Living In a Box

Living in a Box is a collective project where 25 international designers and artists create objects limited to a 10×10×10 cm box. They contain things that comment or raise questions about our (thing) world of today, with respect for the past and with an eye on tomorrow.

For us, a box embodies both limit and protection, yet limits are often read as negative. Our proposal reframes limitation not through another object, but as a treasure box of thoughts—materialized in a silk flag and a collection of interconnected texts—where limits become the seed or starting point for a different ethic and aesthetic.

Why does the idea of limit carry such negative connotations?
Western culture is shaped by an obsession with “more”, rooted in liberal capitalism and its drive for accumulation and growth. At the same time, we are confronted with ultimate limits: our own finiteness as individuals, and the degradation of the planet and the living systems we depend on.

Designers work with limits every day; constraints are a source of inspiration. Can they be reframed as necessary and constructive?
Maybe this requires a less linear way of thinking—more fluid, circular, and associative—and an aesthetic that embraces limits as an expression of balance and respect. Our project calls for self-imposed limits as the basis for a renewed ethic, and for limitation as a possible new beginning.