Jessica Banks and Mihae Mukaida
Jessica Banks and Mihae Mukaida
Founders
Rock Paper Robot
“We come up with an element of the physical world that is interesting to us, and then we try to think of how we can express this in an object that is both functional and beautiful.”
How many women does it take to change a lightbulb? Jessica Banks and Mihae Mukaida can build a robot that can change it for you. The two women of the kinetic design company, Rock Paper Robot, create furniture that shifts the term “round table” to one about the actual table— the magnetized one made from seemingly levitating blocks of wood, that is.
Based out of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the pair— one a roboticist and the other a designer— have an unconventional approach to design.
“We go about designing furniture from the standpoint of a process, so it might be a physics principle— like either shadows, or the way that light diffracts, levitation, or magnetism,” co-founder Jessica says about their design process. “We come up with an element of the physical world that is interesting to us, and then we try to think of how we can express this in an object that is both functional and beautiful.”
Rock Paper Robot was first started by Jessica Banks, an MIT-educated roboticist with a physics background, with another business partner in 2009. Her partner then exited, leaving her with full ownership and the company lay dormant for a year until she met Mihae at a creative agency building interactive installations for large companies. Mihae Mukaida, a Parsons alum as well as a documentary film producer and advertising director, and Jessica clicked instantly, and both set their sights on transforming Rock Paper Robot into a women-run engineering boutique specializing in kinetic furniture and home decor in 2011.
Now, the design duo has seen their company featured in Wired and New York Magazine for products such as their Float Table and the Brag Collection— a collection of benches and tables that balance on the point of a diamond. They’re also bringing their products to a smaller scale (physically) through a line of kinetic jewelry—for those who prefer to wear their scientific principles.
But one thing that won’t change is the element of wonder and awe their designs evoke. “[We try] to get people to really think about the objects in their homes,” Jessica says. “This is something that I’ve really learned while teaching: to get someone to really absorb and own an idea, they have to ask questions about it.”