Bellevue Art Museum will showcase the work of the Boym Partners, the husband and wife product design team of Constantin and Laurene Boym in an exhibition titled Oh Boym! A Sideshow of Design. Opening on January 25, 2003 this exhibit is the first to concentrate on the work of this design studio. Seventeen "stages" designed by the Boyms showcase their incisively witty work that reveals the sources and development of their designs. Oh Boym! A Sideshow of Design will occupy the Museum’s third floor galleries. The exhibition has been organized by BAM and curated by Judith Hoos Fox.

"If only objects could talk .." provided inspiration for this exhibition. The spirit of a design sideshow will provide the setting for the various bodies of work such as Searstyle - in which objects purchased from the Sears catalog were reconfigured into new uses. Other objects on view include the Boyms’ early vessels based on recycling; strap furniture - polypropylene tape morphed into furniture; the Missing Monuments and Buildings of Disaster as well as products designed for Alessi and Benza. Each "stage" of design will be accompanied by 3-demensional "thought bubbles" that allude to the designers’ creative process, references and inspirations.

Constantin and Laurene Boym are principals at Boym Partners Inc, founded by Constantin in 1986. The studio has designed award winning products for an international list of companies including: watches for Swatch (Switzerland), housewares for Alessi (Italy), furniture collection for Geiger/Brickel (USA), Housewares and furnishings for DMD/Droog Design, clocks for Morphos and exhibition design for the Cooper-Hewitt Museum. Boyms’ projects have been published worldwide in such publications as Domus, Modo, Designweek, Metropolis, Metropolitan Home, ID, Interiors and Axis and have been featured on CNN. FOX, and CNBC. Their work can be found in the collections of many prestigious museums.

Curious Boym: Design Works, a book on the Boym Partners will debut with the opening of Oh Boym! A Sideshow of Design and serve as the catalog for the exhibition. The 240-page book features the same whimsical design approach as the exhibition comparing their design approach with Curious George’s humorous and naughty adventures based on mishap, experimentation and luck.

A component of Oh Boym! A Design Sideshow will also be on view at the Children’s Museum Imagination Studio in the Crossroad Shopping Center. Visitors will be treated to activities based on design and invention.