Archive for March 2010
Erik Rosin
Erik Rosin, 25, Sweden
School: Beckmans College of Design
Department: Product & Interior Design
Specials: Strategic and Graphic Design
Design background
- 1 year of Art History at Södertörn University
- 1 year of Three-dimensional Design & Architecture at Nyckelviksskolan
- 3 years at Beckmans College of Design
Important lessons learned during your education
To listen, research, question, visualize, cooperate, create, inspire and work hard.
Did you do anything prior to your education to strengthen your skills and to get into your school?
I worked at a nine to five job in a store, which was a great way of getting motivation and energy to start studying. It also keeps you grounded.
Project title
Origami nemuro – Kami / Kuro / Fuji
Length of project
8 weeks
Concept
A sleeping place is often static in both its expression and function, even though the need for sleep is everything but static when you live together. One wants to read whilst the other wants to sleep. One rises early whilst the other has a lie-in. The soft module Kuro transforms the bed according to the user’s needs. Make a blackout, a headboard, a silencer or just a decoration of an unmade bed. The bed Kami has a bedding that is foldable according to needs and the bedside table Fuji has the shape of an extended tetrahedron. The shapes of the three units are inspired by origami, geometry and the golden ratio. The choice of materials, where life cycle thinking is central, is influenced by the Japanese philosophy Wabi-Sabi. What nature has created can be decomposed by nature.
Inspiration
Origami, geometry and Wabi-Sabi
Materials
Kami (bed) – Pine, latex, steel, cotton, wool, Valchromat
Kuro (module) – Latex, wool
Fuji (table) – Valchromat
Keywords for the visual design
I started out by folding paper, and wanted to transfer the fragility and angular form of it into full-scale interior.
How is your work process when you design?
I put a lot of focus on the research and concept making phase, being the phase where the crucial part lies whether a project will be taking responsibility and be an inspirational one.
Which part of the process is the hardest for you to work through?
Building stuff.
In your experience, are there specific skills that would be helpful to master?
Positivity, creativity, questioning and progressivism.
What are your strengths?
Researching, questioning, approaching people, asking for help, taking the initiative to cooperate, idea making, implementation on a strategical and organizational level.
What are your weaknesses?
Building stuff on my own. Often I don’t lack the knowledge on how to do it, just the motivation of actually doing it.
Do you turn to specific areas for inspiration in general?
Nature, humans, space.
Any designers you find inspirational?
- Nirvan Richter, architect, furniture designer and founder of Norrgavel.
- Zandra Ahl, glass and ceramics professor at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design.
- Mathilda Tham, professor in sustainability at Goldsmiths College in London and Beckmans College of Design.
Other students you find inspirational?
Many in general, no one in particular.
Is your work process based on a special approach towards design?
Yes, one where taking responsibility and creating inspiration is in focus. By taking responsibility I mean through an ecological, economical and humanistic point of view. I see the designer roll partly as a creator of long term strategic goals with the intention to create a sustainable world. Inspiration is one of the ways of getting there.
Do you have a dream scenario for you and your design in the future?
To be able to work with design both on a macro level as a strategy and on a micro level with interiors, furniture, products and graphic design.
Has it always been a dream to work with design?
No, I started this path unconsciously about nine years ago, and consciously about five years ago. Before I loved learning languages, and I saw myself working as an interpreter/translator.
Why did you choose this specific specialization?
Products, furniture, interiors and graphic design are things which are close to us in our daily life, hopefully they tell stories and you appreciate them for their function. I thought design had the possibility to change and inspire people in their daily life. Today I still believe this, but design has opened my eyes to the possibility of being a process which can be applied in much larger structural complexities.
Do you have any other projects you would like to highlight?
I am currently working with my Bachelor exam project, where I investigate how I can create a design process which is taking responsibility and is inspirational at the same time. My intention is then to transform the theory into practice, exhibiting four inspirational projects in the areas of furniture, product/service design, graphic design and film.
Where can we find more information about you?
Contact info
Erik Rosin Studio
Theory & practice
+46 73 969 85 55
Magnus Sangild
Magnus Sangild, 27, Denmark
School: The Danish Design School
Department: Product Design
Specials: Furniture & Spatial
Design background
4 years as a cabinetmaker, 5 years at the design school and half a year at Studio/ Louise Campbell – now running my own company in the hearth of Copenhagen making furniture, product and spatial designs.
Important lessons learned during your education
Most important is being independent and believe in yourself and stick with it.
Did you do anything prior to your education to strengthen your skills and to get into your school?
I worked as a cabinetmaker for four years and I had some drawing courses before I applied to The Danish Design School.
Project title
MagicMagnusMountain
Length of project
12 weeks
Concept
Make a furniture with a rough visual layout.
Inspiration
The skerry/rocklike surroundings in and around Gothenburg
Materials
Threaded Carbon Fibers and Epoxy
Keywords for the visual design
Mountain, Tactile, Transparent, Rough, Interaction.
How is your work process when you design?
I often starts with a moodboard showing in which direction I want the process to go, my designs are made with intuition of an interaction between the design product and the viewer and I would like to tell a visual story with my designs. This means that the interaction reflects on some sort of reaction from the viewer, this also being whether he/she likes the piece or not.
Then I start sketching while experimenting with different materials that I already have selected, making small visual drafts showing the main ideas of the concept. Bringing it to the computer where I detail the designs and put dimensions to it – after that I build a prototype in scale 1:1 where I test the materials and proportions.
Which part of the process is the hardest for you to work through?
The first part of the project, for me, is nerve wrecking – this is when I’m not in full control of the process, the project could end up in so many different ways. The best way of describing it, is like being in love with girl. I see myself running around trying different things, ends up disappointed and head down most of the times, but when I find the right path of the design my hearth starts beating really fast and adrenalin pumps through my vains, I get an energy rush that’s indescribable.
What are your strengths?
That I dare to be different and that I make designs that focus on the emotional relationship that emerges from furniture’s with a visual history.
What are your weaknesses?
There are many but to name one, I’m really bad at making beautiful hand drawings.
Do you turn to specific areas for inspiration in general?
Graphic design has always been a huge impact on my designs, also I have gained a lot of tactile input from being in a relationship with a textile designer.
Any designers you find inspirational?
Marcel Wanders, Tom Dixon, Louise Campbell, Thomas Bentzen, Henrik Vibskov etc.
Other students you find inspirational?
Alexander Høst, fashion designer, great friend and a great discussion partner.
Is your work process based on a special approach towards design?
I am very inspired by interdisciplinary exchange and I think the best way to describe my way of designing is a field called “cross over” where design meets art.
Do you have a dream scenario for you and your design in the future?
The dream scenario would be that I can stay independent in all means that concern economy and creativity and still focus on being different.
Has it always been a dream to work with design?
No not really, but since I was 16 though.
Why did you choose this specific specialization?
It came as a natural continuation of being a cabinetmaker and to develop my own design language. Also I felt a responsibility to increase the diversity on the furniture market. For me it is equally important that the product tells a tale and have a very obvious function.
Do you have any other projects you would like to highlight?
Medusa a stool: http://www.magnussangild.com/index.php?/project/medusa/
Creator table and bench: http://www.magnussangild.com/index.php?/project/creator/
Were can we find more information about you?
Contact info
Magnus Sangild
Slejpnersgade 10. 4th
2200 København N
+45 2532 8982
info@magnussangild.com
Ernesto García
Ernesto García, 29, Mexico
School: Konstfack, University College of Arts Crafts and Design, Sweden
Department: Inredningsarkitektur & möbeldesign
Specials: Interior and Furniture Design
Design background
August 1998 – May 2003: BA in Industrial Design, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico city
August 2002 to June 2005: Abstracta Studio, own project, Mexico city
August 2005 to August 2009: Esrawe studio (www.esrawe.com), Designer Senior, Mexico city
August 2009- in progress (June 2011)
MA In Space, Inredningsarkitektur & möbeldesign, Konstfack, University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm Sweden
Important lessons learned during your education
To be conscious of how design affects the space and the people in which is in contact.
Did you do anything prior to your education to strengthen your skills and to get into your school?
I apply to competitions that I found interesting, I think it is a good way to make a portfolio if you don´t have work experience.
Project title
Oserí Shelve
Length of project
6 weeks
Concept
Oserí Shelve is a flexible system compound of three different parts, box 40cm x 30cm x 30cm, box 60cm x 30cm x 30cm and a hanger. The basic idea is that the user can build a grid on the wall each 50cm with the hangers and then start to hang the boxes.
The boxes can interact between each other or with other hangers in this way the user can create different compositions.
My intention is to create a shelve that last long by changing towards the users needs and desires, for instance if you need more space to storage you can get more boxes.
Oserí shelve can also adapt easy to the new space when you move. I think also that this kind of furniture makes easy for you to feel comfortable in the new space because at the same time that it has a new shape it remind you your previous house.
Inspiration
I got inspiration from “raramuris” a semi nomad tribe form north Mexico; they have to move each winter to a warmer place. Their objects are neglected, they can not put more attention to them because probably they have to leave them when move.
I start to make links with this culture and our culture in which way objects are more important for us. Also I wondered which kind of objects requires a semi nomad society?
We are semi nomad; at least we have to move 2 or 3 times in our life.
Materials
Wood board and metal sheet
Keywords for the visual design
Ordered chaos
How is your work process when you design?
I would say everything but organize. It is going back and forward between the both parts of my brain.
Which part of the process is the hardest for you to work through?
To make the final presentation for the client, It is a lot of work but it is important only show what it is relevant for the project.
In your experience, are there specific skills that would be helpful to master?
Critical thinking. Always question if things should be done in that way.
What are your strengths?
Patience I could say.
What are your weaknesses?
I get interested for so many thinks that It becomes really difficult to manage.
Do you turn to specific areas for inspiration in general?
Everyday life and art. I think art is ahead of design.
Any designers you find inspirational?
Tapio Virkala and Achille Castiglioni
Other students you find inspirational?
I could say everyone, Konstfack is full of talent but I can mention Johana Landin, Karolina Nyström and Keisuke Kawase
Is your work process based on a special approach towards design?
I could say that process is in between architecture, industrial design and interior design.
Do you have a dream scenario for you and your design in the future?
Not really, I have to think about it.
Has it always been a dream to work with design?
Yes
Why did you choose this specific specialization?
Since I started to study design I feel attracted by furniture.
Do you have any other projects you would like to highlight?
Piñata furniture is still in development. It is furniture made with recycled paper and natural glue. (check blog for more information – link below. red.)
Were can we find more information about you?
ernesto-garcia-design.blogspot.com
Contact info
neto_gar@hotmail.com
