As a small kid I used to walk home from school with my eyes fixed to the pavement. Every day I found some little treasure like a screw or a piece of mirror or a bead. And I felt that it just had been waiting for me to find it there. Every time I set off it was not so much a question IF I would find something that day but more what it would be and where it would be waiting.
In my work I still feel like a kid looking for a treasure. I just follow my own curiosity and try to surprise myself as much as possible. I am sure new ideas will keep coming. I just don't know when they will present themselves and what they hold in store for me.
Never a dull moment....
Millions of years ago humans seized control over their environment by creating the first tools from stone. It was the birth of design. From then on people continued to shape the circumstances to their specific need. This makes design a very basic human property that is exactly what distinguishes us from animals, who, instead, will adapt to the circumstances and not the other way around. And yet, I think design is a natural thing. Time will only tell if we are a temporary bug in the evolutionary program or if we are the new standard that redefines the rules for the survival of the fittest.
I prefer to go for the second scenario. I think our brain, with its design smartness, enables us to continue to improve our standard of living and yet doing this in harmony with our environment. I would say its a challenge if it wasn't such a cliché....Anyway, I feel designers play a crucial role. They have the skills to come up with systems that will bring us better products for a smaller price with zero impact on the environment.
The beauty of design is that everybody can relate to it. We all use products and all products are designed. Some better then others. The better products in my view last longer and come cheap. But most of all they should serve us well and facilitate human interaction. In the end it is not about the chair (and certainly not about the guy who designed it...) but about the conversation it allows you to have with somebody else.
In my work I still feel like a kid looking for a treasure. I just follow my own curiosity and try to surprise myself as much as possible. I am sure new ideas will keep coming. I just don't know when they will present themselves and what they hold in store for me.
Never a dull moment....
Millions of years ago humans seized control over their environment by creating the first tools from stone. It was the birth of design. From then on people continued to shape the circumstances to their specific need. This makes design a very basic human property that is exactly what distinguishes us from animals, who, instead, will adapt to the circumstances and not the other way around. And yet, I think design is a natural thing. Time will only tell if we are a temporary bug in the evolutionary program or if we are the new standard that redefines the rules for the survival of the fittest.
I prefer to go for the second scenario. I think our brain, with its design smartness, enables us to continue to improve our standard of living and yet doing this in harmony with our environment. I would say its a challenge if it wasn't such a cliché....Anyway, I feel designers play a crucial role. They have the skills to come up with systems that will bring us better products for a smaller price with zero impact on the environment.
The beauty of design is that everybody can relate to it. We all use products and all products are designed. Some better then others. The better products in my view last longer and come cheap. But most of all they should serve us well and facilitate human interaction. In the end it is not about the chair (and certainly not about the guy who designed it...) but about the conversation it allows you to have with somebody else.