Graphic designer and fanatic

How would you explain the design of an industrial product to us, the end users?

Alyosha: In short, this is the development of a certain product from the beginning, i.e. the client's wishes, to the end, when the product can be used by the user.

Primož: Here it is essential that the designer gives the product something that spoils the owner even when the product is not being used. An example of this is the lamp Tolomeo, which draws attention to itself even when it is not lit. It increases the quality of the space it is in just by being there.

Alyosha: As designers, we try to walk a fine line: to design a product in such a way that it works best as a useful thing and at the same time pampers even when it is not in use.

 

When you start designing a certain product, is the first approach to design the user's view or the designer's desire?

Primož: The first is playing with ideas. When designing a bathroom line, you first remember all the bathrooms that confused or impressed you as a user, and based on these you start the creative process.

Alyosha: Things get a bit more serious when ideas need to be materialized so that they can be put into the production process.

 

Do you find serialization of products, which is inevitable in industrial design, an obstacle? Do you ever want to make unique products?

Primož: If you design a table, as a rule, you only deal with the table, you don't think about "stamping". Otherwise, it is part of industrial production. If I wanted unique things, I would be a sculptor or a painter, which I do from time to time, but not during working hours.

Alyosha: Serialization can also be a challenge, how to succeed with a new, simple and beautiful product despite all the good and bad products on the market.

 

At 20 BIO, Grafik and Fanatik presented Kolpa San bathroom equipment You, later the product won the Red Dot award. They experienced similar success for the Cher bathroom line; how important a role does the BIO designer award play in motivation?

Primož: When I work, I don't think about BIO very often, I don't design for an exhibition, although this represents the romantic side of the profession, because the products are exposed on a stage where you can compare them.

Alyosha: BIO, Red Dot and similar events are like a strainer of time through which you either get through or you don't. If you succeed, it means that your work is of sufficient quality within a certain period of time for the products to attract. It is similar to a test in school that shows whether you have mastered certain skills.

 

Is the long tradition of the industrial design biennale a pressure?

Primož: Rather, encouragement or confirmation in the style: "Welcome to the giants!"

 

What prize would take your breath away so much that you would fear for your health?

Alyosha: When we got Red Dot, it took our breath away (laughs).

Primož: However, the biggest confirmation is if the product sells well. Here is the Tolomeo light again. Michele de Lucchi's greatest validation is that his products have become iconic, that users identify with them, by representing value to them.

 

How far does your design imagination go? What would you do if you had unlimited possibilities?

Alyosha: I would work where design significantly contributes to functionality, such as cars or boats.

Primož: Many times when I snowboard, I think that it's a shame that I don't have my own snowboard, so to start I would design boards, skis, surfboards, ... I'm also interested food design: how the shape of food is related to the perception of taste.

 

Where can you combine leisure time with creativity?

Primož: For short creative charging of the batteries, the best homestead is Kabaj in the Goriška brde, where I also had an exhibition of paintings. For longer escapes, it is necessary to go a little further, to larger cities such as London or Vienna, which impress with their creative potential.