I featured the design and making process of Bjorn Andersson‘s Cutting Corners lighting range on the blog ahead of its launch at Tent London in September, so it was really nice to finally meet the man himself. Here’s what he told me…
“The most important thing to know about me is that I wouldn’t advise talking to me before my morning coffee!”
“When I was five years old I wanted to be an airline pilot and travel the world. Now I get to be a designer and travel the world.”
“The materials and processes are my inspiration. Cutting Corners was inspired by playing with shapes and models: welding, and folding and playing with different lights, working with candles and LEDs and different shades.”
“Switching tools is a good trick to overcome creative block. Sketching, modelling, painting… keeping active.”
“My design process is just playing in my studio, working in models. I am constantly trying my ideas in different scales. Models never lie. An idea could look great in a 3D rendering or a drawing, but when you build the model you know for sure whether it works or not.”
“A good day is getting that rush from realising you have a good idea. Or that the result of your research actually surpasses your expectations.”
“A bad day is when an idea gets more and more complicated the more you work on it, and even if you love it you have to scrap it because you don’t know how to solve it technically.”
“Good design is simple and complex at the same time. I like when it is clever without being too intellectual.”
“I’m proud of having the guts to take time off from being an architect and follow through on this product design idea. My first paper prototypes caught fire during our first photo shoot. I thought the idea had burnt and died right there!”
“My favourite colour is… stainless steel!”
Further reading for the especially geeky:
- interview :: stolen form
- interview :: oki sato
- interview :: jude dennis
- interview :: seven gauge studios
