Shin & Tomoko Azumi met at the Royal College of Art

The signature Shin & Tomoko Azumi comes out of one London school: both trained at the Royal College of Art, he in 1994, she in 1995, and they worked together under the AZUMI name. Their London years also produced the interiors of the United Kingdom Supreme Court, the Harrys shops and an exhibition for the Crafts Council, and their work entered the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Stedelijk.

For Lapalma they drew the LEM stool in 2000, named after the Lunar Excursion Module. La Mercanti specifies it wherever a counter needs seating that stays visually light, and the ZA System when a floor needs dividing without building.