Who inventeddesign?
Engineering thinking and the ability to use space rationally are important qualities of an architect. Can they be combined with a naïve view of the world? Experienced designers from Ukraine and the Czech Republic answered the questions with disarming simplicity.
Questions:
- 1. Does naivety hinder or help a designer’s work?
- 2. Should design, as naïve art does, appeal not to the intellect but directly to a person’s subconscious?
- 3. Who invented design?
Lenka Kremenova, David Mastalkadesigners, A1Architects studio, Czech Republic
1. Naivety is a genuinely useful quality as long as it does not turn into stupidity. Naivety, as a counterweight to professionalism, helps to find fresh ideas and overcome professional clichés.
2. Yes, definitely. A designer can work with naivety and look for ideas in ordinary, primitive, yet sometimes brilliant situations from life. From this point of view we admire the works of Terunobu Fujimori and Sou Fujimoto, which the authors themselves call soft architecture.
3. A designer.
OlenaYudina,designer, Ukraine
1. Naivety is a positive quality. But in a designer’s work, good taste, organisation, responsibility, persistence, consistency, respect for the client, caring and love for the work matter more. And diligence, of course. As Karim Rashid put it: “Laziness is the antichrist.”
2. It should! In fact I think intellectuals will lose (processing information takes time) — people of intuition will win. I love naïve art for its radicalism and sense of humour. This style speaks to the subconscious through hidden, and sometimes open, irony. Besides, such works offend traditional taste with their unexpectedness. I like strange ideas. Look at the Nubola sofa and armchair for Meritalia — they are caricatures of classic upholstered furniture. Or the Showtime cabinet for BD Barcelona Design: this piece has a sense of humour, doesn’t it? I used this approach in my latest project, the interior design of a chain of organic cosmetics shops. The interior was meant to be not just a backdrop for the commercial part but, above all, a means of reaching the customer’s subconscious.
3. In one interview Marc Newson was asked why he became a designer. Marc replied that the ordinary things around him irritated him a great deal, and he began to think about how they could be made better. I suppose the same thought occurred to the first cave-dwelling enthusiast before he decided to decorate his stone dwelling with an ornament. As we know, the main task of the simplest architecture is to shelter, to warm, to hide — that is, what matters most is function. Function determined form. At a certain stage of human development this began to weigh on people: they took up cross-stitch and metal chasing, learned to make paints — and that is how the first design appeared, and with it the first designer.
KaterynaAntonovych,designer, Ukraine
1. Naivety is a wonderful quality. Without naivety you cannot do creative work at all, just as you cannot be wise in love. This quality helps a designer a great deal: like naïve children, we can see such details in an ordinary daisy, draw such incredible inspiration from its forms and colour combinations, that an ordinary person would never understand. After all, inspiration can be found even in a weather forecast.
2. Of course, because it is the subconscious that is connected with the whole Universe; only it knows everything about everything, and our interaction with the world around us happens exclusively through the subconscious. It turns words into thoughts and forms the image. I catch everything with my eyes, and my subconscious gives me a finished product.
3. Design was invented by You and Me and all the people who live on planet Earth — it is our shared creative work on a concept and its realisation.
- 1, 9.Organic cosmetics shop, design by Olena Yudina
- 2.Botas showroom, design by A1Architects studio
- 3.Takasugi-an house, architect Terunobu Fujimori
- 4, 5.Apartment interior, design by Kateryna Antonovych
- 6, 10.Showtime furniture by BD Barcelona Design, design by Jaime Hayon
- 7.LA1GHT project by A1Architects studio
- 8.Nubola sofa by Meritalia, design by Gaetano Pesce
- 11.N House, architect Sou Fujimoto
prepared by Nadezhda Sheikina
