“Design is design,”
“simply enjoying the tension and surprise between aesthetics, texture and functionality, that’s it.”
After a decade of experimentation, CELEMENT’s rebellious edge remains sharp. Rather than anchoring their work in cultural references or symbolic meaning, they send an invitation to customers of living differently and enjoying the unexpected together.
Their latest highlight, Handsome Soap, marks what Swank, the founder of CELEMENT, describes as a milestone,
“This collection is a culmination of these 10 years, it emerged from years of conversations with our community of early adopters.”
It distills the studio’s journey: playful yet practical, minimal but never empty.
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“We carry so many wild ideas,” Swank admits,
“but what always grounds us is the question: what do we want to bring to our customers?”
Ten years of time, CELEMENT has always walked the tightrope between playfulness and practicality, surprising audiences with ideas that look contradictory on the surface but reveal their logic in use.
With techniques and designs receiving miscellaneous awards, products and ideas surprising the crowd, here comes another remarkable one, the Handsome Soap, “Rocky yet bouncy, cement-like yet face-washing, soap yet soft”, embodying the paradoxes.
At first glance, it looks like a chunk of cement—rocky, raw, almost heavy. But the moment it touches the skin, the illusion dissolves. The texture is soft, bouncy, almost cushion-like.
“When cement is often associated with cold hardness, we know how warm and gentle it can be.”
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That fascination with paradox has guided their experiments since the beginning.
“With a background in industrial designs, we investigate a lot on scalability.”
“We understand how each component is behaving from materials to production, and we want to push against it.”
The studio’s industrial design roots bring a pragmatic layer to the experimentation. Back to their name, “CELEMENT, is actually formed by “cement” and “element”. From production techniques to material behaviour, every element is considered for how it might live not only in a prototype but also in everyday life.
By utilising and combining materials, they coax out different new textures and forms. What emerges is neither purely industrial nor purely decorative, but something in between, objects that are functional yet playful, minimal yet expressive.
Like the “Handsome Soap”, it’s more than a cleanser, it’s a lifestyle. It indeed captures the most valuable spirit of CELEMENT,
“It is a sense of wonder and surprise at first, but eventually it blends into our daily, becomes something reliable.”
“We need that conflicts bring us surprises visually and experientially in life, but it is also reliable and soothing as a gentle companion every day.”
Cares in materials, soft in texture but bold in form, CELEMENT is rewarding their followers with the softest companionship by one of the boldest moves.
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In parallel, the “CELEMENT Wave Dish” is also well expanding this philosophy into the details.
“It appears minimal at first glance, but every curve and groove reveals uniqueness upon closer inspection.”
“In a simple shape, only if you look closely and feel it, you can find the details,”
This is minimalism, not in the reductive sense. Minimalism isn’t an absence of expression. It’s a precision that leaves just enough space for imagination to fill in.
Each experience becomes slightly different, each moment with the dish is a little surprising. That balance is CELEMENT's quiet rebellion: design that never shouts, yet never disappears into the background either.
“That’s where the joy lies, minimal but never empty.”
An object could be purely functional but is instead infused with a sense of rhythm and discovery. Function never overshadows delight—it moves alongside it.
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“Products carries surprise and comfort, lifestyle with design and aesthetic philosophy,
a healing experience through the way it feels in the hand and the way it reveals itself to the eye.”
As CELEMENT moves forward, the studio is opening new possibilities for its audience, inviting them deeper into the design process itself. It’s a continuation of their central promise: to turn the friction between aesthetics and function into objects that surprise, delight, and ultimately belong in everyday life.
