Products for a Parallel World

Toran creates projects which take the language of products and their distinctive position in culture as a means with which to investigate anomalies in human behavior—anomalies which specifically reflect a retaliation against imposed social conformity. Often the products are developed for individuals as vehicles for self-expression and a celebration of uniqueness based on personal “quirks,” desires and fantasies. The work serves to simultaneously expand upon the conflict between citizens, corporations and popular culture and to question the role of objects (and their designers) as protagonists of conventionality. In almost all his work there is a darkly humorous conflict: What types of identity do we project onto objects? How and why do we subvert objects in order for them to achieve more complex functionality? What does this reveal about the human condition and the systems that organize society? His work is exhibited and published internationally, most recently in Paris, Venice, Tokyo and London.