Big Brothers (continued)
Photo: Robert Hakalski
Nowadays, some of MIO's signature offerings still use repurposed pulp: for example, its modular PaperForms wall tiles, which are configurable in an array of bold haute-relief patterns (and allow users to easily replace individual panels instead of entire installations). Early versions of the tiles were impractically triangular, measuring exactly 0.83 square feet each. "People were like, 'It looks great, but how do I get 12 square feet?' " Isaac remembers. "We hadn't really worked that out." Changing them to squares, the Salms learned a lesson in pragmatism.
There is a sense of improvisation to the brothers' work, but it has served them well. Like their SoftBowls, the felted-wool shades of their Shroom and Capsule lights are crafted on old hat molds—at a neighborhood milliner that Jaime happened upon while walking by one day during lunch. "We realized we could reuse their tooling, with zero investment, to help put them in another market altogether," Jaime says of the 80-year-old workshop. Sustainability, in other words, also applies to keeping local industries alive.
With a new line of furniture in the works—a steel side table that ships flat and folds into an improbably angled shape—MIO is growing by leaps and bounds. In 2006, it opened an office and warehouse in Germany, prompting it to start production in Europe as well. "You can be global, but you have to stay local," Jaime says. Of course, being sustainable is not a perfect science; there's no such thing as an impact-free product. But MIO comes pretty close to a win-win formula: "It has to be funky, appealing, done with the minimum amount of waste, while also serving its purpose," Jaime says. "We need both performance and beauty. That's what green desire is about."
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