interviews – Page 6 – DesignApplause

Interview with Acme studio.

Oct 17, 2011

left> “capacitive” tipped pen for the ipad, notepad or iphone
[DesignApplause] We’re talking to Adrian Olabuenaga and Lesley Bailey, who founded ACME Studio. The company makes products and accessories designed by the world’s foremost architects, designers, and artists. Acme has been nominated for multiple design awards including the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award. It’s an honor to talk to you guys.

scale | shigeru ban

left>scale | shigeru ban

[DA] Let’s start with a little background.
[Lesley Bailey ] I was born and raised in New Zealand. At an early age I was exposed to modern design by parent’s friends that lived in a very new house built in the mid 50s, with all the latest furniture accessories. My father, who was an avid artist, was by day a linesman technician and he taught me about the world by painting a picture. For example, if I was listening to the radio and asked “What’s a brass band?” he would paint me a picture of what a brass band looked like. In this environment I grew up reading about Picasso, Monet, etc., which filled me with a wonderment about art. I also grew up with a best friend who lived in a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired house which I never knew until we had moved to Maui. Imagine my surprise. So I was surrounded with art, design, and architecture.
[DA] Adrian, that’s a tough act to follow!
[Adrian Olabuenaga] I won’t try to top it. I was born in Argentina. My father was an architect so I was always around and exposed to design of that time, of that period. I started to make jewelry when I was very young (16 years old) and everything just neatly merged together becoming architectural jewelry. I became aware of the Memphis Group in the 80s and began to collaborate with one of the American members of the Memphis Group, Los Angles based designer Peter Shire. We started to work together on a jewelry project and he also introduced us to Ettore Sottsass who in turn introduced us to all the Memphis designers. That’s how it all started.
[DA] Were you and Lesley both working together at the time?
[AO] Just as I had put this thing together Lesley moved to the US and after making a series of pieces the company was founded in 1985.[LB] How I learnt about Memphis was Adrian calling me up when I was living in Sydney, Australia. Adrian had just seen the Memphis show at Janus Gallery in LA. He told me to find the hippest furniture store, which I did, and they just happened to have the right book on the subject. So I sat down and read this book by Barbara Radice who ended up being one of our closest friends. Soon thereafter I moved to Los Angeles where as Adrian says, it all began there.
[DA] Memphis, such a fun and expressive genre. Do you feel that Memphis just sort of petered out?
[AO] I don’t think it petered out. It had the influence it was meant to have and it changed the design landscape and opened up so many doors and new possibilities for young designers. The designers entering the field now, few are aware of the history and the doors that were opened for them by Memphis. Interestingly, at this time there was nothing going on in design but after Memphis, there were never as many designers as there are now.
[DA] I believe that 95% of “good design” is genre-based. All clever adaptations and mixings of classic movements. These classics are terribly important for many reasons. Wouldn’t you agree?
[LB] Most definitely. Bauhaus for example is the root of so much. For instance our logo shapes are from the Bauhaus. After Adrian saw the Memphis show, he realized that out of every great movement there was always a jewelry collection associated with it, such as Art Deco, and Art Nouveau, so why not do a Memphis Collection? Knowing that Peter Shire, the only West Coast Memphis designer, lived in LA Adrian contacted him. At this time Adrian was producing enamel, cloisonné, and Memphis with its bright colors was a perfect match for the technique. We took cloisonné, a thousand-year-old process, and brought it into the 80s. It was taking something that was small and delicate and making it really wow.
[DA] Repurposing to the nth.
[AO] Exactly. Applying old rules to what’s happening now.
[LB] One of our goals was to design a biodegradable pen, which Adrian did in 2009. So you can use it and throw it away and it degrades, so we are not impacting landfills. We have been reusing or repurposing from the beginning of our business one of our first biggest investments was a shredding machine, which we use for all our interior packaging of our shipments. As Adrian says, “we were green before green was green.”
[DA] During the Memphis period in the mid-80s there were many things happening. Sadly, Steve Jobs died yesterday, and he was responsible for a big change in the 80s with the Mac computer. It changed the game, had a tremendous influence on designers, allowed them to do these “playful” things with typography and layout. I remember when April Greiman and Kathy McCoy hit the design community by storm with Postmodern and New Wave.
[LB] April Greiman. She created a brooch for us designed entirely on the MacIntosh and we used that art to create the brooch in cloisonné.
[AO] April was one of the first designers to see the Mac being applied to graphic design. Before we get into a new subject, there was something left unsaid about Memphis: it was created out of necessity as there was nothing going on in design. It wasn’t plotted out in a manner to change the world. It wasn’t meant to be a movement, it just happened because it was needed. In this country everything seems to have to have a title, an “ism”. Even big institutions incorrectly classify Memphis into Postmodern. When we had a Memphis as a movement discussion with Ettore, he explained that Memphis had nothing to do with Postmodern. The only connection they had to Postmodernism was including Mr. Graves in the group. It was about exploration, creating new possibilities.
[LB] I am sure people are not aware of how Memphis was part of their everyday life back then. It influenced all graphic design from TV credits to greeting cards. Memphis is Acme’s roots so it is always part of who we are.
[AO] And nobody really understood where it came from. The majority of the consumers had no clue. To most it was just a group of Italians and a group of people from around the world producing a distinctive style. And yet the influence it had is still felt today.
[DA] What you may know and what I find interesting, is the Memphis style, the Postmodern style, is the most uncomfortable, most unnatural style for a student or young designer to execute. They tend to be so careful and don’t get that you’ve got to be in a very playful experimentation mood. The geometric shapes and primary colors, bright colors, is basic visual imagery. They have a hard time letting go and having this is really fun visual dialog.
[AO] That’s right. Every color, every shape, every position, there’s no limit really. And that’s more difficult than a design project with stricter design parameters.
[LB] And I think another reason why this is so today is the creative structure is different. There’s no time to play. The Memphis guys sat around all afternoon in a room drinking wine and eating pasta, hanging out, and having fun. The end result brings a smile to your face. It is all about having fun.
[DA] Are you familiar with the designer Jane Dillon?
[AO] No, I don’t believe so.
[DA] You’ll have to go on DesignApplause or search the DesignMuseum site. I found her by accident. We have a photo of a chair with the question “do you know who did this and when?” And if you said Peter Shire and mid-80s you’d be wrong. This designer did her chair in the late 60s. She worked with Ettorre in Italy. She was doing this stuff and influencing Sottsass and his colleagues.
[AO] Remarkable. It just proves that everyone is influenced by something, someone. You’d have to be sequestered on a mountaintop where you met no one, be untouched by the outside world to avoid an outside influence. That’s why studying design, design history is important. You grow larger when an accomplished someone guides you around until you develop your own style or whatever. Someone has to push that first button.
[DA] You look for mentors, you look for inspiration. And while you are doing that you are also searching for your own voice. Here’s a question. You work with such talented and renowned designers and artists, what’s the process, who contacts who?
[AO] Obviously at the beginning we were doing all the approaching. But over time it’s now about 50-50. Three or four years ago we stopped inviting people because we had so many backlogged designs waiting to be released that we needed to catch up. And as soon as we stopped inviting people we started getting bombarded by designers wanting to design for us. A lot of really good stuff. But today we are also working with designers that are not well known yet or people far removed from the design world. We love jazz and recently began a project with some of our favorite musicians like John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, and Lenny White (all of whom recorded with Miles Davis) and bassist Stanley Clarke are people who have profoundly influenced music as certain designers have influenced design. And the relationships and friendships that have come out of this collaboration are quite unbelievable to us.
[DA] Yes, I’m looking at your list. You have Blue Man Group for example, my goodness. I see you have Stanley Tigerman, a local Chicago architect, who by the way has done a very nice china in a Deco Memphis black and white motif. How did that happen?
{AO] That was done during the period when we were approaching designers and we wanted to start an architect’s collection. We started with Philip Johnson asking him to design part of the collection, but he did not do decorative arts, so he instead proposed to curate the collection and helped with a list of architects that we should invite. When it was done, Philip also helped choose the designs that went into production.
[DA] What you’re doing is dealing with established, visible people and plunking them on objects. What have you learned, how important is a signature style on the object?
[AO] It is and it isn’t important. We have big names with big styles and we have unknowns who have produced great work for us. We just talked to a young designer at a trade show and she asked us if you have to be famous to work for Acme. Our answer was, “no, you just have to be good”. And she submitted some things that went into production and it’s doing great.
[LB] When we started and we created jewelry and the premise was to create art that people could wear. We always want to do things that are a little different. When we did bolo ties back in the 80s, we didn’t do a bolo tie or a lariat like everyone else. We did something very different using a rubber cord. Then somebody copied it and we quit doing bolo ties. Here you go. We did earrings that didn’t match. So you had a mis-match, using different shapes or colors.
[DA] You know what, I do not own one bolo tie. I grew up with skinny pants and pointed shoes.
[AO] And thin little ties and skinny belts.
[DA] Exactly. The nature of your business is you really don’t know what product is going to be successful, do you?
[AO] No way of knowing.
[LB] We don’t have a crystal ball.
[AO] We had one and it broke.
[DA] Two Chicago designers Jim Lienhart and Herbert Murrie created a successful greeting card line California Dreamers, and many of us were asked to submit concepts. There would be twenty concepts and bets were made which ones would be winners. Most were hopelessly wrong.
[AO] The last thing you want to do with anything creative is have a focus group to make decisions. If you need opinions, you’re just looking for security in your decision making. Trust your instincts and if you don’t learn more until you do. One person’s opinion is just as likely to be right as a group decision. But a group decision is rarely a clear vision of the original intent. If you are the designer and you were wrong, sometimes you have to fall on your sword and hopefully learn from it.
[DA] Funny you say that. A week ago at the Cusp Conference here in Chicago a guest speaker, Laura Guido-Clark, said the focus group was the new “F’ word in design.
[LB] Very funny. You need to have passion and believe in what you do. Though some things may fail you have to believe in it whole heartedly. A perfect example: When we moved to Maui we did a collection of chairs designed for us by Peter Shire. These were made of non endangered exotic wood from trees that were cut down that were growing into plumbing or creating problems for people’s foundations. We took them to ICFF to sell but though everyone appreciated their beautiful design and craftsmanship, we were too early for reusing or repurposing wood. These chairs we still have today. They are one of a kind, and are about 10,000 bucks each and still look beautiful. You have to keep your passion alive and believe in what you are doing, even when things do not work out.
[AO] You have to know and accept that when you’re working with good talent you have to trust what they create without any question.
[DA] Ah, you are the perfect clients.
[LB] We had Ettore design our house and he allowed a tremendous amount of input from us but we did let him do his thing, for sure.
[DA] We would love to see imagery of his architectural efforts.
[AO] Ok, we can do that.
[DA] Going after famous people, are you ever denied working with them?
[LB] Yes, but I’m not good at taking no for an answer.
[AO] I think the last one to say no to us was the Richard Avedon estate. We wanted to use Mr. Avedon’s iconic psychedelic Beatles photos because we are doing this project with the Beatles.
[DA] Let’s talk about the Beatles project. I read your release, almost three pages long just describing what and how you plan on creating and releasing this vast collection. [ note: The Beatles Collection Prelude ]
[AO] How it came to us was as simple as an email. We get an email that says we represent the Beatles and we would like to do a project with you.! Are you interested? That was it.
[LB] It took about 1/10th of a second to make that decision.
[AO] Maybe of interest, we have been talking a lot about design up till now. But this collection is less design and more about pop culture. It’s like crossing over to the dark side for some but we find we have no problem with merging deign with pop culture. If it’s done right, pop culture becomes design too and vice versa. When we started thinking about designing the Beatles project we came to the realization that this project was going to be a huge responsibility. All of a sudden you realize that you have the Beatles in your hands and what do you do? It meant we had to do something different than what we normally do.
[DA] When did you announce the collection?
[AO] We announced it this past January. We didn’t even have a sample when we made the announcement, just computer generated images on paper. And people were lining up saying ‘I want, I want’. And since it’s all limited edition, we were almost completely sold out of the first run before we even had a sample in our own hands.
[DA] How much lead time was required from when you started the project and when you announced last January?
[AO] It took two months to create a strategy and some of the product concepts. And we began shipping the first part of the project this past August.
[DA] Where does your creative come from? In-house? What’s your work environment like?
[AO] It’s kind of a funny thing. During the day, I’m business. When I go home at night I become designer. So for this project I sketched at night and had our staff develop it the next day in the office. The Beatles took a couple of weeks in this mode before we settled in on the best possible strategy.
[DA] The creative’s brain never turns off does it.
[LB] People ask us what are we going to do when we retire. Designer’s don’t retire, they just die. Eva Ziesel who is our oldest living designer is still designing and she will be 105 this year.
[AO] It’s not a rare thing when architect’s do their best work in their 70s or 80s. That’s a well known fact.
[DA] Are you continuing to look for new things to make?
[AO] We’re always looking for new things to make. I was recently asked when the economy gets bad like it is now, if we stick to the status quo or do we continue to innovate. Our answer is that I don’t think we know how to keep the status quo. We don’t know how to not keep moving forward.
[DA] How old is your leather category and how is that category performing?
[AO] We started it about three or four years. It does very well on its own, but once you get into a category like the pens with a great deal of volume you kind of get spoiled.
[LB] And when you talk about our pens today, the writing instruments, we can talk about repurposing. For example, we’ve taken our standard roller ball pen that you can convert with our fountain pen converter into a fountain pen and now you can also convert it using our brand new “capacitive” tip front section that can then be used on an iPad, Notepad, an iPhone or any smart phone.
[DA] Are you going to do iPhone and iPad cases?
[LB] No, other people are already doing that.
[AO] And you’re talking about creating a category that is dependent on what someone else is making. Especially one who is notorious for upgrading and changing. That would be a mistake. Once a product is discontinued you now have a warehouse full of things you can’t sell.
[DA] You have a preponderance of locations in the Far East. Why is that?
[AO] That wasn’t the plan, it just happened that way. It was the exposure, being in the right place at the right time and keeping options open. But because of our Asian presence, we were approached by a company in the United Arab Emirates and in the past few months we opened up distribution there. They came over here to meet with us. In that part of the world they need to really see you, meet you, look into your eyes, which is an unbelievably productive custom. They spent a 24-hour day traveling to meet with us for three hours. We were beyond flattered and they are wonderful to people and great to work with. We’re now designing two Acme Shop-in-Shops to open in Dubai.

casa maui | ettore sottsass

ettore sottsass designed casa maui | click to enlarge

[LB] To get back to why we are in Asia, to begin with, we’ve been in Japan since 1987. And they took the Memphis collection very seriously, but then they take design very seriously. And I remember when we were discussing our house with Ettore he said if we built it LUCK would follow. We never even thought about his comment again until we were being interviewed in 2007 at the opening of our flagship store in Tokyo. That’s when we realized luck did follow, here we were 20 years later opening our first flagship store and 10 years after moving into our house that Ettore designed for us.
[DA] Thank you for your time that was a fun hour!
[LB & AO] Thank you, we had a fun too!!

[ acme studio ] [ ettore sottsass ] [ memphis group ] [ jane dillon ] [ laura guido-clark ]

Acme studio. Beatles collection prelude.

Oct 6, 2011

On Monday 17 October, we posted an [ interview with Acme Studio ] founders Adrian Olabuenaga and his wife, Lesley Bailey.

To coincide with Martin Scorsese’s documentary on [ George Harrison: Living in the Material World ] for HBO on the 5&6 of October, we give you a sneak peek at the “Beatles Collection” while we finish transcribing our interview. Acme Studio has a licensing agreement with Apple Corps, Ltd. brokered by Live Nation Merchandise, The Beatles North American Licensing Agent, to introduce a limited-edition collection of pens, timepieces, card cases and eyeglass cases featuring iconic imagery inspired by the legendary lads from Liverpool. The collection debuted August at the New York International Gift Fair. The collection will introduce nine individually numbered limited-edition pens commemorating each year that the Beatles were together, beginning with 1962. Two pens will be released every six months, with edition numbering that matches the year depicted on the pen, i.e., 1,962 pieces will be available for 1962. In addition, as part of the initial launch, Acme Studio will introduce “The Beatles,” a set of four pens featuring John, Paul, George and Ringo, in four interchangeable formats (rollerball, felt tip, ballpoint and fountain) in a numbered edition of 600. “Invasion,” a single pen commemorating the year The Beatles arrived in the United States will also be released in a limited edition of 1,964 pieces. For each of the 13 UK albums released by the Beatles, a pen and card case set packaged within miniature album covers will be introduced in editions of 1,000 pieces each. The first set introduced will be “Please Please Me,” followed by “With The Beatles,” and “A Hard Day’s Night.” Three sets will be released every six months. The timepieces will join the collection in November 2011 in limited editions of 1,000 pieces each. Three eyeglass cases will also be introduced in November 2011. “The Beatles Collection, is the most elaborate, most researched, the most comprehensive collection of Beatles products that has ever been produced and the first Beatles products ever to have been accepted into the permanent collection of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. ACME has also written a book about the collection.

brooches by peter shire, necklace by marco zanini, earrings by adrian olabuenaga, earrings by ettore sottsass, broach by beppe caturegli, circa 1986. photo credit | from collection of @DennisZanone

[ About Acme Studio ]
From a pen by Richard Meier or Shigeru Ban to a pair of cuff links by Massimo Vignelli, Acme Studio is a leading manufacturer and distributor of products and accessories designed by the world’s foremost architects, artists and designers. Acme’s first appearance in 1985 consisted of a collection of accessories designed by Peter Shire of the renowned Memphis Group, which changed the face of jewelry just as Memphis changed the face of design. Founded by husband-and-wife Adrian Olabuenaga and Lesley Bailey, and nominated for multiple design awards including the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award. Their product is distributed by leading retailers, museums worldwide. The Ettore Sottsass designed company facilities on the hillside of Haleakala Crater in Maui, speaks for Acme’s long-lasting relationships with their designers and architects. [ acme studio ]

interview with experience consultant laura guido-clark. cusp 2011.

Sep 26, 2011

we created a color palette for emeco 111 navy chair made from 111 recycled coke bottles and collaborated with their internal team to drive the aesthetic towards a singular and “velvet” finish.
In anticipation of Cusp Conference 2011, we are telephone chatting with guest speaker Laura Guido-Clark.
[DesignApplause] What do you call yourself professionally?
[Laura-Guido-Clark] I think you started with probably the toughest question. But I think we kind of landed on “experience consultants” because we’re trying to shape the human experience. How color, material, finish, and pattern, the skin of surfaces, affects the human experience.

[DA] What’s your background? How did you evolve into an experience consultant?
[LGC] I’ve always loved science and loved design so while in college I didn’t know if I wanted to be a doctor or a designer and found out the processes were really similar. And of course I wound up being a designer and my degree is in interior design. But I went back and studied textile design. A bit later when with my former partner, we were getting many surface design projects. BTW, my partner retired and I’ve since been on my own nine years. But I discovered how much I loved working with surfaces, what they could do, and how you would engage whether you put your hand on a fabric, held a cell phone, sat in a car, all of these experiences became important to me and as well as how it made people feel.

[DA] What’s your office environment like?
[LGC] It’s colorful. It’s a combination of old and new in terms of furniture. Of course the surfaces are quite tactile and engaging. The walls and work tables are white because we have to view color. It’s a warm environment, a lot of natural light. And it’s homey.

[DA] You mention natural light. Is that the best light to test color?
[LGC] Natural light is great, it’s an ideal light. But we have to test in all lighting environments. We are very mindful of the context of things and how they’re used. If your product resides in fluorescent lighting, then we test with that light.

[DA] What’s the non-natural ambient light in your office?
[LGC] Our ambient light is warm light rather than cool. So no fluorescent unless in our test areas.

[DA] I’m in the middle of writing an article about buying LED lighting in 2012 aware that the incandescent has been congress mandated to cease and desist. What’s your opinion on LED’s?
[LGC] We’re aware of LED development but I need to learn more about it before I can comment. But lighting is indeed going through a revolution and we’re getting closer to where we can really control our lighting environment experience. It’s how we feel and respond in lighting environments, it’s an active vs a passive experience and that’s exciting to me.

[DA} The new LED’s coming down the pike are very high-tech, some almost artforms. I’m all for the government, in this case, forcing the lighting manufacturers to create a more energy efficient and aesthetic light source. Do you get involved in shape?
[LGC] What’s nice, our team is getting involved very early on and we’ve been able to educate our client that color is not a band-aid and we in fact do get involved with shape that addresses humanistic qualities and materialities. So, while we’re not industrial designers we are asked to weigh in on many aspects, in particular the humanistic aspects of our products which can range from a car to a toothbrush.

[DA] What disciplines make up your team?
[LGC] We are cross-disciplined with graphic and industrial designers, and marketing strategists. And we are global.

[DA] A tempting phrase the following question, “are your solutions only skin-deep?” How deep do you go?
[LGC] We do go really deep. What we realize and honor is intuition in design but we also have to honor process, and observation, and science. We’ve trademarked this process “Climatology™” and this process was in response to a company that had to change a large production line. And the company has to trust your opinion. It’s not enough to say that you have this feeling that pink is the new color. Climatology looks at things in a much bigger way. We try to access the temperature, reading the social, political, economic, and emotional climate, and what we’re really looking for are the human values it impacts. The values and desires will translate into color, materials, and pattern. And we can substantiate these attributes and give a brand a DNA. So yes, we go really deep.

[DA] How old is the Climatology process?
[LGC] It was trademarked six or seven years ago.

[DA] How early to you become involved and what’s the typical time frame?
[LGC] Our research is generally three to six months. We take a lot of time to research what a brand is, what it stands for. Our due diligence seeks to make something come alive through our mapping process in Climatology.

[DA] You were quoted in this month’s “United States of design” issue of Fast Company, regarding the state of design in the USA. You say “sometimes we prefer the quick fix over the long haul. Our culture isn’t’ necessarily disciplined or long suffering.” It’s not unusual for designers with global experience to say European business may be more emotion driven, while the US may be more a marketed-to culture business mindset, less about the heart and more to where it’s going, an implication of a long-haul objective. What are you referring to?
[LGC] Maybe I’m looking at it from a different standpoint. If we talk about Japan I’m thinking in terms of patience more than process. I think in our culture there is a lot of due diligence and in the projects I’ve been involved in, Japan for example, there’s also a sameness in due diligence. I’m talking about the patience in results. And I’m thinking how quickly we cycle things. There is something to be said about, let’s think about kids and their expectation of what technology has brought, even on a global level, that things are happening very quickly. When I think about Sony for example, how they had the patience to penetrate this market and they have shown they are pointed to be in it for the long-haul. I do believe that there are cultures that are more disposable, that we’re really looking at it on a different basis of sustainability. I do believe the US is also research driven and looking at sustainability but I wouldn’t say that patience is number one in our culture.

[DA] Agree with the patience thing. May we quote you again? Two years ago, in the Fast Company blog, you made a little opine on focus groups and how they don’t work when used to determine a creative solution. The comments on that post were very insightful and well articulated as well. Did you have any fallout from that article?
[LGC] I got more of a positive response than a negative response. Steve Jobs has even spoken against focus groups. You can’t be asking for that sense of validation if you do. When you’re talking about your due diligence, if you really feel that you’ve brought in best, and have done your homework you should stick with that. People will always have their opinions and it’s about who you listen to and who you’re trying to please, and I often feel that in a focus group you’re trying to please everyone. And your product begins to look like that and you wind up not making a statement on who you really are.
[DA] Yes, many times a focus group is used as validation within your own company, to sell those who are remotely involved in the creative process.
[LGC] Right, in those situations you want guarantees. I don’t know of any design process where risk isn’t involved. When you want guarantees you move towards safety. And with safety and many times you get compromise and you start to lose your point of view. Even Malcohm Gladwell in his book Blink, he talks about how companies would have missed out on some of their best introductions if they would have listened to focus groups. Herman Miller is a good example. No one wanted the chair in the focus groups.
[DA] You’re talking about the Aeron chair. The focus groups hated that chair.
[LGC] Herman Miller did six years of research and the chair becomes number one in the market. Yes, and that’s the risk part. And now you have to give Apple credit. they’re not asking for permission, they’re doing what they believe in.

[DA] Personally, I think folks hire us because of what we like. I like the classics, and as a result I get to work on a lot of projects I like that have classic overtones. How do you take yourself out of the equation when your recommending this or that?
[LGC] I think it’s very important to start each project with a blank canvas and always ask the “what if” as well as truly understanding your client’s point of view. They’re hiring you for your expertise but it’s not about imposing your sensibility, but by the same token you are trying to make things exciting for them. It goes back to you also having that deep understanding of who they are and where they want to go. So I try to become really empathic and try to be a very good listener.

[DA] How do you present your surface and color solutions to your client?
[LGC] The first thing we do is talk about the “why” behind it. So there’s always this feeling that it’s substantiated and something deeper. And if it’s a deep dive its Climatelogy can be a very in-depth report about what’s going on and what’s the humanistic values and how we’re going to move towards that. The presentation always involves visuals that show how we got to where we got to. Because everything we do is tactile it involves the actual color, material, and finish because that’s what really is going to move them. That’s the end result. That’s the visual response we need because that’s exactly what’s going to happen in the marketplace.

[DA] When you wish to match color on different materials, say the interior of a car, the dashboard, the seats, the carpeting. How do you go about it?
[LGC] We work with different lighting sources but many times it has to be about reflectivity and absorption and sometimes we don’t want it to match exactly. Sometimes we want it to be a rich experience. Many times it’s letting the material be its optimal self. If it’s a wood you want to be aware of the grain. If it’s leather you probably don’t want it to be perfect like vinyl. If materials can be themselves then they can work together.

[DA] Yes, totally agree. Graphic designer Jim Sebastian championed a color matching system called the “Colorcurve System” that addressed the tendency of some colors to appear different on a variety of surfaces, materials, and in different lighting conditions. This system was based on light reflectance curves and not on pigment formulations. It made it possible to match color that would remain closely matched even as the light source varied. The company, Colorcurve System Inc., is nowhere to be found but this scientific color matching system was so good and precise it must exist somewhere under another name. That’s what instigated this question in the first place. I used it several times when an exact match was required for printed brochures, packaging, product and tradeshow exhibits.
[LGC] I own the system and used to work with it many years ago. It was an intuitive, precise system to use. Sorry it isn’t still around!
[DA] editor’s note: Jim Sabastian responded, the Colorcurve System is discontinued. He’s aware of a European system called “Natural Color System” and suggests looking into it.

[DA] I’m going to ask you a question I think I know the answer to. Are you digital or sketchbook?
[LGC] I am very much about imagery and collage which puts me half in each world but I am not amazingly well versed on the computer. I’m a much more hands on person.
[DA] I’m somewhat surprised, my research leading up to our chat placed you as a techie. So you are a traditional creative embracing the technology.
[LGC] Ha! I embrace technology but my team is well versed. I use technology a bit differently. I’m really a hands on person and that’s why I’ve always loved color, materials, and finishes. It’s a 3-D world. The imagery on a screen is beautiful but I love the 3-D world.
[DA] I do to. And it’s a gift to be able to visualize and see the 3-D, not everyone has the gift.
[LGC] Aren’t you excited about the new 3-D technology and how they can build up layers to create models. Incredibly exciting.

[DA] I’m not as well-versed in 3-D as maybe I should be. But I’m aware that many new capabilities are being announced almost daily. Are there any schools that specialize in color or surface design?
[LGC] I have taught color at CCA (California College of Art) but I haven’t found any teaching color or color theory. What I find most is different disciplines when it comes to applying color, like industrial designers or even interior designers who are a little more comfortable, but they’re not as comfortable with the medium because there is not a lot of exposure to color. The thing I find most important in teaching color is to eliminate the fear for rich experimentation. That’s where wonderful things happen. It’s really about experiment.

[DA] What drives your projects? Are you given products that present new materials you are not familiar with?
[LGC] What drives the projects is your curiosity and asking “what if” and looking at the materials as if you’ve never seen them before even though you’ve seen them a million times. And you work with others who really understand materiality and really research the new materials and think about how those properties might be used as an asset to the industrial designer to create something that is more revolutionary. And it really depends on what the industrial designer is trying to say. If they’re trying to do something classic we research differently than if they’re trying to something that is say, more experimental, driving towards technology. Those are things we have to understand before we start.

[DA] Designers who get into research like you do might all say the most exciting projects are the ones they know zero about. It forces the issue of starting from scratch.
[LGC] Yes! It’s exciting, exhilarating when you start with that blank empty piece of paper. It’s very satisfying when you are asking yourself questions. It’s unfolding all the different layers which is such a great part of the process.

[DA] What inspires you?
{LGC] Nature is an amazing inspiration, like watching what true beauty is and how things change. From a color standpoint no one does it better than nature. There’s also that whole sense of humanity, this sense that we’re so much more connected than we sometimes acknowledge. And I think that the human heart, this ability to be open, this ability to reach out, and be vulnerable, it also inspiring. And that we can ask the question “why” and we can be continuously curious. That gives a reason everyday to get up because you get to learn something new if you choose to.

[DA] I’m pretty opinionated (maybe to a fault ) about color and textures, there are ones that I love and hate. Just look into my closet and those colors and fabrics are there and have been for long time. What about you?
[LGC] I can’t say that I dislike any one color? For me color is about context and relationships. So while something might not feel right to me, maybe isolated or in a pair, i can add a third color, i can love the whole, all the colors together. To me it’s about playing and understanding the relationship they have to one another. One of the exercises we actually did in school was to take a color that they liked and one they hated and then find a color in the middle that married them. And most of the time they actually didn’t hate that color anymore.

[DA] How do your “surface” yourself and your living environment?
[LGC] I like to layer things. In terms of clothes I like things simple, I love the whole unexpected idea that something might be a salvaged edge or show me that there was a human hand involved. I love this whole idea of juxtaposing different types of materiality. In terms of what I surround myself with and be inspired, I love color and I love different materials and have different materials mirror one another like a linen sofa, a glass table, a velvet cushion. I like the way materials talk to one another. I drive a little red Mini Cooper which makes me happy. She’s something like a cartoon. I just love her.
[DA] What’s her name?
[LGC] Her name is Beatrice. I like to have fun and I like to explore. I like to be out and about, I like to observe things. I love to people-watch. I think that’s incredibly telling. I guess that’s kind of a reflection of how I approach my work.

[DA] How does your own work represent your own philosophy on the state of design?
[LGC] My work is humanistic. It often solves problems but it also allows you to discover things in your life that perhaps you didn’t even know that you needed and it engages you in a way that is much deeper than just the surface. It’s not just a pretty thing. It’s something that you want around for a long long time. That’s a big goal. You know, the primary tenet of eco-consciousness, you have to want it, you have to create desire. Because, even if it’s made of an eco material and you don’t want it around, it’s no longer eco-conscious.

[DA] Laura, what’s your life like now?
[LGC] Last year I kind of had an epiphany, I realized I spent a great deal of time trying to discover what a client’s DNA was and encouraging them more of who they were in the world but then sometimes I wasn’t doing that for my own company. And that epiphany allowed a shift into looking at life beyond work and I’m in the process of forming a non-profit, hoping that it makes people smile and makes people feel like they’re respected and valued, mainly through color. I’m really excited about that. I really can’t wait to interface with more kids and make changes that maybe can make the world just a little bit better.
[DA] That sounds absolutely wonderful and great.
[LGC] Yay!

[DA] What’s next?
[LGC] I’m speaking at Cusp Conference next week as you know. And we’re going to introduce the non-profit at Cusp which is exciting. And other things on the horizon: cameras, textiles and furniture finishes.

[DA] Do you have a question?
[LGC] Tell me about DesignApplause.
[DA] Another story! Laura, we now have a better understanding of what an experience consultant is. See you at Cusp.
[LGC] See you at [ Cusp ]

[ guido-clark background ]
Laura Guido-Clark is a designer whose passion is to make the human response to products more meaningful through color, material, finish and pattern. Through her trademarked process, Climatology(tm), she researches and tracks relevant changes on the social, political, economic and emotional fronts. She distills these collective traces of the consumer consciousness into a thesis about their needs and unfulfilled desires – figuring out what people really want and why, often before they even know it themselves.
Her multiple disciplinary design studio collaborates with companies like Kodak, HP, LG and Toyota – as well as start-ups across industries such as automotive, consumer electronics, and home furnishings. Her textile and pattern design include work for HBF, Pallas, FLOR and Uncommon. As a result of her expertise, Laura has been invited to speak both nationally and internationally on design, and is an expert design blogger for Fast Company magazine. [ l-gc studio ]

jobs plus rand equals logo.

Aug 25, 2011

In 1993 Steve Jobs talks about his logo designer for Next, Paul Rand. Encounter exposes a common thread between them.

For example, did Jobs talk to other designers? No. Rand was the only designer Jobs approached. And Jobs asks if Rand will show him a few options. Rand says, “No, I will solve your problem for you and you will pay me. You don’t have to use the solution and if you want options go to other people. But I will solve your problem for you the best way that I know how.”

Editor’s note: I chaired a conference on corporate identity for the STA (Society of Typographic Arts) before becoming the American Center for Design and I called Mr. Rand four times asking him if he would speak. Well, it was not going to happen. He said he didn’t go to these things, period. Yes, very curmudgeony. The final speakers were: David Strong (David Strong); Robert Burns (Burns Cooper and Hynes); Phil Seefeld (Landor); John Massey (Container Corporation); Wayne Webb (RVI Corporation); Herb Murrie (Murrie White Drummond Lienhart).

Five years later I co-chaired Trademarks USA2 for the STA. Thinking Mr. Rand needed a more esteemed roster and asked: Saul Bass (Bass Yeager); Ivan Chermayeff (Chermayeff & Geismar); Walter Landor (Landor); Walter Margulies (Lippincott Margulies; John Massey (Container Corporation); Wayne Webb (RVI Corporation). Of interest, first time the Walter’s met face-to-face. Mr. Rand said thanks but it was going to be paralysis due to over analysis. He asked if I put this much time into solving design problems.

I had forgotten about this interview, thanks Steve Juras. [ paul rand’s business card ]

Interview with designer Todd Bracher. Neocon 2011.

Aug 18, 2011

todd bracher sitting on humanscale’s “trea” [click on photo to enlarge]

It’s Tuesday, 14 June, Flag Day. We’re talking to Todd Bracher in the Chicago showroom of Humanscale.
[DesignApplause] Todd, give us a little idea of what your work environment is like.
[Todd Bracher] I’d say my work environment is quite neutral. I’m based in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which is sort of a barren part of New York City, which is quite a contrast in its own right. It’s almost like working on a sailboat. You have views onto the harbor and to the East River. It’s wonderful. But what I love about it is the large, open, industrial-like space, really neutral, no outside influences around me. In other words, I look out the window and I see the water and the sky and for me it’s just a white slate. It’s a wonderful place to think and not be influenced by anything.

view from workspace

view from workspace

[DA] Tell us a little bit about your process.
[TB] I don’t know if our process is unusual or not. We research and study nature, for example natural selection, and we talk a lot about Darwin and how nature finds the ultimate solution. It’s similar to baking bread. We know we need certain ingredients. We put all of the ingredients together and start to bake this bread. And we know that if we throw any of the ingredients away it won’t be just right. At the end of the day we pursue the most efficient solution based on market and client needs.
[DA] What kinds of things are you working on, what do you create?
[TB] This may sound cliche but we’re out to make real-world solutions and we’re not interested in just making beautiful objects. It will be beautiful but it has to sell, it has to be smart and useful for people. We work on a variety of things. From “Trea” for Humanscale which is intended to be a higher volume light task chair all the way to lounge seating and lighting. It’s a broad spectrum from creative direction to branding to final product production.
[DA] Your youthfulness belies remarkable accomplishments. You have a decade of experience working in Copenhagen, Milan, Paris and London; cited as America’s next great Designer and nominations for Designer of the Year in 2008 and 09. You headed Tom Dixon’s design studio, and the creative director at Georg Jensen. Does the head get in the way?
[TB] Are we talking about ego or too much stuff in the head?
[DA] Let’s talk about both.
[TB] If anyone thought I’m about ego then they don’t know me. At the end of the day I’m part of the tool. I am a collaborator. I bring my two cents in but the company has their part as well as the manufacturers and the guys in the workshop. The sales team has there part and everyone everywhere has their part and I’m just a cog in the wheel. And everyone is doing what they’re good at. I’m happy to be the face of the product but I’m not the only one involved.
[DA] What’s the genesis of you work? Does a client call you in and ask you to design a chair? How does it work?
[TB] It works in different ways. With Humanscale I had a conversation with Bob, the CEO and he basically said “make me something that’s cantilevered, make me something really smart, make me something beautiful. And it was sort of that casual. A very European way to approach it, while other clients bring a long brief, 10 pages long. But the first thing we do is we go out and do the homework. We find out what the market is looking for, what it needs, how it uses this or that in actual applications. It doesn’t start with drawing, it starts with research. We also pay attention to the psychological side, how people are attracted to the object. Finally we start drawing and building mockups which leads to final development. But it’s a long front-end of research.

freud | zanotta | 2002

above: freud | zanotta | 2002 [click on photo to enlarge]

[DA] Speaking of front-end, your work experience seems to begin in Europe, you spent 10 years there. You were quoted in Metropolis magazine to that end about where and how designers get their early experience. What inspired you to go to Europe and where to go?
[TB] I guess my earliest motivations was the a chance to be a bit selfish, to absorb myself in design. And I guess I learn more by doing rather than by reading. I had finished an undergrad degree in Pratt in 1996 and started designing consumer products for the U.S. market working for another designer. It was a remote caddy, spice racks, barbecue tools, these kinds of products. It made sense at the time but I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted poetry and artistry that went with it. I wanted concept and more meat to the bones. So I applied for a Fulbright grant and I ended up in Copenhagen, which gave me the wonderful chance to study Danish design. Young American designers, we tend to learn through studying books but in Copenhagen you can go directly to the factories, go visit the actual production that’s happening around the world. I spent two one-half years in Copenhagen and completed the master’s course. Then I went to Milan and started designing for Zanotta and a few other brands and ended up in Paris and then also London for Tom Dixon before coming back to New York. This first-hand experience gave me the tools I hope I need to design.
[DA] In Metropolis magazine you say the European manufacturer can be more spontaneous when giving you an assignment as compared to the U.S. manufacturer. Can you elaborate?
[TB] It’s more or less true though there are reasons for this difference. For the scale of the work that’s done in the U.S., for the difficulty of the task, it’s a much more complicated process. And to do it in a two-year timeframe versus a less complicated European one-year timeframe, I think the design teams here are faster actually. The difference for me may be European business is more emotion driven, it’s more about what you feel plus your direct connection with the owner where together you create something you both feel good about for that year and you see where that goes. It’s also not the long-term plan for most of the European companies and it’s more visceral, more from the hip. The U.S. is more of a marketed-to culture, less about the heart and more to where it’s going, what’s the business part, what’s it for. But it doesn’t mean it’s not beautiful, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t have meaning. At the end of the day it’s still a wonderful, beautiful product that’s well-considered.
[DA] What do you think about products that are designed to be polished and built to last versus products that are designed to be quickly disposable?
[TB] That’s a very broad question. I don’t really make anything that’s disposable. Even if it’s a plastic lamp it’s not made to be disposable. There are of course disposable products in the world, but I don’t intend to work in that world. Though I feel compared to Europe the U.S. is not disposable, most products are in fact built to last. Whereas a European mindset is what’s working and interesting at the moment and where it goes after that is a little less regarded. It doesn’t mean it’s not important but most European companies don’t depend on the product which sometimes works to their advantage and sometimes it does not.
[DA] Who or what inspires you?
[TB] What inspires me are things I could never do myself. For me to go to, let’s say the Museum of Natural History, and to study the life cycle and evolution of fish, for example, is absolutely brilliant and that inspires me. Not furniture, not something I could have made myself.
[DA] There isn’t a day that goes by that you’re not inspired. Right?
[TB] Ha! Well it’s one thing to be inspired and another on how to capture that which has an influence on what you’re doing. And that might happen once or twice a year if you’re lucky.
[DA] What are some of the characteristics of your work?
[TB] I guess you can say “efficiency” which may sound sort of boring but there’s a lot to it. There’s what I call “engineered aesthetics” where we’re making something that’s extremely beautiful but it’s also really purposeful. It’s not just about its beauty. The “Trea” chair for example is all about its reduction. Reducing materials, reducing everything to its bare essential but not letting it get cold and lose its sensual qualities. And at the same time you don’t see the springs and knobs and all those things that make an ergonomic chair comfortable. We’ve done away with all of that and made the mechanism internal. It’s all about boiling down the solution while maintaining the emotional qualities.
[DA] We recently purchased two Eames Sofa Compact benches for our living room. It amazes me that the solution in 1954 was you see all the bolts and springs and it’s so simply put together and yet something very charming. You are reminded of the limited technology.
[TB] For sure. And indirectly we have a similar solution on our “Trea” chair where you see how the back attaches to the seat, you see the seat, you see how the leg attaches, we’re not hiding that. But you don’t see the springs and the screws that make the chair work. It’s a balance between the two.
[DA] Has your style changed since you started? Has it always looked this way and you’re simply refining things?
[TB] It’s been pretty consistent. I’d like to think I keep using this reference that it’s like a tree, and our results are how a tree grows. You would never say that tree doesn’t look very nice, or that branch is in the wrong place. You can’t have an opinion like that in my eyes. It’s more about this thing looks this way because it has to look this way. When I look across my portfolio I don’t see things that could be different, instead the solutions are natural and self-evident.
[DA] How does your work represent your own philosophy on the state of design?
[TB] For me, I think about a fish skeleton. I think of its evolved structure over millions of years. I think of my world in a similar fashion, where I try to boil out the unnecessary and end with pure essentials that have evolved for a reason. You also find another level when you take something home and use it and really then begin to understand it. It may not be obvious until you use it, live with it. How that relates to the state of design today, is that for me, design is not subtle enough. Designers today are trying too hard to have their opinion. And what I do is not to have any opinion, I just let it evolve and let the fish skeleton do its task. And it’s beautiful for what it is, and it’s not about me, not about my opinion. The shapes of these chairs are not my opinion, they’re evolved to be what they are. That says a lot about me not being a designer, more of an editor of its evolution.
[DA] If you weren’t a designer, what would you be?
[TB] Oh, I’d love to be a physicist, but that would never happen, I love to use my hands too much.
[DA] This will be the last question. What’s next?
[TB] That’s probably the toughest question. For me, the next project or next opportunity is really about learning. Every project that I do I try and learn as much as I can. Not only about the technical aspects of design but also about the relations of the people I work with, and the market and where we are going with things. Projects that really get me excited are ones I know nothing about.
[DA] Just one more question. What part of what you do satisfies you the most?
[TB] When the project is finished and I can look back at all the knowledge added to my brain that wasn’t there before the project began. I also believe that mindset influenced me to move to and around Europe and face opportunities to learn the culture, the people who we design for. There’s a somewhat satisfying part using design as that tool to make it all happen.
[DA] Todd, do you have any questions?
[TB] Today is Flag Day. How long have we been celebrating Flag Day?
[DA] I’m not sure. I bet we’ll both research the answer. Thank you Todd, you bring new meaning to baking bread and a fish skeleton. It’s been a fun and inspirational conversation. We’re going to be interviewing Jeffrey Bernett in a few minutes. Do you know him?
[TB] Yes, we’re good friends and are always talking. Give him a hard time, he will enjoy that.

[ bracher background ]
Native New Yorker Todd Bracher, founder of Todd Bracher Studio LLC, is a Designer and Educator currently based in New York City after a decade working in Copenhagen, Milan, Paris and London. Todd has collaborated with some of the world’s most prestigious brands around the world from Furniture and Object Design to Interiors and Architecture. Todd has been pinned as ‘America’s next great Designer’ by the NY Daily News as well as received several nominations for Designer of the year in 2008 and 2009. His experiences range from working independently, heading Tom Dixon’s Design studio, acting Professor of Design at l’ESAD in Reims France, to having been appointed Creative Director of the Scandinavian luxury brand Georg Jensen. [ todd bracher studio ]

Interview with designer jeffrey bernett. Neocon 2011.

Jul 20, 2011

metropolitan chair. designed in 2002, best selling chair in usa today.

[DesignApplause] We’re at Neocon 2011 in the B&B Italia showroom and we’re talking to Jeffrey Bernett, a designer who designs many things. An aside, we just talked to designer, Todd Bracher, and Todd said to give Jeffrey a tough time.
[Jeffrey Burnett] Well, good, he and I are good friends and my comment back is I hope you gave him a harder time. We just had dinner the other night and we’ll eat again tonight. It’s nice to have a field where you can have colleagues all around the world and wherever you go you can connect through the profession.

[DA] How do you communicate?
[JB] I like email, most recently with a designer in Germany, Konstantin Grcic, who I’ve known for a long time. A number of his products for Magis are in the entryway. Also, these trade events bring a lot of clients, designers, and colleagues together so there’s the face-to-face aspect.

[DA] Where’s homebase and what’s your work environment like?
[JB] Homebase is in New York City, SoHo, for the last 15 years, a nice place to have an office. Most of the clients have showrooms nearby. I live about 15 minutes south in TriBeCa so I can walk or ride the bike.

[DA] What’s your office comprised of?
[JB] For the past number of years there have been four of us, super sharp industrial designers and once a week an administrator comes in. We stay pretty lean and mean and try to stay on the industrial side, particularly in Europe. Every once in a while marketing is part of the project.

[DA] What kinds of things to do you work on?
[JB] My first three clients were B&B Italia, Cappellini, and Boffi in Italy and I was the first American to work with them. Getting around the world and knowing that level of design-driven companies is fantastic. Seven years ago we got involved in the office furniture business in the U.S. in a major way working with Knoll to develop their largest selling task seating line. Then we developed their best selling office system. The past two years we’ve been helping realign Herman Miller’s whole office furniture portfolio. We helped coordinate all their offerings with Neocon this year.

[DA] When did the Italian connection begin?
[JB] I lived in England and went to a technical school for one year and then went back to New York. It was 1995 and I didn’t know one designer in the States. In an effort to connect with the industry I took a chance and opened up a booth at ICFF and had the good fortune of winning designer of the year. It was an editor’s award and I met many people, got connected with many well-known design journals. An Italian gentleman came up and asked me about my work, my philosophies, and he said he had an Italian company who would like to make my stuff. That man was Giulio Cappellini. He also recommended I go talk to B&B Italia. Giulio is at Neocon as a part of Cappellini’s partnership with Haworth and I took him along with some other colleagues through Herman Miller. It’s great that after 15 years this dialog still continues. Giulio opened the world of design to me and really changed my life.

[DA] You’re talking about a very elite group, talent, marketing, and manufacturing-wise. Who buys these products today? Does the Internet come into play?
[JB] That’s a good question. My experience, the last 15 years, was a time when the magazine Wallpaper hit the streets which helped sell design as a lifestyle point of view and that had an impact. Then in the last 10 years, certainly the last five, the industry has become connected within the virtual world in a very dynamic way. A next-door neighbor in SoHo is a trendcaster and though in a different industry, Coca Cola and Bacardi, for example. His research says people can act in an introverted way and the Internet allows you to connect based on your interests. And whatever that interest is, you’re connected to the world. That’s an amazing dialog and not just verbally but in a more meaningful way, even sending images. So now you have a world that’s able connect on ideas.

[DA] What’s driving your portfolio?
[JB] Our portfolio is comprised of many companies. One is B&B Italia, a company that defines quality, contemporary lifestyle and culture. There’s Herman Miller, a company that makes office systems that address every type of company you can imagine: from the leaders, the Fortune 50, to the mail-order houses, businesses you never heard of. We’ve done a lot of work for Design Within Reach which represents a price point that lives in a different market segment.

We set up our office by picking different clients in different market segments, different but complimentary. That way we give our best ideas that fit their needs. We tend to work with a client a long time. Very much like slow cooking. It takes a while to get a dialog, understand the culture of the company and help understand where you can find success together.

You’ll find this interesting: the head of design for B&B doesn’t speak much English and my Italian…but we talk to each other in the visual world. And by that definition, design is that collaboration.

It’s also about partnering with good partners. For example, B&B, the technology and innovation that they developed for soft seating shifted the paradigm the same way the Aeron chair did for Herman Miller. You don’t quite realize it because the innovation is under upholstery but they changed the industry.

In 1965 a sofa took many days to make, had a wooden frame, cut foam, very much a handmade process. The goal is to use industrialization to make high quality products that are repeatable, that will last for a longer period of time. Most soft seating companies today use the technology that B&B Italia developed.

neocon 2011 herman miller showroom

[DA] Naoto Fukasawa made a point that B&B took his simple sketch concept and made it happen. Is this kind of engineering prowess typical with companies of this caliber?
[JB] B&B Italia is a very special company. When we did the Tulip Chair, our first project with them, the chair had this very thick profile of foam. I knew a little bit about their technology and being a first project I didn’t want to push too hard. It was a relatively natural convergence of knowledge and worked out well.

The second project with B&B Italia was a chaise lounge called the Landscape which is on the cover of The Daily today. B&B had never worked with a 30 mil profile over that expanded distance, so that was something I actually pushed B&B with. At the time they were really residential but were wanting to make this chaise contract. Now they’re about 50-50 residential and contract which is their bullseye. We worked about six months on the chaise when we found out it wasn’t working. They gave us three days to make it work for them and it has become one of their most successful icons.

Our solutions are not just about engaging aesthetics but also about ergonomics. For me when you sit on the couch it has to perform as expected or better. The Landscape was a little different and reading is different than napping. You need an adjustable head support and the people are different sizes. So we changed the nylon support straps to thin flexible sheet metal and then added magnets to the headrest which could then move infinitely. We also use this design in the Metropolitan chairs.

Being in America I can’t be at a European factory all the time and B&B is absolutely the one company in our portfolio that if I can’t be there and they want to go in this or that direction, I don’t ever question the results that come out because I know it will always be perfect. There’s a complete trust when we work with someone on the other side of the table. Citterio does the same thing.

When we work with some of our other clients we have to be much more involved. Our office is can produce 3D modeling and can follow the package all the way through tooling.

[DA] The Metropolitan chair you said was launched in 2002. I was told that’s the best selling chair in America.
[JB] The Metropolitan family is going on 10 years and that’s the long-term strategy I’ve pushed with them so we have products that continue to grow and do well over an extended period of time. The Metropolitan and Tulip are the most successful for B&B Italia and they perform differently.

jeffrey bernett in the chicago b&b italia showroom mugging it
in his metropolitan chair. image captured with brand new ipad2. just saying.

When we work on two lounge chairs we’re concerned with what problems we’re solving and how people will use them. We want the chairs to be complementary in their use satisfying different needs for different people. If you walk into the showroom and there’s a Fukasawa product and one of ours you have choices, good choices for different reasons that fit your needs. We’re looking to engage your spirit if you will, to fall in love. So an emotional part of the program exists with how the product performs.

[DA] Well, congratulations on the large scale successes of your efforts. Here’s a question that was inspired going to Miami last December. We were exposed to 10 exciting design galleries and briefly talked with Ron Arad, Wendell Castle, and Konstantin and I’m wondering, do you get involved in limited edition work?
[JB] I haven’t done too much. A little for Moss in New York over the years. We did a project that was part of a fundraiser a year ago. We did something for Herman Miller in Japan for an initiative of theirs. But really have not done much edition work to date.

Not for the reason that maybe we didn’t have the time or took the time to figure out what we would do. If I stepped into that world I wouldn’t want to do just one thing but think about it strategically over an expanded landscape and an expanded period of time.

But it’s an interesting world and I look at them as complimentary and your thinking about problems a little bit differently when your thinking about industrial production versus making shorter run editions. And there are many interesting galleries that push those boundaries. Gallerie Kreo in Paris is always consistent. The Bouroullec’s have done a lot of really nice work. For Ron (Arad) it’s a big part of his business, probably half of his work lives in that realm.

Design is this wonderfully faceted stone, there’s no one right or wrong way to do it. And when you look at the auctions in the last five years, design has interestingly continued to grow in a positive way. Marc Newson’s stuff for the Gagosian Gallery was hugely successful.

[DA] I was surprised to learn recently that the design gallery business model is nearly 30 years old. Is the design gallery being promoted more today?
[JB] I was quite pleased, particularly in America when Art Basel decided to go to Miami and I thought that bridge of contemporary culture lived a little bit stronger in Europe. Coming to America, in New York we have Chelsey which is one of the more interesting art cities in the world, but bringing it to Miami exposed it to a larger group.

And for sure in the last seven or eight years that side of design and collectible domestic objects has become a very interesting arena for a lot of people to participate in. In contemporary art on the same basis, particularly in America, they can become complementary to thinking about how you go through life collecting things and what’s important and how some of the things might resonate with you.

Europe has always had the benefit of having a B&B Italia where quality and craftsmanship are paramount. In America we have industrialized production and artists are very good at getting things made but how that bridges into the design world has been a little harder. If you’re going to step into that world you need to execute (the production) at the highest level because it’s going to be scrutinized at that level.

[RK] Jeffrey, who or what inspires you?
[JB] I’ve been here a week and I went into Millennium Park and saw “The Bean.” Amish Kapor is one of the leading contemporary artists in the world, a very articulate speaker and thinker and that piece appeals to everyone, like the Jeff Koons “Puppy.” Watching people respond to The Bean, being mesmerized is very wonderful. I went to Holland and saw the tulips. The Tulip chair was inspired by the tulip flowers.

I like to go to contemporary art fairs to see what’s going on and that experience may alter my thought process. We’re social beings, so getting together with people, particularly in this field and sharing ideas and talking. This all inspires us to think about life or good problems to solve. So inspiration comes from a lot of different things.

I’m thinking of the first piece of furniture I bought was in college and I didn’t grow up in a house where the furniture had names. I was walking down the street and saw this chaise and it represented industrial art for me. I knew how to weld and bend tube for motor sports but this was so beautiful. So I went in and found out the chaise was by a French architect, Le Corbusier, and saw how it could change seating positions, the adjustable headrest, the suspended straps, really hit a button. And this was a vintage store, nothing was new, it was used, and it was expensive. I was with my college roommate and I said “I have to have it.” and he said “are you out of your mind? This is like three months rent.” But that day the piece hit me in the heart, the emotional connection so that was the first thing I bought.

It’s inspiring how some weird things come together and how old and new combine. And also the ability to look, it’s a lifetime of looking at the world of common things or just slightly unusual things just to find something interesting or provocative.

[DA] Maggie Peterson, who’s also present, reminds us the bean is named “Cloud Gate.” What are some of the characteristics of your work?
[JB] Looking back at our projects through the years, it’s picking clients who share with you common values. So you don’t have to push a client where they might not belong but rather it’s a mutual journey. With B&B it’s very simple. I draw a circle and divide it into three pieces and say there is functionality, it has to perform well; it has to be a good value, money-wise; and aesthetics, why are you drawn to it?

And when I think about B&B Italia I think of the architectural envelope and that’s a pretty sophisticated balancing of a lot of pieces to a puzzle. How the people relate to the product, how the furniture lives together in a harmonious environment. We never get our solutions by adding things but rather via a pure sense: what problems we’re trying to solve and how adaptable does the product have to be.

As a nationally ranked junior athlete, sports was where I learned my value set, a passion for the pursuit of excellence. As Mies said, the difference between good and great can be that last 10%. So when B&B asked me to do a chaise, Rolando, who works on the R&D side, in his infinite way said “we don’t have one and we want you to do one.” And then he said, “remember Mies, Eames, Corbusier, they all did chaises. Rolando’s challenge is always there and it’s like sports, and I’m able to jump off the highest cliff for better or worse. The guy who inspired me with the chaise, Le Corbusier, led me to visit his architecture to look at the poetry of his chapel in Ronchamp to find the line that made it look elegant.

Further removed from the product itself are other details to think about. When Luminaire received a Metropolitan chair, Nasir said that a leg was damaged when the chair was dropped off the truck. As a result we redesigned the packaging. As you know, a customer orders an object and it takes a long time and if the piece is damaged they have to wait again. It’s all in the details, how many steps can you think through, how many things can you anticipate. Hopefully you can solve the problem up front.

[DA] So before sports sucked up most of your spare time you were building soapbox cars? So product designers, is that their ilk?
[JB] I think sculptors and product designers and architects all think three-dimensionally, and if that’s a part of you and you don’t do that you can feel unfulfilled. I think product designers are good at tinkering with things.

[DA] Well yes, there’s the need to visualize and the gift of 3D visualization. I had a client who created this probe that could inspect the inside of tube-shaped structures. Of interest, he couldn’t visualize his own creation and needed a perspective graphic drawing to see it. Here’s that tough question we (and Todd) promised you. We’re in your client’s showroom, at Neocon. Are there too many products out there?
[JB] I think there’s always room for good products. We like products that last a long time and don’t like to contribute to products that have fast-term consumption cycles. And we live in a world where that has continued to happen.

One thing I can always say about B&B Italia, they make a quality product. And you have the Eames Aluminum Group and the Coca Cola Emeco chair, using the plastic from recycled bottles, isn’t that the most sustainable stories you can probably tell? And there is always room for good ideas. As long as we are challenging ourselves to find out what they are. Does the world need another chair? Maybe not. But if the chair is a better chair, if it does something in a more intelligent way, that’s good.

We live in America, a country that loves commerce. I wish we’d just mandate recycling. We would then see a new level of efficiency and teach us how we use resources. Government’s role is supposed to help us do things that might not be economically viable in a fast ROI point of view, maybe a little bit like healthcare too.

Government should also be put in a context to help us think long-term about the whole sustainable side: how we think about not only recycling, but reusing and repurposing. We’re barely scratching the surface here. I give credit to the architects and interior designers who push LEED. This effort pushes clients and property developers to think about what their making.

[DA] We’re all becoming aware of limited resources and sustainability. I just saw a disposable cardboard memory stick. What’s your thoughts on more disposable products?
[JB] When you think about a product’s lifespan, for some items it makes a lot of sense. Disposable is all right if we think clearly about what that means on the backside. The landfill model is not a good model.

[DA] How does your work represent your philosophy on the state of design?
[JB] We definitely try and take a long-term approach to our product design, not just a fashion hit for today. When we get involved we really like to help businesses grow, a growth over a long period of time. It’s a very collaborative business. Helping people stay in business is a big part of what we like to do.

Philosophically, fundamentally we try not to do things that are trendy or fashionable, that are gone tomorrow. It’s easy to make things look interesting which might get a lot of attention. We feel people need to like the product and use the product. How much does it solve a problem, how much do they appreciate using it? That’s a true test of time, not necessarily how much ink something gets.

[DA] What part of what you do satisfies you the most?
[JB] Probably just like you, I need to do something three dimensionally. Generally when we work on projects I don’t get to solutions by a whimsical sketch. I think through most of it in my head. Then a sketch articulates before we use the software to create a 3-D data-set. The process is partly a puzzle, partly a rubics cube, there are many sides to address for to create a product that will enter the market that will do quite well.

Probably the nicest story I ever had and bittersweet at the same time. B&B Italia has provided me many opportunities to travel around the world. A couple years ago I went to Sidney Australia visiting a dealer, possibly the largest showroom in the world with regards to the floorplate. The showroom manager said that the Metropolitan chair was not on premise because something unusual took place.

A customer came in and spent many hours sitting in one chair than another. At some point he says the Metropolitan Hiback was the most comfortable chair he has ever sat in and wanted to know the process of getting one. The showroom manager told him typically fabrics are chosen and a chair is made, in other words several weeks to get the chair. The man who was in his late 70s said he has had a good life but he has terminal cancer and maybe three months to live. The showroom manager made the decision the chair went out of the showroom with the man. We don’t normally think about how design touches people’s lives, but for this man and that chair, coming home was a huge step in the quality of his life and how he was going to spend some of his time.

[DA] An inspiring story Jeffrey. Last question. What’s next?
[JB] We’re always working, things are pretty seamless and we continue to work with our group of clients. I’m going to Italy soon. We’re working with Herman Miller on several things for the past two years.

Since we’re always busy we look for creative diversions. Several of my partners are here at Neocon and we’ve been going to the museums. These diversions help us focus and relax at the same time. And now we’re ready for a break because the months of April, May and June, there is the Saloni, the ICFF, and Neocon, and I call it the triple crown because the deliverables never stop.

[DA] I have just one more question. I am reminded that you won a designer of the year award, you’re a very recognized and accomplished designer. Does the head get in the way of your design solutions?
[JB] For me I guess that sports have been a great background. In the world of sports hype doesn’t matter, it’s the time on the clock. And I guess I tend to be the quiet American, I sit a little bit more in the background. I’m happy to talk about design, the thinking and problem solving.

But I generally don’t do much talking unless it’s tied to the clients that I care about. I essentially am driven to solve good problems and that may be my balance and focus. I do enjoy hearing about the stories where we have done a good job. The nice thing about product design, you can let the work stand out on its own, and the work gets a lot of the attention.

[ Bernett background ]
In September of 1995, Jeffrey Bernett founded his New York-based multi-disciplinary design consultancy. At the May 1996 International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York City, Bernett presented his first collection, which was awarded the 1996 Editorʼs Award for “Best of Show”. Bernett continues to work in many areas – residential and office furniture, household products, lighting, transportation design, graphic design, packaging and bottle design, environment and interior architecture, and strategic planning – winning numerous design awards along the way. In the emerging global market for design, Bernett has often been the first American chosen to work with several of his European clients. A partial list of clients includes B&B Italia, Bernhardt, Boeing, Boffi, Cappellini, Conde Nast, DWR/Design Within Reach, Herman Miller, Knoll, Ligne Roset, LʼOreal, Mercedes Benz and Northwest Airlines. Bernett holds numerous patents, is regularly featured in design publications from around the world, and also is a frequent lecturer at design schools and events globally.

[ consultants for design strategy ]

Naoto fukasawa. The unseen outline of things.

Jun 13, 2011

naoto fukasawa at chicago museum of contemporary art 15 june 2010.

June 16, 2010, sitting in the retail showroom of Luminaire Chicago waiting to interview product designer Naoto Fukasawa. There won’t be much time because in 30 minutes he and Luminaire founder Nasir Kassamali are off to the Art Institute of Chicago to meet with Zoe Ryan, curator of the architecture and design collection, to tour Italian architect Renzo Piano’s new 294,000-square-foot Modern Wing.

Naoto is in town as Luminaire’s guest during Neocon 2010, the annual contract furniture exposition held annually in Chicago. The night before he spoke to 500 Luminaire guests at the Museum of Contemporary Art. After his presentation there was a reception back at the Luminaire showroom. Last night Naoto was in a sport coat and today a loose fitting shirt and jeans. I was told to speak slowly though his English is certainly polished enough to discuss psychology, human behavior, world cultures, and how design fits in.

Naoto debuted for many in the U.S. in the 2009 movie “Objectified,” a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. One of a dozen designers in the cast, Naoto is an animated conversationalist, using his time in front of the camera to tell the stories behind concepts, sharing a unique perspective on the object/user relationship. The story telling is his signature delivery.

Design critic Alice Rawsthorn informs me that Naoto is quite well-known to the general public in Asia and Europe. Possibly the most well-known, in part because of his business acumen, his collaborations with renown talent, and his role as a good-design ambassador in these countries.

“Despite all the obvious things one could say about him and his work I feel that what sets him apart from all other contemporary designers is the magical skill to create products without any affectation but which profoundly dissolve into our behavior” ~Konstantin Grcic

[ a most efficient design conclusion ]
One defining characteristic of Naoto’s objects are their simplicity and “inevitable” conclusion. The solution appears effortless and obvious – A most efficient design conclusion. A most appropriate selection of material and construction. The “inevitable” is the realization of the process. But what of the concepting process? This is where Naoto’s life experiences, his mental routines, his designer’s eye take him and collaborators on many adventures and “ah-ha!” moments.

To catch a glimpse of what he’s thinking let’s excerpt from his 2010 book titled The Outline: the unseen outline of things. In this book Naoto collaborates with Tomotsu Fuji, a photographer that Naoto has never met but he had often found himself standing in front of his photos.

[NF] “An ‘outline’ is a contour of something. It is also the boundary that delineates an object and its surroundings. Since that which surrounds an object is air, the outline of a hole in the air that is shaped like an object is the same as the outline of the object itself.

The air (atmosphere) is composed of everything that exists around the object – elements such as people’s experiences and memories; customs and gestures; time, circumstance and sound; technology and culture; and history and trends. Should even one of these elements change, and the outline of the object changes too. People share this outline of the air implicitly.

My job is to determine this outline and to design something that slots right into it. When I first saw Tamasoto’s Fuji’s photos, I was surprised at the indistinct outlines of things. But when I thought about it, I realized that since objects blend into the air and the light, their outlines can’t clearly be seen by people. I was blown way by this fact. I thought, “Fuji takes photos of scenery, even when he’s photographing objects.” He captures both my designs and the air that surrounds them.

Many believe the purpose of taking photos is to erase the background and accentuate the object in question: thinking as much as possible that there is no world around said object.

There are many product designers who do not look at things around an object, who only look at the thing they are designing, who have the idea that the backgrounds attached to things just don’t matter.”

But objects don’t exist by themselves; there is always something that exists around them. This is Naoto’s design philosophy, based on an Eastern philosophy named hari which translates into a “tension.” There is a “tension,” a “force,” that the object and the surrounds inherently possess. And there has to be a balance to create the proper shape of the object. When the force of the object is greater than the surrounds the shape is pushed out. Conversely, a stronger outer surrounds force pushes the shape of the object in. He designs a chair, he has to decide the line, the outline. This is decided by the outside environment–humans, time, ways of sitting–many things decide the shape. An object on its own is not “good design.”

[DA]Perhaps this way of looking at an object and its surroundings drives Naoto to simplify and peel away the unnecessary, like the onion.

[ shape alone is not enough ]
Ten to fifteen years later Naoto began to question the shapes and drifted away from the purely visual. He thought, when you drink a glass of water you don’t think about the glass, just like when you write you don’t think about the pen. This is behavior “without thought” a very Western concept which will transform a bicycle basket into a wastepaper basket, a propped against-the-wall umbrella into a both simple and novel umbrella stand. The “without thought” philosophy now plays a major role in defining the relationship between the object and how the object is used, i.e., bringing in the user.

Jasper Morrison developed the “Super Normal” concept with Naoto. Konstantin Grcic is the person I organized a major exhibition on earlier this year. He briefly worked for Jasper and also works with Naoto on projects for Muji. Konstantin is an incredible designer who like Naoto has a keen sense for bringing innovative solutions to the task of designing everyday objects. Rather than seducing the user with intricacy, Morrison and Naoto have inspired designers such as Grcic to rely on a straightforward approach that is nonetheless inventive.
~Zoë Ryan

[ the business of design and design collaboration ]
At one point, Naoto creates a truly innovative CD player that is seen by the Japanese retailer Muji in MOMA. Muji produces the player. Four years of design consultation with Muji leads to a seat on their board of directors. He continues to design and Muji now has 112 outlets outside of Japan, four in NYC. In 2001 Naoto is hired by a CEO of a toy company in Tokyo to create a new kind of consumer electronics and he is now a partner in Plusminuszero, a domestic electronics brand with a pure and simple aesthetic. Plusminuszero further pushes Naoto into marketing and retail modes, diversions he enjoys and is good at. In 2010 Japanese design house Maruni Wood Industry appoints him their art director.

Naoto also enjoys a synergy with carefully selected creative collaborators. We know of photographer, Tamasoto’s Fuji. When Naoto’s name is mentioned, it’s not uncommon to also hear those of English product designer Jasper Morrison and German product designer Konstantin Grcic.

Naoto is also involved in a partnership in Tokyo that is less about commercial and more about raising an awareness of design. Partnering with fashion designer Issey Miyake and graphic designer, Taku Satoh, they ask Japanese architect Tadoa Ando to create a space for design laboratory-like 21_21 Design Sight which will feature rotating exhibitions. 20_20 refers to perfect human vision. 21_21 means better than perfect. Of course. The naming theme is reminiscent of Naoto’s 2006 collaboration with Jasper Morrison, their installation label “Super Normal.”

[ the interview with designapplause]
[DA] what is your favorite color(s) ? [NF] | i don’t have a favorite color. regarding design, colors are really driven by the solution. what are your favorite shapes ? | ha! see favorite color. what time do you get up in the morning ? go to sleep ? what time of day are you most creative ? | my creative moments are not scheduled by the clock. my designers, they can stay up till midnight. i like sleep. will you retire or continue designing to the end ? | design is not work but a way of life. do you use internet or mobile technologies for research, enjoyment, purchasing, communicating ? | i don’t take much time to read but i always seem to be looking for information. i am not a slave to technology but i do know how to use technology. i tend to go to the internet for a quick retrieval of information. what are your passions ? | i can’t think of any. maybe life ? who inspires you ? | matisse. achille castiglioni. it seems one gets inspired by those people you feel you have common beliefs and interests. what is your favorite/least favorite material to work with ? ha again! see color and shape. what are your favorite/least favorite kinds projects ? | i like projects that make life better. your solutions are very conceptually based. “cloud” took 10 minutes. how much time do you spend on the concept phase ? how important is the concept, say versus, execution when selling an idea to the client? how long does it take to sketch out an idea ? | not long ! true, visualizing cloud did not take very long. but the solution was not just me but B & B too. they have a very talented and experienced in-house design and manufacturing capability. the vision is sometimes fleeting compared to the execution. how will products evolve in the future ? they will get smaller. many may become embedded within us. are there already too many products out there ? there are not enough good products. naoto: thank you, i had many more questions. well then, to another day.

[ what’s REALLY necessary ]
Tamotsu says, “Naoto has built a mountain cabin with no running water or electricity where he spends his weekends. Living with these inconveniences shows him what is really necessary in life. This man, who designs cutting-edge industrial products, places himself in inconvenient situations when he thinks. I believe I can trust in the expressions and the words that emerge from such a man. ‘Objects’ do not tell stories, but in fact behind them lie many words and truths.”

[ new: maruni roundish series ]
One year later since Neocon 2010, what’s happened? Just in from Maruni: Roundish.

roundish | maruni

photo credits: maruni wood industry inc. / roundish. photo by yoneo kawabe | 2011

[ Fukasawa background ]
Born in Yamanashi, Japan, in1956. He graduated from Tama Art University’s product design department in art and 3D design in 1980. After working for Seiko-Epson in 1989, he moved to U.S. and joined American design company IDEO. In 1996, he helped set up ‘IDEO’ in japan. In 2003 he established Naoto Fukasawa Design. While doing design consulting for major companies in Japan, he worked for furniture companies in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Scandinavia. In 2003 he also established Plusminuszero (±0) and acts as its design director. He has continued to hold workshops that are based upon his own thoughts, “Without thought.” In 2006, he founded Super Normal with Jasper Morrison. He is a lecturer in the product design department Musashino Art University and Tama Art University in Tokyo.

[ naoto fukasawa design ] [ plusminuszero ] [ muji ] [ 21_21 design sight ] [ luminaire ]

Jonathan muecke at volume gallery. Chicago.

Apr 26, 2011

open objects debuts april 30 – thru may 15 2011.

above: divider (2011) jonathan muecke

Volume Gallery launches its fourth series with a collection of new works from Jonathan Muecke, titled Open Objects. Opening reception on April 30th from 6-8PM, Chicago, IL.

Open Objects represents Jonathan Muecke’s first solo exhibition, comprised of eight objects. The individual objects designed for Volume Gallery, were developed independent of each other. Rather than a collection, Muecke considers each object its own project, the result being that each object is consistent to its counterparts only in its potential – “a quality that is itself immeasurable”.

Leaving all to interpretation, Open Objects is a comprehensive study of each object’s unique qualities, and dissection of their definition. Muecke’s projects are a reflection of the common forms of design and continue to study the meta-object. His projects demand examination. It is within this confrontation, between viewer and object, that development of new thought on functionality and materiality lives. Utilizing materials such as coal slag, glass sand, carbon fiber and gold foil, each piece removes our limitations of understanding and encourages the viewer to engage and interact, rather than react to the object.

above: frame (2011) jonathan muecke

“Principally, objects present limits– figured in function/process/material/form/idea and so on. In this case objects are measured to each variable and equally fixed in the variables. In this normal and productive way objects are figured backwards. My interest is going forward – remaining inconclusive to the terms of measurement. In this way potential remains in an object.”

Jonathan Muecke operates around the edge of design; he emphasizes each object’s conceptual purpose and universal meaning. Open Objects is his continual practice to un-define objects while defining something larger. Each object is restrained and composed in design, raw and visionary in intent. Each project in Open Objects is firmly tied together with the strong visual language that is inimitable, unique and undeniable.

Jonathan Muecke
Jonathan Muecke was born in 1983 in Cody, Wyoming. He works from his studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota since his graduation from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2010 where from 2009-10 he was the Florence Knoll scholar. In 2006 he received a Bachelors of Architecture from Iowa State University followed in 2007 by an internship at the architectural office of Herzog & de Meuron in Basel, Switzerland. In July of 2010 the jury of the Design Parade 5 (Hyéres, France) assigned him the Veuve Clicquot Award. His field of work circulates around the periphery of design.

Volume Gallery
Volume Gallery is an event-based gallery with a specific focus on American design, particularly emerging contemporary designers. Founded by Claire Warner and Sam Vinz, formerly of Wright Auction, Volume Gallery releases editions, publications and exhibits that showcase the work of American designers to regional, national and international audiences.

For additional information and picture inquires: Sam Vinz 414 841 3003 | sam at wvvolumes dot com

Volume Gallery Presents
Jonathan Muecke: Open Objects
Exhibition date: April 30 – May 15 | 11 AM – 6 PM daily
Reception: Saturday April 30 | 6-8 PM
Exhibition Location: 328 S Jefferson Street Chicago IL

[Volume Gallery]
[ DesignApplause interviews Rich/Willing/Brilliant and Volume Gallery ]

Volume gallery and rich brilliant willing interview2.

Apr 2, 2011

this show, collection, is titled “Pro Forma”

This is Interview2 of a two-part interview with Sam Vinz of Volume Gallery in Chicago and Alex Williams of Rich Brilliant Willing in New York. The interview took place on March 17 on site at the new installation called “Pro Forma”.

In LAST WEEK’S EPISODE [ Interview1 ]

[DA] Let’s talk about the design gallery which seems like a very niched concept. How old is the design gallery concept?
[SV] There’s been a particular iteration of them for the last 20 or 30 years. In New York in the 70s you would find galleries that concentrated on 20th century, mid-century modern furniture. And on through the 80s and 90s. And there was a historical perspective. But then contemporary pieces presented themselves in a gallery setting and I don’t think that concept is all that old, 15 to 20 years old. And it is a niche market with collectors who have always done it. And we’re trying to extend and broaden the model. Claire and I feel that young designers need the opportunity to explore different processes and materials and then take what they learn and fold it back into their studio work for their production design.

[DA] The nature of the collection is so few pieces are produced and the unit price is expensive. Is it because of the limited edition or the materials or both?
[AW] It’s a combination of things. For us, this is our first collection and our names are just getting out there and we’re trying to say something with the work obviously. And part of it is these objects have a lot of inherent value. They’re large, they’re heavy. The value is related to the weight of the materials, the leather, the brass, the fact that they’re all handcrafted.
[SV] When it comes to the cost of the piece, the amount of hands that goes into making these pieces is significant. Each of the pieces has at least two to three stops to make. And the fact that we are trying to make heirloom quality objects that will last for 100 years. That’s where the limiting comes from. And we can only get so many pieces made during this production period because the fabricators are very busy doing other projects, because they’re excellent resources and in demand.
[AW] But I think it’s important that the price be a reflection of the work, not the other way around, not shooting for a price category. Trying to build something that justifies the price is like working backwards.

[DA] Let’s talk about the studio mix. There’s a cheeky saying that if you want to be a famous architect you have to design a chair. And the thought that just occurred to me. If you want to be a famous designer you have to make art. Have you heard of that phrase?
[AW] I haven’t heard is quite like that before.

[DA] When you started your studio to make money you started to make your own objects. Then people started asking you to design their objects. And now you are making art here. Right?
[AW] I guess it’s all about intent. If calling it art is convenient, ok. For our case it’s work, furniture, it’s beautiful furniture that we’re extremely proud of. It’s the kind of work we’ve always wanted to be making. And Volume gave us the opportunity to make it. The distinction isn’t that important.

[DA] OK, agreed. Some will call it art and some will call it beautiful, well-made furniture. In 2008 you did work for Innermost, a company based in London and Hong Kong and that work was shown in Milan. Now that you have experienced working with a European company here’s a question. American designer Todd Bracher has chosen to live and work n Copenhagen and he says he sees a huge divide between the European and American design worlds. In a Metropolis article, which RWB was also included, he says, “With the American bit, it’s really two months of heavy market research, psychological research, anthropological research, and then we start to look at what it looks like.” The market-driven focus comes from American companies’ desire for long-lasting huge sellers like the Aeron chair. “Whereas in Europe, it’s a one-to-four-year life cycle, so they want something really interesting and beautiful.” Would you agree with that?
[AW] It’s a little difficult to say. We actually met Innermost in New York. We were exhibiting with several other designers with a group we helped found, The American Design Club in New York. We were showing early prototypes from our Klinker series. Steve Jones from Innermost was there and he happened to see it and expressed an interest in developing a collection around it. Interestingly, within the last few weeks actually, the collection is now just available here in the States. Klinker has done very well in Asia and has been the primary market for it. Getting back to your question. We are starting to work with more and more European clients now. I think the disposable, almost fashion aspect of the consumer culture, does exist. But it’s only one segment that supports the design industry and always has. I think we have the same thing here in the United States only it’s different. We have this sort of disposable need and desire for a stream of new things but it manifests itself in a different way.

[DA] Sam, you were quoted in TimeOut Chicago that designers have distinctive cultural identities?
[SV] I said that? (group laugh) Well, I think it’s true. You can tell an Italian designer from an English designer, from a French designer. I don’t know what it stems from, not knowing whether it’s a cultural or national identity per se. It may be a design identity that’s been engrained in a particular country.
[DA] For instance.
[SV] With the French there has always been an element of whimsy. That can be seen from Serge Mouille to Bouroullec. I think in Italian design there has always been a clean, hard, minimal edge, and dating from the 40s until now. With English design, British design, they pretty much have stamped themselves as “British” design, for you. With American design, there’s some sort of independence you can see, more individual statements.
[AW] The most obvious thing for me is, whether you like it or not, if you’re a young designer say working in Paris, Milan, London, you can reference certain periods that you can’t readily reference here. Of course there are important milestones here but the playing field is more wide open. So that means the American designer is looking for references outside of design. And that’s one of the most interesting aspects of American design.

[DA] Alex, what, who, inspires your firm?
[AW] All kinds of things. And people. Of course we have our design heroes (DA failed to follow up on that one ) and many of them are European. But just going to work, all the things going around us in New York City. And of course we are inspired by industrial processes, finishes, techniques.

[DA] Alex, what are the key characteristics of the Pro Forma series?
[AW] Pro forma is a term that we lifted from our experience with international shipping. And the words more or less mean “for the sake of form”. Another meaning is the invoice that accompanies an international shipment, the declaration of its theoretical value. We’re using it as a pun to refer to the fact that the collection is conceived from a form taken out of context. The form is air shipping containers that you may see when you’re boarding your plane. They all have these weird blunt noses and chamfered edges, and sometimes they’re curved a little bit. And there’s a perfectly good reason why and that’s so they fit more efficiently into the curved fuselage of the airplane. But when you see them in context, sitting around in a pile, you wonder why does this box look like this and have this quirky little detail. And we started there to explore these forms and how they play off of each other. We started thinking about the world we live in now. We live in a global culture where everyone’s constantly on the move, and these containers started to be symbols for these cross cultural exchanges. There are people who live in more than one city and their stuff moves around with them and they own fewer objects. These containers for the global citizens became steamer trunks in concept. Air freight containers are made of dinged up aluminum and nylon straps and these kinds of industrial materials. We take the opposite approach using steamer trunks as objects of luxury travel for an era that no longer exists.

[DA] Alex, how does Pro Forma represent your own philosophy on the state of design?
[SV] Good question.
[AW] I think the most important part about design is that you can’t really nail it down. And that it means completely different things to different people and it’s constantly in a state of flux. And that’s very exciting. And now we’re at this moment where a lot of people think that design all of a sudden means something specific. Like there are a lot of problems in the world that need solving and a lot of important things need to be designed. I think people are striving for a little uniqueness and there’s an urgency to this striving as a means of shaping your voice in a crowded world. I think what we’ve tried to do here with Pro Forma is to make the most of a situation and that we make a beautiful collection of work that we hope will last for a long time with the resources at hand.

[DA] Sam, what did you learn from this whole process?
[SV] This the first time we worked with a group of designers first of all. And second of all we worked with designers outside of Chicago. There was a less casual relationship arranging meetings and Skyping, that kind of stuff. And this forced us to be more organized on that level and that’s a good thing.

[DA] What part of what you do satisfies you the most?
[AW] Being able to work for myself, to go into work every day, and for the most part, do what I enjoy doing. To not have a boss and get paid to be creative basically.
[SV] Ha, I say almost the exact same thing. The most important thing is that we are sort of writing our own rules and it’s been really enjoyable to do that. It makes a 12 hour day not like a 12 hour day.

[DA] What’s happening next?
[AW] We’re showing a bunch of new work at the ICFF (Contemporary Furniture Fair) in New York in May. We’re showing an exciting collection of pendant lamps at a little shop in New York called Partners in Spade. And we’re designing our first office for a foundation in New York which is really exciting.
[SV] There’s a show opening on April 30th, by a Minneapolis designer named Jonathan Muecke The name of the show is “Objects” and he’ll be showing what he calls eight different projects.

[DA] Sam, Alex. Thank you.

Prices start at $4,500 (the nightstand, above, starts at $4,500). Through April 3 at 328 South Jefferson Street, Chicago, 414 841 3003 or volume gallery [ rich brilliant willing ] [ Jonathan Muecke ]

Volume gallery, rich brilliant willing interview1.

Mar 25, 2011

this show, collection, is titled “Pro Forma”

It’s March 17, 2011, St. Patrick’s day here in Chicago, and we’re talking to Volume Gallery’s Sam Vinz and Alex Williams of RICH BRILLIANT WILLING.

Today the two of them are setting up the pieces for their new exhibition opening tomorrow. For two weeks the installation will exist in a freshly rehabbed 9,000 square-foot ground-level retail space just west of Sears/Willis Tower where we are conducting this interview. This will be RBW’s first solo show. This is Volume’s third exhibition.

Before we start, a little background. Volume gallery, was conceived in 2009 by Sam and Claire Warner. Volume is virtually located in Chicago, as an event-based gallery with a specific focus on American design, particularly emerging contemporary designers.

RICH BRILLIANT WILLING, founded in 2007, is by now an internationally renowned furniture and product design studio based in Manhattan. The three founding partners are Alex Williams, Charles Brill and Theo Richardson.

This show is titled “Pro Forma”

The installation will consist of five objects with limited editions of 12 to 16 each. The role Volume plays in this collaboration is selecting the talent and proposing a broad stroke concept of the collaboration. The designer’s role is to build a concept into finished drawings and specifications. At this point Sam will become a general contractor finding local craftsmen here in Chicago to build the designs.

[DA]Sam, as an events-based gallery, your model is to seek out and then cast the talent and once they submit drawings and specs you become a general contractor so to speak, and take over the outsourcing and management of the fabrication. Is this unusual?
[SV] I don’t know if this is unusual and you might ask Alex. But that’s kind of how we started. Helping the designers along as a resource base to build the projects. At first I would just pass the info between designer and fabricator but it became a bit tedious being the go-between once the project got rolling. It became more efficient for me to take over and handle the production here in Chicago. And we go elsewhere as needed to find a fabricator.
[AW] From our end it is pretty typical. The drawings are in our office and the fabricators can be anywhere, Asia, Europe. We are very hands-on in our office where we experiment and tinker. That said, with this many special pieces and the distance there was a new element involved. But very exciting. We got to learn a whole new city. We discovered new resources, new craftsman. A bit like surgeons doing surgery remotely. Like repairing soldiers in a battlefield while the doctors are someplace else.

[DA] Alex, you mention hands-on so let’s talk about your firm’s process. What’s the difference between production projects and limited editions?
[AW] There are a lot of differences. Audience is one of them. Designing for production we are designing for a broad audience base where the numbers could be in the thousands and the objects are more or less the same and there are elements of efficiency, economy and scale. With limited editions the goals and objectives are completely different. For example, doing limited really pushes our studio process to experiment with materials, which we really love to do. And you’re trying to create something special but you’re really not sure of what you will end up with when you start out. In effect, we are now looking for magic.

[DA] How do the three of you work together, or do you? What are the individual strengths you bring to the partnership?
[AW] Though anyone of us can bring in a project our process is entirely collaborative, we don’t work on anything separately. We each bring something different and play off each other in the studio. I am not the artist of the group but I’m a pretty spontaneous thinker. Theo has a great mind for strategy and relationships. Charlie has a great mind for business and a knack to work through the dealings with the vendors, a materials sensibility sourcing things, putting all the pieces together.

[DA] Would you agree that you share the same aesthetic?
[AW] No, I think we all have quite different aesthetics, actually as they apply to our personal lives and interests. But our three different voices are compatible. When they come together that’s what you see in our work.

[DA] Back to you Sam. Who dreams up the theme, the title? What is the genesis of Proforma?
[SV] I’d say it started a year ago with a visit to their office in New York. We don’t give the designers perspective. We don’t ask for anything particular. We want them to come to us with a broad range of ideas or a very specific idea. And then we work with them to develop a collection. Four months later the designers propose seven to eight pieces and we narrow it down to five and then begin talking about materials. And then, all of a sudden, we have a collection. The gallery has a very little to do with the theme, the titles, the names of the pieces. That all comes from the studio. We just sort of guide the designers, to push them into an area that they may be uncomfortable with. We’re looking for a collection that has a broad range and a wide perspective. But still has a narrow focus.

[DA] I just finished reading an interesting article in Vanity Fair where Ridley Scott is casting the stars in Thelma and Louise, which was over a year-long process. Sam how did you and Claire select this studio?
[SV] Claire and I made a list of talent back when we were talking about starting a design gallery. It wasn’t a very long list. In fact, it was a pretty short list. The talent that caught our eye in our minds were doing something a little special. With Rich Brilliant we saw something special in the “Excel” line, which they produced in 2008. The use of materials, the proportion and scale of that line led us to want to talk to the designers.

[DA] Alex, your firm was founded in 2007. Were you guys every approached in this manner before?
[AW] You mean from a design gallery? We were coming to a place out of school, being exposed to work in New York City, sort of the tailed end of what people think of as art, an artist-driven world of excessive limited edition designed objects. A lot of that work we were thinking about as we began forming our studio. And then we went to Design Miami in 2008 and right from the get-go we were inspired in many ways by the boundaries that were being pushed by the Galeri Kreo in Paris, who showed how the Bouroullec’s were working with ease in both the gallery world and consumer products. So there was a desire from the beginning to create and show that kind of work. But Sam and Clair provided the first relationship that made sense. We were approached by someone at the same level, pretty much starting out.
TO BE CONTINUED… [ Interview2 ]

next up: clarifying the nature of the design gallery concept; identifying distinctive cultural identities of English, Italian, French, and American designers; the economics of limited edition vs production design; among other things.

what when where: “Pro Forma,” the first solo exhibition of the work of Rich Brilliant Willing, the New York design studio, at the Volume Gallery in Chicago. The show features five pieces inspired by airplane shipping containers. Each piece, made in editions of 12 to 16, is being sold with two bases, one vertical and one horizontal, to allow for dual uses of each design.

“The materials we’re using refer to a lost era of luxury travel,” said Alex Williams of RBW. “While actual containers are made of rough industrial materials, like raw aluminum or plastic parts, we’re taking the luxury approach to them by using leather, brass and beautiful hardwoods.” The firm’s partners, Williams, Charles Brill and Theo Richardson.