designboom listens: objects of common interest embraces the beauty of unexpected contrasts

objects of common interest between sound and space

For Objects of Common Interest, design and music share an interest in bringing different elements together to create something unexpected. The Athens- and New York-based studio, founded by Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis, works across objects, interiors, and spatial installations, exploring how form, color, material, and perception can shape the way we experience our surroundings. Their playlist moves between emotional melodies, hypnotic repetition, and experimental sounds, echoing the different qualities they explore through design.

This relationship also comes through in the latest public installation by the studio, titled Out of This World – A Field of Conditions, presented in the Miami Design District. Bringing together six different conditions that alter how people perceive and experience their surroundings, the series of interactive sculptures explores the possibility of seeing familiar environments in new ways. Music offers a similar point of departure in the duo’s playlist, which moves between New Order, Talking Heads, Chet Baker, Gorillaz, Aphex Twin, and David Bowie. Some selections bring back particular atmospheres or memories, while others help shift perspective, break creative blocks, or focus attention on the smallest details. Read on for the duo’s answers and discover the tracks that accompany their practice.

Portrait of Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis standing side by side in front of a textured white wall. — Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis by Dean Kaufman

melodies, electronic experiments, and unexpected rhythms

What song best captures your creative practice?
Objects of Common Interest (OoCI): Bizarre Love Triangle – New Order. We like the coexistence of emotion, structure, repetition, and unexpected energy. Different elements come together in a way that feels both precise and unpredictable. There is something about that tension that relates to how we approach design.

What is the very first track you play to clear the air and get inspired when starting a new project?
OoCI: This Must Be the Place – Talking Heads. It has an effortless optimism that we love. It’s familiar but somehow always feels fresh. A good reminder that inspiration doesn’t necessarily come from looking for something extraordinary, but from seeing ordinary things differently.

View across an exhibition space with sculptural objects arranged on the floor and a wall of red translucent curtains separating the room — red translucent curtains create a visual division within the studio | image by Adrianna Glaviano

Is there a song that instantly takes you back to a specific memory or place from your past?
OoCI: Let’s Get Lost – Chet Baker. There’s something incredibly nostalgic about Chet Baker’s voice. It takes us back to a certain atmosphere rather than a specific moment, a feeling of being somewhere between the past and the present.

What song is stuck in your head right now?
OoCI: Coming Up Roses – Harry Styles. Sometimes a song just stays with you, without needing a particular reason.

View into a concrete interior framed by red translucent curtains, with a curved pale pink counter and a small white cylindrical stool on a yellow floor. — inside Objects of Common Interest’s studio | image by Traianos Pakioufakis

What is your ultimate 2 AM studio track, the one you secretly know every word to?
OoCI: On Melancholy Hill – Gorillaz. It has this beautiful balance of melancholy and optimism. Dreamy, slightly strange, and incredibly addictive. Perfect for those late hours when you’re tired but don’t really want to stop working.

What song do you put on when you are stuck and need a breakthrough?
OoCI: Love to Angie – Red Astaire. Sometimes the best way to move forward is to stop overthinking. Music can shift your energy completely, and suddenly things start making sense again.

Pink and white sculptural stools sit on a yellow floor in a concrete interior, with red translucent curtains and a purple block in the background — rounded seating pieces are arranged across the studio floor | image by Martin Brusewitz

What track is dominating your speakers this week, and is it influencing what you are making right now?
OoCI: What Else Is There? – Röyksopp. We love its slightly mysterious atmosphere and the way it builds tension. We wouldn’t say music directly influences the forms we create, but it definitely influences the mood and energy around the process.

What song helps you slow down and focus on the tiny, quiet details?
OoCI: Avril 14th – Aphex Twin. It’s incredibly simple and delicate. Every note feels intentional, and the space between the notes is just as important. It reminds us how much can happen through very little.

Interior view of a studio with large windows, a red brick wall outside, and reflections of the workspace across a glossy surface — a magenta exterior wall and its reflection bring color into the working space | image by Martin Brusewitz

If people would wear headphones while experiencing your latest work, what one song should be playing?
OoCI: Tainted Love – Soft Cell. There’s something wonderfully theatrical and slightly eccentric about it. It has a strong personality, a certain strangeness, and an irresistible rhythm. We like the idea of experiencing our work with that kind of unexpected soundtrack.

What is your favorite album cover art?
OoCI: Power, Corruption & Lies – New Order. We love the unexpected relationship between a classical painting of flowers and a coded graphic system. It brings together something deeply romantic and something almost scientific. Two seemingly unrelated languages coexist and create an entirely new identity.

New Order’s Power, Corruption & Lies album cover, showing a painted arrangement of white, pink, and dark red flowers against a gray background, with the band and album title above and a color-coded strip at the upper right — the cover of New Order’s 1983 album Power, Corruption & Lies

What is a track that best describes your favorite project you have worked on so far?
OoCI: Sound and Vision – David Bowie. For Out of This World – A Field of Conditions, our latest public installation in the Miami Design District. The project brings together six different conditions that alter how we perceive and experience our surroundings. We like how the song suggests a world where sound, color, and imagination coexist. It captures that sense of curiosity and the possibility of experiencing something familiar in an entirely unexpected way.