What If We Stop Everything?

A look at MW.S Research Week, and why we believe exploration is a responsibility, not a luxury.

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Much of what has been built at the studio started by following our wonder.

In 2017, we had the idea to make a print magazine. While it was in production, we launched a podcast to find the people who might one day buy it. We didn’t follow a playbook. We followed our instincts. And it worked.

The magazine sold out, which gave us the confidence to keep experimenting. We expanded into other physical formats like apparel, and eventually started hosting long-form interviews with more than 50 people whose work we felt was worth sharing. By then, Mouthwash had become a global destination for creative inspiration.

All of this happened before we officially began operating as a design studio in 2019.

As the studio has matured and the creative challenges got bigger, it’s become easier to get caught in the gravity of the day-to-day. A teammate needs a hand. A deck needs finishing. A deadline gets moved up. The calendar wins.

But we realized: always reacting would lead us to lose the thing that got us here in the first place. And maybe wonder and innovation aren’t luxuries, they’re responsibilities. If we don’t create space for them, we’re already on the path to irrelevance.

So in 2023, we launched the Mouthwash Research Center (MWRC): a dedicated R&D vertical within the studio that gives our team permission to explore without constraint. It’s a space to test new skills, investigate tools, and imagine futures that don’t exist yet.

Twice a year, we pause all client work for an entire week. Meetings are canceled. Deadlines are moved. Each person at MW.S gets a brief that starts with a few open questions:

1. What do you want to see, hear, or feel that doesn’t exist yet?

2. What tools do you want to test or build?

3. What are you curious about, but haven’t had time to explore?

The only rule is to think without rules.

The brief says it best:

“There is no expectation of what the output of these projects should be. It can be as big or as small as what is fitting for your specific project. Be thinking now about what your potential ideas can be, how they might come to life, and what help you might need along the way to realize that vision. Progress on your ideas and experiments are shared at the midway and end points of Research Week.”

It’s always incredible to see what the team comes up with. As we wrap our first Research Week of the year, we’re using this edition of Findings to share a glimpse of where our curiosity has taken us.

We don’t know exactly where this leads. That’s kind of the point. If curiosity got us this far, we’re betting it’ll take us even further. When you stop everything, you start to notice the things that matter most. Patterns worth chasing. Questions that won’t let go.

That’s the kind of work we plan to keep doing.

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Thanks for reading

Findings is a project by Mouthwash Studio, a design studio centered on new ideas and defining experiences. Learn more about what we’re doing with Findings here. In the archive, you’ll find all our work to date surrounding this project.

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