OUR FUN SIDE
Friendly Futures Design Studio!
Our design studio understands how deeply we are influenced by our environments, so we strive to make our environments more friendly. This effort includes making things and spaces that are friendlier for your relationship with yourself, with others, and even with the environment itself; we literally want you to become friends with your art. Our work invites you to be more active, creative, and seriously silly, all with the intention of nourishing your social side, because we believe the next frontier in health and wellness is being friendly. So, our design ought to help nudge us in that new, healthy, friendly direction :)
Friendly Wall v001 | Calisthenics Gym + More
Eduardo
Eduardo the Playsculpture is the original exploration of materializing Friendlyness culture. An outdoor gym that also becomes an outdoor living room and intergenerational playground for ages 0-150, the design is all about bringing people together in active, creative, and joyful ways.
Friendly Wall v002 | Garden Seating + Gym + More
Matilda the Wallopy
Matilda the Wallopy is a friendly twist on garden “seating”, and is named after its two architectural elements parents: the wall and the canopy = the wallopy! Plus, we think wallabies are awesome animals :)
Curious about our project titles?!
The definition of befriend is to “act as a friend to (someone) by offering help or support” and that is precisely what our designs set out to do! Our design philosophy is rooted in friendliness, so we give them a name to reinforce the exciting potential of design: that the magical spaces and objects we dream up can actually be our friends!
Also, as a nod to the magical creatures that San Diego based artists Niki de Saint Phalle and Dr. Seuss imagined before us, and the remarkable marine animals that have long lived as our neighbors in the ocean, we are further inspired to use design as a tool to promote more friendliness :)
Friendly Wall v003 | Retail Community Hybrid Pop Up + More
Sawsun “Sneaks”
Sawsun “Sneaks Summer Classic” activation is named after the Sneaks Summer Classic, an annual community basketball tournament at the La Jolla Rec Center. To complement the high level of basketball, Friendly Futures designed a retail community hybrid pop up to display clothing and the tournament bracket, that also served as a participatory art activation, where everyone at the event would have the opportunity to connect with San Diego basketball culture, even if they don’t jump high enough to play in the tournament :)
Friendly Ground v001 | Pickleball Activation + More
Dr. Kitchen
Dr. Kitchen is a pickleball activation for an intergenerational gathering. Inspired by the infamous “kitchen” zone on the pickleball court, we inserted kitchen elements as seen in architectural blue prints throughout the court. The playful additions got everyone at the party talking, laughing, and invited them to create their own rules - or new kitchen zone - for each game they played!
Friendly Ground v002 | Pickleball + Parking + More
Donut Smith Jr.
Donut Smith Jr. is an example of what happens when we decide that we’re fed up with boring, often completely unuseful parking lots and driveways, and instead dream about how these vast, dispersed, and common spaces can tap into their joyful potential, like, idk, becoming a knock off of everyone’s new favorite game: pickleball! Or, as we call this spot, Donutball!
Friendly Wall v004 | Parking Garage Mural + More
Under The Same Sky
Combining innovative co-creation processes, exceptional technical amd design quality with a universal symbol, Under the Same Sky invites the public to unite forces in collaboration by taking and submitting photos of the sky that we use as the content for an extraordinary artwork. The poetic symbolism of looking up offers all of us a gentle reminder that we share the same sky :)
The artwork is experienced in both the physical and digital realm.
Friendly Wall v005 | Furniture + Games + More
Erin The Caterpillar → Butterfly
Erin The Caterpillar → Butterfly is a cute and joyful playsculpture that has the superpower of infinitely transforming into new configurations as well as consists of gamified components. As a sculpture it’s a cute caterpillar, but it becomes a butterfly once you embed function, a metaphor we adore as a principle for our design practice!
Friendly Table v001 | Backgammon + Chess + “Vinyl Record” + More
Disc and Dots
Disc and dots - otherwise known as the Friendly UFO - is a playful take on the amazing game of backgammon. Creating new ways of playing traditional games, this design invites more social opportunities, joy, and function from the standard backgammon board. Roll those dice and let’s play!
Friendly Bath Tub v001 | Brand Community Event + More
Splash of the Rubber Ducks
Splash of the Rubber Ducks was a community event that we designed and activated for Edge Theory Labs, who created the first portable ice bath. In response to the challenge “how to make less intimidating jumping into freezing water,” we placed 300 rubber duckies into a community tub, where you could share a bath with friends and play with rubber ducks just like back in the day, except this time the water is FRIGID so while you’re playing and being silly you are getting all the awesome health benefits from being in the cold.
Friendly Table v002 | Backgammon + More
Exocoetus
Exocoetus is a playfully formed backgammon board ready to blast off to another friendly galaxy. When resting, it’s a nice artwork for to enliven your living room or library shelf.
Friendly Wall v006 | Doctor’s Gym + WFH + Soccer Net + More | Coming Soon
Milo
Milo is a doctor’s Gym and WFH outdoor pavilion as well as a soccer net to play with his family, with several soccer net orientations packed into one and new scoring systems each time it is used.
Friendly Wall v007 | Parallel Bars + More | Coming Soon
Maiya
Maiya is a seriously silly micro-gym, sitting/standing desk, mediation nook, adult fort, dog bed, and backgammon/chess table. A friendly wall that fits into almost any room, it’s an ideal starter kit for encouraging some more friendliness into your life!
Friendly Ground v003 | Pickleball + Basketball + More
Betty The Waterfall
Betty The Waterfall is a pickleball court in the jungle, surrounded by trees and plants and a small entry opens up onto the exciting court! It’s also a place to hoop and hang out “)
Friendly Ground v004 | Pickleball + Art Club + More | Coming Soon
Abstract Pac Man
Abstract Pac Man is a parking lot during the week and a pickleball art club on the weekend. There are standard pickleball courts, as well as a skinny one and even 2 circular courts!
Friendly Ground v005 | Pickleball + Retail Pop Up + More | Coming Soon
Jellyfish Jess
Jellyfish Jess is designed for a pickleball social club. The head of the jellyfish is where all the primary social activity (bar, bracket display, games, furniture) is located, and then its tentacles take you to pickleball courts!
Friendly Wall v008 and Friendly Ground v006 | Pickleball | Coming Soon
Isabella
Isabella is located in a world renowned kite surfing area, which means it’s often super windy! The design works as an instrument to block wind for the pickleball court, which of course is used for friendly competition, as well as a spot for exercise, and leisure.
Friendly Wall v009 | Barre + Daybed + More
Veronica
Veronica is a friendly twist on the traditional barre. A friendly hat comes on and off, so when on it adds weight to stabilize the bar and when off the hat is a daybed. The design is also used to delineate space; we are excited for it to be a zoom backdrop as well as a fun component to dinner parties!
Friendly Wall v010 | Handstand Instruction + Social Media Showcasing
Uncle Iroh
Uncle Iron - named after the legend himself (if you know you know) is a space for handstand instruction and performance at The Center For Balanced Training. Inspired by rock climbing routes and martial arts belt systems, 8 different colored lines of “lightning” connect to QR codes, representing different handstand related workouts and milestones for practitioners to unlock. The fun environment is a friendly invitation for people to go upside down :)
Friendly Wall v011 | Fitness Bench + Fun Seating + Corn Hole
Milo II
Milo II is a mobile friendly sculpture that can be reconfigured in many ways. Chess, backgammon, and corn hole abound, and it’s cute and snuggly!
Friendly Wall v012 | Table games + Corn Hole + Dog Park
RC
RC is situated in an apartment courtyard next to the communal laundry room. The sculpture connects the two sides of the complex and unites the property with a space to play, relax, and come together.