JUMBO Studios

The story of JUMBO begins not in a design studio, but over a weekend trip to the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennale. It was there that old friends Justin Donnelly and Monling Lee discovered their shared appreciation for American pop culture icons—McDonald's, Mickey Mouse, Michael Jackson—each representing what they call "pure pop perfection." This revelation would become the cornerstone of their design philosophy: creating objects that communicate emotion through simplified forms and vibrant colors, while maintaining technical precision.

Despite their architectural backgrounds—disciplines often characterized by seriousness and restraint—Donnelly and Lee launched JUMBO as a "lighthearted design practice" that celebrates whimsy and emotional connection. Their seemingly contradictory description of themselves as "minimalist maximalists" perfectly captures their approach: stripping designs down to essential elements while maximizing emotional impact.

"What we're about is creating emotionally communicative and evocative objects," explains Donnelly. Their breakthrough came with their "Neotenic Design" exhibition, which explored the psychology behind our attraction to childlike characteristics in design. Rather than simply creating oversized furniture, they aim to evoke "the susceptibility and helplessness we associate with childhood" through their pieces, whether it's "a big, dumb chair made from bent foam" or glass objects that appear "deflated or imperfect."

Lee brings her unique perspective on color and perception to the partnership, noting that "we want to highlight the friction between what's real and what's surreal." This interest in the space between reality and fantasy has positioned JUMBO's work perfectly for our increasingly digital world. "Our physical worlds have gotten smaller, but the digital one has ballooned," they observed during the pandemic, when their render-like aesthetic—designs that appear simultaneously tangible and virtual—found even greater resonance.

The Fortune Chair for Heller Furniture exemplifies their distinctive approach. Inspired by the fortune cookie—a culturally significant object for Lee, who immigrated from Taiwan—the chair abstracts this familiar form just enough to create a delightful moment of recognition. The design honors Lee's experience of trying her first fortune cookie at age thirteen, transforming a personal memory into a universal object of comfort and joy.

What separates JUMBO from other design studios is their commitment to emotional connection above all else. "With our designs and objects, we're trying to convey emotion and gestures in quick and simple ways," says Lee. "And really in mass culture, the equivalent would be the emoji. We just love that—looking at a graphic symbol and knowing clearly what that is trying to convey, in an instant."

From their respective bases in Brooklyn and Washington D.C., Donnelly and Lee continue to collaborate on pieces that transform everyday materials into extraordinary objects. Their work invites us to reconsider our emotional relationship with the things that populate our lives, challenging conventional design wisdom while creating pieces that feel both revolutionary and reassuringly familiar. Through JUMBO, they've proven that serious design doesn't have to take itself too seriously—and that sometimes, the most profound emotional connections come through a chair that makes you smile.