As a small kid I used to walk home from kindergarten with my eyes fixed to the pavement. I always found some kind of interesting small object along the way. It could be a piece of glass, a screw or a bead. I imagined that these small treasures had been waiting for me there to find them. Each time I started of, it was no so much a question if I was going to find something that day, but more what I was going to find and where it would be waiting.
In my work I still try to follow my own curiosity and surprise myself as much as possible. I'm sure that new ideas will keep coming. I just don't know when and in what shape. But that's what makes it exciting.
A recurring subject is transforming ordinary shapes and materials into extra-ordinary objects. I see a challenge in looking at ordinary materials, or better, materials that are not perceived as valuable and change that around. Looking for the extra-ordinary in the ordinary is also a way to maximize my own influence. If for instance the material is not very special, the attractiveness of the product is more depending on the design itself.
I like to work with limited means and maximize the potential that these limited means hold. Limiting myself is a way to get a grip on things and not drown in the endless amount of possibilities. At the same time I think "less is more" is not so much a style but actually a universal law for good design. Like good writing is a matter of leaving out, to me leaving out as much as possible in a design, stripping it to the essentials and making it simpler and more clear, is a way of improving quality.
What I like most about product design is the commonness of it. Everybody at home has a chair, a lamp, a table. These functional objects are part of the everyday life of everyone, all over the world. And everybody understands them. As a designer you have the possibility to interact with potentially everybody through your designs. The more universal your shape language is, the larger the group will be to which it appeals.
Mass production techniques allow us to make multiple copies of a good thing and have them available for many people for a small price. I think cheap is good. Besides, it's not so difficult to make something very expensive. Actually that's very easy. It is a little more difficult to make a good thing that is also expensive. But the biggest challenge has to be designing something that is good and at the same time dead cheap.
So what is good design?
I wouldn't know, I'm still looking for the answer on that one. What I do know is that there are many aspects involved; easy to use, affordable, durable and planet friendly. This last called factor seems to be a hip trend these days. I heard somebody say that green is the new black…Well, I'm sure it's not a trend but more and more going to be an integrated aspect of (good) product design. I'm very much aware that I am designing garbage. Meaning that the product stage of my designs is only temporary and they will be discarded sooner or later. So good design is also very much about the after life of a product. It's with this in mind that I'm proud to say that I'm aiming to design better garbage.
In my work I still try to follow my own curiosity and surprise myself as much as possible. I'm sure that new ideas will keep coming. I just don't know when and in what shape. But that's what makes it exciting.
A recurring subject is transforming ordinary shapes and materials into extra-ordinary objects. I see a challenge in looking at ordinary materials, or better, materials that are not perceived as valuable and change that around. Looking for the extra-ordinary in the ordinary is also a way to maximize my own influence. If for instance the material is not very special, the attractiveness of the product is more depending on the design itself.
I like to work with limited means and maximize the potential that these limited means hold. Limiting myself is a way to get a grip on things and not drown in the endless amount of possibilities. At the same time I think "less is more" is not so much a style but actually a universal law for good design. Like good writing is a matter of leaving out, to me leaving out as much as possible in a design, stripping it to the essentials and making it simpler and more clear, is a way of improving quality.
What I like most about product design is the commonness of it. Everybody at home has a chair, a lamp, a table. These functional objects are part of the everyday life of everyone, all over the world. And everybody understands them. As a designer you have the possibility to interact with potentially everybody through your designs. The more universal your shape language is, the larger the group will be to which it appeals.
Mass production techniques allow us to make multiple copies of a good thing and have them available for many people for a small price. I think cheap is good. Besides, it's not so difficult to make something very expensive. Actually that's very easy. It is a little more difficult to make a good thing that is also expensive. But the biggest challenge has to be designing something that is good and at the same time dead cheap.
So what is good design?
I wouldn't know, I'm still looking for the answer on that one. What I do know is that there are many aspects involved; easy to use, affordable, durable and planet friendly. This last called factor seems to be a hip trend these days. I heard somebody say that green is the new black…Well, I'm sure it's not a trend but more and more going to be an integrated aspect of (good) product design. I'm very much aware that I am designing garbage. Meaning that the product stage of my designs is only temporary and they will be discarded sooner or later. So good design is also very much about the after life of a product. It's with this in mind that I'm proud to say that I'm aiming to design better garbage.