(@snobs._)

(@snobs._) is a Cambridge design practice that dresses vacant commercial spaces in Harvard Square during moments of transition. The pair behind it describes the work as a kind of band-aid, helping empty storefronts keep an appearance of visual decorum. Most projects are digital creations that need only a thin layer of glass between the vacant space and the street. If a property owner wants them, the practice can also stage public interventions, sculptural installations, set and exhibition design, graphic design and symposiums.

Behind the name are Pin Sangkaeo and Benson Joseph, designers and creative directors who describe themselves as future scholars with a shared, self-described “snobby” appetite for experimental research. Their aim is to bridge academia and the public within the existing infrastructure of consumer culture. Cambridge is home for the pair, and (@snobs._) is the professional practice they are building there. Locally, their work has appeared at Harvard Art Museums and in Harvard Yard.

What to Know

• Both partners hold a Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University.
• Both also earned a Master of Design Studies in Mediums from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
• Their work has been shown internationally in Switzerland, Serbia and Thailand.
• In the United States they have created and exhibited work at the Museum of Modern Art and the Everson Museum.