Caspar Lam and YuJune Park of Synoptic Office on the Value of Learning Through Making

For these designers, form follows function

Caspar and YuJune are cofounders of design consultancy Synoptic Office. 

We spent two minutes with Caspar and YuJune to learn more about their backgrounds, creative inspirations and recent work they’ve admired. 

Caspar and YuJune, tell us …

Where you grew up, and where you live now.

• Caspar: I moved around a bit as a child and grew up in the U.S. and now live in New York City.
• YuJune: I was born in Mississippi and grew up in North Carolina. I now live in Brooklyn, where I can always grab a slice of my favorite pizza.

How you first realized you were creative.

• Caspar: My father would bring office supplies home, and I found that stationery items—paper, pens, labels, binding supplies–were the most fun toys aside from Legos. 
• YuJune: I was an introvert and a daydreamer, creating detailed worlds in my imagination. Perhaps, looking back, that was creativity. It could also be a simple love of the visual world, of the textures and colors around me.

A person you idolized creatively early on.

• Caspar: Idolized might be a strong word. I suppose I was always curious about how people lived their lives as artists or musicians.
• YuJune: I was a huge Boyz II Men fan. I loved watching the “Water Runs Dry” video and knew all their dance moves. 

A moment from high school or college that changed your life.

• Caspar: While I was working in a genetics lab at university, I was reviewing the results of an experiment with a professor who said the results didn’t feel right. I asked what in the data led him to this conclusion, and he said it was just a feeling. I realized that his comment on intuition and how we perceive things was much more interesting than the experiment. 
• YuJune: In my junior year of high school, I got a lucky break. Orchestra no longer fit my schedule, and I signed up for an art class instead. That course changed the trajectory of my life. 

A visual artist or band/musician you admire.

• Caspar: Although he is not an artist or musician, I admire E.O. Wilson and his ideas about consilience—combining knowledge from different disciplines.
• YuJune: I recently saw Otobong Nkanga: Cadence at the Museum of Modern Art, and it blew me away. Its beauty felt timeless, yet somehow perfectly captured the shifting sands of our physical and technological realities. 

A book, movie, TV show or podcast you recently found inspiring.

• Caspar: Lately, I’ve been reading works by the Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han. His eclectic philosophical tomes offer original takes on contemporary sociocultural phenomena. They are written with a sharpness that is delightfully unnerving. 
• YuJune: I recently read Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman, an American physicist. I loved the book’s structure and framing and the way Lightman presents concepts of time through dreams.

A recent project you’re proud of. 

Caspar/YuJune: Our latest digital collection for the Tremaine Foundation. It’s so surreal to stumble into a project and be face-to-face with the legacy of a family that helped bring the works of Piet Mondrian, Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol, among others, into the public spotlight.

A mentor that helped you navigate the industry.

We’re indebted to the critics we met in school, particularly Karel Martens, Linda van Deursen and Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, who taught us the value of learning through making.

What you’d be doing if you weren’t in design.

• Caspar: Perhaps a monk.
• YuJune: In another universe, I would have been an English teacher.