American designer Voon Wong and Malaysian-born Benson Saw are the creatives behind the moniker VW+BS. They have a 13-year partnership in the field of product design and interior design.
“Two designers, each from distinct countries put their disparate design philosophies into creations that startle the eyes without forgoing practicality, ” writes Home+Living.
While the layman may not be familiar with their work, design purists are familiar with the duo’s Loop lamp designed in 2004 for Italian lighting company Fontana Arte. It is made up of two steel discs where the top part can be swivelled to shed light and closed to omit light. The luminaire is both light and sculptural and remains an object of desire for design aficionados. The Loop was nominated for the prestigious Compasso d’Oro award in the same year.
“The light really took us to places and got the design community talking about it and we are still known as the design duo who designed the Loop lamp. I guess it looks so iconic and is a simple engineering feat that is practical and chic, ” enthuses Wong.
VW+BS’s current practice focuses on residential and commercial projects in London and Singapore. The duo’s design tour de force seems unstoppable: Voon snagged the President’s Design Award in 2012, and they were recently awarded the OXO Peugeot Design Award for lighting. Voon’s other acclaimed works include Virgin Atlantic’s cabin design that integrated the various disciplines of his expertise in product, lighting, and interior design. The project caught the eyes of several editors and has been featured in periodicals such as Wallpaper, Designboom and The Business Times.