CEO Magazine’s 2024 Executive of the Year Awards in Sydney, Australia. image credit: Slide Productions
softwall + softblock might be the most uniquely used backdrops available today because of its remarkable ability to work in a broad range of applications, from TV events, photo shoots, trade shows, product launches, in-store displays, and more. One moment, it’s a backdrop for a performance; the next moment, it’s a tabletop for a catered event. It can come with internal LED lighting, or it can be lit up externally with projections or lights.
yet the origin story of the softwall + softblock is very different. The initial concept for the soft collection wasn’t about making a ‘cool backdrop for events’ etc.; it was a question about how Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen could make a space more flexible over time – throughout the day or over its lifespan. In its simplest form, softwall + softblock is an elegant room partition. With some imagination, it becomes so much more.
in a recent conversation with Forsythe and MacAllen, we asked the molo creative visionaries about the early days of prototype design and development.
image credit: Alana Paterson
Q: The inspiration for molo and the creation of the soft collection was centered around this idea of flexible spacing. Today, it is a mesmerizing backdrop. How did the original softwall come together?
Stephanie Forsythe: In the beginning, the design came together over a synergy of things; things like privacy, quality of light, and quality of sound. Flexibility was the characteristic that tied them together. As part of our explorations, we wanted to prove that paper could be considered a construction material. At the time, paper was largely underestimated and viewed as disposable rather than something durable that could be used creatively.
how that tied into backdrops is the desire to make something abstract that already plays an important yet supporting role in life. It’s a silhouette, not the focal point. It’s there to enhance what’s happening in front of it, be beautiful on its own, yet make what’s in front of it more interesting. It removes visual noise that surrounds a product — or everyday life. It reduces auditory noise in a protective way, like adding the rest in music.
project design by @homofaber. image credit: Alessandra Chemollo
image credit: Slide Productions
image credit: Franziska Krug / Getty Images
Q: Over the last two decades, people have come up with their own ideas about how to use softwall. Backdrops for media events and tradeshows are a common one. Why are clients so drawn to the soft collection? Tell me about their feedback.
Stephanie Forsythe: Flexibility is a big one: recreating situations in various venues … the ability to very quickly build the display without tools and adjust it on the fly to fit a new space.
we regularly hear feedback from clients that molo products are unmistakably high-level and recognizable. People who use our backdrops are often working in the creative field. Photography is a big one. Music, theatre and film are regularly used for events, red-carpet moments, openings, and product reveals. Whenever it’s a large company, and a facilities manager is looking at our products, they ask really practical product care questions. They tell us it is priced fairly as well.
Q: I heard you even have customers in the military.
Stephanie Forsythe: Yes, the US Army is an example of one. Something that has become avante-garde – used in fashion and commercial displays – is used for space-making. So many different people are looking for space-making solutions. We don’t think of softwall + softblock as a conservative or liberal or one side of a spectrum. Our customers love the fact that both the poetic and practical aspects of the product are intertwined.
so it's a room divider in one application or it's an emergency relief shelter in another.
design by @rothys
design, technical development and production by @motive_productions.
image credit: @arddunagency
image credit: Yusuke Oba
100 Years of the House of Suntory. event design by @emilyreidevents.
image credit: @deitchpham
Q: Over the last year, the softwall + softblock have been selected as unique product displays for Suntory and Rothy’s and dramatic consumer experience exhibits for Penfolds. How do you incorporate user feedback into your design process (or do you at all)?
Stephanie: One of the ways we look to improve the product is by adding accessories. How can we add things that make the collection usable in different ways?
Q: Do clients ever ask you to design product displays or tradeshow exhibits for them? If yes, what does that design process look like?
Stephanie: One of the things we’ve recognized is that we’ve created something that other people can create with. We have lots of abstract uses and artistic nudges. This is to allow people to go and create their own exhibit experience. We want the product to stay within the spirit of making things themselves.
Todd: We ask customers to share their sketches, and we can provide input. It always starts with what their vision is, not what our vision is. We want customers to participate in the creative exploration.
image credit: Marco Anelli
molo products are designed by Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen, manufactured by Molo Design, Ltd. and protected by patents and/or design registrations viewable here.
explore softwall:
custom colour softwall
aluminum softwall
paper softwall
textile softwall
textile softblock
LED textile softwall + softblock
