Lego bricks were a childhood favorite of Ryan Twardzik ’16; he used the interlocking plastic pieces to give form to his creative ideas.
These days, some of his furniture pieces — which have been featured in shows from Miami to Milan — give a nod to those building blocks. Like Legos, his bold furniture is fun to interact with.
“It’s wild to show off furniture you made that brings joy to people,” said Twardzik, who earned a BFA in design with a concentration in industrial design at the University of Notre Dame. “These are pieces that beckon to be touched, to be used. They just say, ‘Sit on me!’”
Form, fun, and function
Since Twardzik founded Unform Studio in 2021, he’s produced three polished seat collections and has been featured by multiple media outlets, including The New York Times.
He likes to design seating — chairs, in particular — because people forge such strong personal connections with them.
“If you sit down on something, if the design attracts you, if the comfort level is there, if there’s this tactility and this form that you can touch and enjoy, that's a seating experience that will always make you happy” he said.
His Pop-Up collection is a systemized approach to lounge seating; modular fabric cushions fit onto a gridded metal frame, which can be expanded or contracted to make a sofa, ottoman, or lounge chair.
The Spherae collection uses brass, wood, and upholstery — traditional furniture materials — in unusual ways. Similar to the Pop-Up collection, people can interact with and manipulate the highly tactile product to form a stool or ottoman.
And with his debut Drip collection, Twardzik explored improvisation within furniture design by pairing sleek aluminum chairs and small tables with random forms of dripping and pooling paint.
“It’s this fun sense of energy and contrast,” he said, “between this sheer industrial process mixed with random organic chaos.”
Family, football, and design
As a young boy, Twardzik dreamed of attending Notre Dame like his grandfather, Ted ’51, the founder of Mrs. T’s Pierogies, and his father, Tim ’81, who handled marketing for the family business.
“I grew up going to Notre Dame football games and having a great time,” he said, “and I always envisioned myself going there.”
At the same time, Twardzik was infatuated with design, including inventor Philippe Starck’s products, which range from furniture to lighting to bicycles.
Twardzik had positive family influences, too. His great-uncle owned a textile company and garment workshop; his grandmother had a flair for interior design; and his mother, a creative teacher, encouraged him to explore through crafts and activities.
In middle school, Twardzik’s interests in the Fighting Irish and in design began to coalesce. During a football weekend in South Bend, Twardzik met with Robert Sedlack, the late professor of visual communication design in the Department of Art, Art History & Design.
“We sat down with him, and I talked about what I might want to do,” Twardzik said. “I told him what I liked, and he said, ‘Oh, that’s industrial design. We have it — and we’re very good at it.’”
Building a broad base
Once immersed in courses from sketching to advanced product design, Twardzik learned firsthand how good the department was.
He also appreciated the opportunity to learn traditional woodworking methods in Robert Brandt’s furniture design course in the School of Architecture.
For his BFA senior thesis Unseat, Twardzik unveiled three seating arrangements at the Snite Museum of Art.
In addition to honing his design skills, Twardzik received an intellectually enriching education in the College of Arts & Letters.
Having a broad knowledge base enables him to successfully build relationships with local manufacturers, manage international shipping regulations, and handle public relations campaigns.
"And knowing Italian was really helpful when I was showing in Milan,” he said. “And I can confidently write and speak about my work.”
Sense of community
Twardzik’s wife Jessica Kim ’19, who also earned a BFA in industrial design at Notre Dame, has been a source of continual support as well as an asset to the business.
“With the 800 jobs he’s doing, I can be a wall that he can bounce ideas off of and we can test things out together,” said Kim, who earned a master’s degree in architecture at Yale University and now designs at a firm in Pennsylvania. “I like to help style his booths at these major shows. It’s been amazing to watch him take the studio from day one to what it is now.”
Twardzik, whose studio is in his home state of Pennsylvania, recently signed with the New York gallery Otras Formas. He’s currently working on new pieces, including a sofa and a dining set.
The couple is also planning a fall trip to a Fighting Irish football game and are excited to bring hundreds of handmade pierogies and Korean dumplings to share at a tailgate.
“It will be a way to gather and reconnect with our network of friends,” Kim said.
“We love hosting,” added Twardzik. “Football provides a shared culture and a shared experience. Notre Dame gives you such a sense of community.”
Originally published by at al.nd.edu on October 10, 2024.