Launched in 2001, Handy was born out of Boym Partners’ distinctly antiestablishment rationale: “The bottom line for Handy is that the project should be crazy enough so that it’s useless to approach any manufacturer with it.”

After the surprise financial success of the Missing Monuments and Buildings of Disaster series, the Boyms felt more incentive to create Handy. Additionally, the project provided Laurene with a further platform to develop the character-based design ideas that she first explored in her Wizard of Oz series. Ideas grew from the success of the Glow Rug, a phosphorescent carpet made using yarn originally developed for emergency exit signage. Rather than viewing new materials as purely technical innovations, the Boyms transformed them into playful objects that blurred the boundaries between technology, decoration, and everyday life.

Rugs, pillows, and household objects featured simplified animals and bold graphics that brought humor and personality into the home. As Laurene described it, Handy existed "half way between craft and design," with the simple goal of creating "fun and joy."

The company also represented an important shift in the Boyms' practice. Inspired by designers such as Hella Jongerius, Marcel Wanders, and Droog, Handy allowed the studio to develop, manufacture, and distribute its own ideas independently. Rather than designing for the market, the Boyms believed designers could create ideas compelling enough that the market would eventually follow.

SEX RUGS

These rugs employ traditional handicraft techniques to unconventional means. The texture of Sex Rugs has an almost three-dimensional quality, with some surfaces sheared, some looped, and some left as a shag. The women’s hair is, in fact, an extra-long wool shag, which can be styled or trimmed according to the user’s wishes. Even though the nude has been a mainstay in the history of the arts, the rugs proved to be subversive and even more offensive to some of the Boyms’ design clients.

GLOW RUG

The object that launched Handy, the Glow Rug repurposed phosphorescent yarn developed for emergency signage into a domestic furnishing that softly illuminated after dark. By redirecting an industrial material toward decoration, the Boyms transformed a technology associated with safety into one centered on delight, revealing their fascination with finding unexpected uses for familiar materials.

SHEEP IN THE CITY

One of the defining designs from the Animal Rug collection, Sheep in the City reduces a familiar figure to a handful of expressive lines and bold color. Changes in pile height give the simple graphic surprising physical depth, allowing the rug to function simultaneously as furnishing, illustration, and playful domestic companion.

POLAR FROST RUG

The first Handy rug collection reimagined one of humanity's oldest decorative subjects through Laurene's playful graphic language. Combining the clarity of pictograms with the spontaneity of children's drawings, each rug balanced digital production with hand-finished craftsmanship. Though intended for everyday family life, their ambitious construction earned them the nickname "art for the floor."

HANDY PHILOSOPHY

More than a product line, Handy represented the Boyms' belief that independent production offered designers greater creative freedom. Rather than responding to existing markets, the company allowed ideas to come first. The result was a collection of objects that embraced decoration, storytelling, and emotional connection - qualities often overlooked in contemporary industrial design but central to Laurene and Constanin Boym's practice.

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