachute made from a lifetime’s consumption of T-shirts — a poetic and useful way to “save” waste for future need.
‘Excess is essence’ bath
Uses a surplus of ephemeral materials such as earth and pigments, suggesting that future necessity could be drawn from past overabundance.
‘Fiction is survival’ foods
A work merging essentials — food and narrative — into a design exploration, showing that storytelling as much as sustenance matters to human survival.
‘Celebration is memory’ fireworks
Fireworks are designed to mark life’s decisive moments, positioning celebration as a kind of collective memory.
‘Prescription is an insurance’ supplement
A conceptual series of pills for imagined and real conditions — a commentary on health, desire, and modern life.
‘Investment is invisibility’ screw
A discrete design object: a screw made with precious material (e.g., 24-carat gold), playing with ideas of value and invisibility.
‘Story is shelter’ bed (with Michèle Champagne)
A bed framing narrative as protection — an exploration of how stories can function like shelter.
