This publication looks back on the last thirty years of EOOS and documents its evolution from a classic, internationally renowned design studio to an organization that redefines the role of design and strives to inspire upcoming generations of designers. In the early 2010s, EOOS closed a successful chapter of shop design for customers such as Adidas and Armani to focus on the global sanitation crisis affecting three billion people. The studio’s two main areas of work, internationally successful furniture design and social design geared towards social impact, might appear contradictory at first glance. However, on closer inspection, what emerges are a common attitude, an equal demand for quality and a field of tension, traced here using numerous examples. Already fifty years ago, the polemical critic of the design discipline Victor Papanek demanded that designers in the Global North should devote at least ten percent of their work to the real problems affecting all people. The story of EOOS serves as an example of how this can be achieved successfully.
