Breaking the Mold

Bad economies have at least one silver lining: they tend to spawn start-ups. Remember those two little companies founded in the mid-1970s, Apple and Microsoft? Similarly, the Los Angeles–based designers Alexander Purcell Rodrigues and Rich Over­cash have seized this dreary moment to launch their own firm, APRRO, at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. “We decided to take control and push our vision out there rather than wait for other people to make our career happen,” Rodrigues says.

The young entrepreneurs, who met in 2007 while studying at the Art Center College of Design, won’t just be exhibiting prototypes that they hope furniture companies will commission; they’re ambitiously making their own pieces using small producers such as MachineHistories, in L.A., and Studio Caparo, in London. Though both shops are known for their technical prowess, APRRO’s designs don’t resemble alien life forms. “We’re trying to capitalize on technology without letting it define the piece,” Overcash says. “On the flip side, we are experimenting with what the technology can do to give a new look to what might otherwise be traditional design.”