Two Long Island City designers want to make sure you open your next beer bottle in style.
Hsin-Chun Wang and Ye Liu are the founders of HCWD Studio in Astoria, an art, architecture and furniture design firm that opened in 2014. Originally from Taiwan and China, respectively, the designers now live in Long Island City. HCWD Studio is located at 40-09 21st St.
Wang and Liu met as graduate students at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan and have years of experience working at firms as product designers and architects. Wang’s background is mostly in product design while Liu’s graduate degree is in architecture.
Their most recent design is called Clover, a sleek bottle opener that comes in chrome, gold or gold-rose stainless steel. Liu said the duo spent 10 months “making mockups, testing prototypes and perfecting the fabrication process.”
“Instead of thinking of the opener merely as a tool, we want to create one not only for opening bottles but also for opening dialogue between friends and others, cheering the moments with beer lovers, [acting as] a piece of jewelry or ornament that people could wear, drawing attention on stage, and [becoming] part of the celebration,” she said.
The bottle opener, which is 4 inches high, was designed with “long leverage for easy snapping” and can be hung on walls or stand on tables. The tri-tooth design makes it easy for customers to grab bottle caps and open bottles in all directions.
Clover, which was released under the design studio’s official brand Hyfen, is available for pre-order and will officially be on sale on Nov. 22 through Wang and Liu’s website or online shopping site Gessato.
Customers can also purchase the product through a Kickstarter page. Prices for the chrome opener start at $27 for those who purchase the Early Bird on Kickstarter.
Those who purchase through Gessato will pay $36 and $38 on Hyfen.
Other products designed by the duo include a toy set, corner mirrors, lamps, benches and an array of clothing racks.
The designers have several awards under their belts including being named the best designers and best design studio at Singapore’s International Furniture Fair in 2016 and Best Furnishing Design at at the 2014 Gold Idea Design Awards in China.
For more information on their products, visit HCWD Studio’s website.
