Foreign Passport is a Reflection on Memory and Movement
In their exhibition Movables, Studio Knob presents a small and focused series that transforms iconic ORTIZ sardine cans into miniature sculptural suitcases. This simple gesture opens a conversation about movement, memory, and the personal weight we carry with us. The idea emerged while walking through Tel Aviv’s Levinsky Market, where shelves overflow with goods from distant places. Among them, the bright and bold ORTIZ tins caught the eye and stirred the imagination. Their striking graphic design, vibrant color palette, and timeless maritime motifs suggested stories that extend far beyond the can’s practical origin. Rather than treating the object as static, the artists approached it as something that wants to move. By adding custom 3D printed elements such as handles and corner guards, the can becomes a travel object. The parts are attached without glue, using a dry-fit method and rubber bands, which allows them to be removed and reapplied to other tins.
ORTIZ design remains visible and central, enhanced by custom additions | all images courtesy of Studio Knob
Studio Knob offers a poetic and unexpected transformation
For the artists at Studio Knob, the construction feels like a small puzzle. It invites the viewer to interact, to play, and to consider how objects contain stories even when mass-produced. The project reflects on mobility in a broad sense. It speaks to emotional and physical displacement, to the tension between what is carried and what is left behind, and to the resilience required to preserve memory through material things. At the same time, it nods toward present-day concerns. Food security, global instability, and the environmental cost of industrial fishing all sit quietly behind the bright surface of the work. Curated by Nir Harmat, Movables is an exhibition about the layered nature of memory and identity. In this small series, Studio Knob offers a poetic and unexpected transformation. What begins as packaging becomes a vessel for stories and a symbol of everything that travels with us. A sardine can becomes a suitcase. A suitcase becomes a story.
the object held in hand, showing its lightweight structure and dry-fit assembly
3D printed brackets, rubber bands, and a paper luggage tag transform the sardine can into a suitcase
the repeated elements emphasize color variation, form consistency, and the object’s modular nature
the gesture frames the objects as tools for storytelling, travel, or open-ended play
the objects maintain their identity as food packaging while suggesting alternate uses through minimal intervention
project info:
name: Foreign Passport
designer: StudioKnob | @studio_knob
lead designers: Adi Azar & Yotam Shifroni
photographer: Meidan Gil Harush | @akameidan
designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom