About molo

molo is an internationally recognized design studio with numerous design awards and public exhibitions to its name - including the INDEX Award 2005 and inclusion in MoMA’s permanent collection in New York. Since its founding in 2003, molo has purposefully explored flexible, space-defining systems that challenge the notion of permanent walls and static floor plans. The studio’s work exists at the intersection of architecture, design and installation, and is characterized by a strong spatial awareness, precise material understanding and a consistent conceptual approach.

molo’s international recognition is rooted in an unmistakable talent, strong concepts and architecture that works in practice - combined with a history and presence that testify to a wholehearted dedication to creating spaces for people.

Aomori Nebuta House

In 2011, Aomori Nebuta House was completed as a striking, sculptural cultural building on the waterfront of Aomori City in northern Japan. The museum is dedicated to the Nebuta Festival and the monumental, handcrafted and illuminated figures that each year fill the city’s streets with light, sound and movement.

molo co-founders and designers, Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen, worked closely with the city to develop a building that would preserve and communicate the festival’s cultural significance throughout the year. The project is centrally located next to the Shinkansen station and serves as a cultural link between the city’s everyday life and the more mythical universe of the festival.

The building’s facade is wrapped in more than 800 handcrafted, deep red steel bands, inspired by local lacquer traditions and the surrounding beech forests. The bands filter the light and create an open transition between outside and inside - an architectural gesture that separates the city from the museum’s internal narrative.

Inside, the museum is organized as a sequence of spatial experiences. Via an engawa-inspired transition, visitors gradually move from the public realm into darker galleries, where light, sound and staging guide them toward the encounter with the Nebuta figures. The museum’s flexible spaces support changing exhibitions, performances and local events, making Aomori Nebuta House a living cultural venue rather than a static museum.

Perhaps most remarkable about Aomori Nebuta House is that Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen were selected as architects for the project as winners of a major international architecture competition with Jean Nouvel on the jury - just one year after graduating from architecture school.

softwall - a design classic with global recognition

One of the earliest and most significant turning points in molo’s history occurred in 2005, when their iconic softwall was awarded the prestigious Danish INDEX Award for Design to Improve Life - a prize widely recognized as one of the world’s most important design awards for projects that improve quality of life through design. Designed by Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen for molo, softwall was one of only five winners in the very first INDEX edition, selected from hundreds of submissions from around the world.

The award marked international recognition of molo’s approach - rethinking space, materials and experience through adaptable, poetic structures - and its influence on contemporary design practice. softwall’s flexible honeycomb structure can be expanded and built to almost any length, creating both curved and linear spatial divisions.

This recognition cemented molo’s position as a studio where architectural thinking - in terms of spatial formation, tactility and material understanding - meets product design at a level relevant to public installations, open-plan offices and other innovative architectural environments.

The award was presented by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik - and it was also on that occasion that molo and Grape met. Since then, we have grown together and developed a unique, friendly and trust-based partnership, which we at Grape are both proud of and inspired by.

softwall in MoMA’s permanent collection

Another of molo’s most significant international breakthroughs came when softwall was included in the permanent collection of New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 2005 - one of the world’s leading institutions for modern and contemporary art and design. MoMA’s collection comprises more than 200,000 important works in painting, sculpture, photography, film and design, and the inclusion of softwall underscores both its conceptual and formal significance within a global design and architectural context.

molo’s softwall was first acquired by the museum in 2005, based on the early version developed by Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen. Although this prototype was not commercially available at the time, MoMA curators determined that it represented a significant design innovation and dated its origin to 2003. Shortly thereafter, the textile (Tyvek) version of softwall was also acquired in 2006 following several years of experimentation with more durable and translucent materials.

softwall is not only part of the permanent exhibition ... MoMA garden party

In MoMA’s own publication, MoMA: Highlights since 1980, softwall is described as an elegant room divider that combines simple, modest materials in an innovative way. It consists of hundreds of layers of translucent honeycomb structures, which both reinforce the fragile material and provide a soft, luminous quality that can limit sightlines, dampen sound and create intimate, temporary spaces within larger environments.

The decision to include softwall in MoMA’s permanent collection is not only a recognition of a single design object, but of molo’s ability to think about space, materiality and change in a way that directly addresses some of the most central discussions in architecture and design about how spaces are formed, experienced and transformed over time.

molo on discovering softwall

Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen:

The first time we unfolded a full-scale softwall prototype, we walked farther and farther away from each other as the pleated structure expanded between us - a full 60 feet! It felt like an endless span. As if this generous wall had appeared out of thin air, we stood laughing in pure surprise and delight. In that moment, we knew it was something special that needed to be shared with the world. Because if we could feel that way, others could too.

molo champions authentic design and art

molo was founded with a fundamental respect for authentic design, art and the people who create them. From the beginning, Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen have has worked from a belief that true quality emerges through time, immersion and a deeply rooted understanding of materials, process and intention - rather than through fast trends or superficial form-giving.

This approach has led molo to consistently choose an independent and long-term path. New products are developed slowly and carefully. Many of molo’s solutions originate from exploratory prototypes and artistic installations, where the boundary between design, architecture and art is deliberately fluid.

When an authentic product is chosen, the buyer indirectly invests in the research and development behind it. Designers are naturally curious and strive to improve the way we all experience life through their work. In contrast, copyists merely imitate existing solutions. Original works like molo’s are creative solutions shaped by thought, experience and imagination.

Stephanie Forsythe, Todd MacAllen and molo actively engages in supporting artists, architects and designers who work with authenticity and integrity. This happens through collaborations, exhibitions and by making their spatial innovations available as platforms for artistic exploration. For molo, design is not an isolated object, but a contribution to a broader cultural context.

The studio therefore also takes a clear stance against and actively pursues copying and unauthorized imitations. Not for commercial reasons alone, but because copies undermine the time, care and expertise behind original design. Protecting authorship and ideas is seen as a prerequisite for continued innovation and for a healthy, creative ecosystem.

molo soft collection can create entire spaces

In addition to the award-winning softwall, which for decades has challenged the established design world, molo also offers other innovations based on the same honeycomb structure: molo cloud softlight lamps, molo softseating and the molo cantilever table. The range spans only a few product categories, yet is so modular and flexible that molo soft collection - as the series is called - can create everything from small, intimate room-within-a-room solutions to full trade fair stands, exhibitions and pop-up shops.