Thomas Poole studied at Goldsmiths before working for some of the leading names in British art and design, and then setting up on his own, founding Primary Grey just last year, to produce his own furniture. He makes everything by hand at his combined studio and workshop in New Cross. I caught up with him to find out more…
What inspires your work?
I don’t really know, I don’t look for inspiration per se. It is more that I am always looking at things. Flicking through books is something I love to do and I have had quite a few ideas when I have been back at my parents house for Christmas as they have so many lovely anthologies of artists and designers. But ideas seem to just pour out of my head, I will be thinking about a piece of furniture in a very broad sense and then my mind just carries on with it. Often it’s during the moments of time that you don’t plan, like waiting to meet a friend, when things start to solidify into an image. Having said all that, I know that I have been heavily influenced by the Bauhaus and the mid-century designers.
Talk me through your design and making process.
Once I have an image in my head I start sketching ideas by hand and refining shapes until they are as simple as possible. Then it is a case of drawing up a material list that fits the idea with all the tooling I have at my disposal. Until very recently I didn’t use 3D design software and drew everything in plan and elevation. My background in making has helped with the designing process as I have a good internal library of how materials will behave, which helps streamline the actual making process. When it comes to the making I do everything by hand, which does limit my output but it is incredibly satisfying and every item feels special to me.
What’s your favourite part of the process?
It can take a while to get an idea from rough sketch to final product so I enjoy the whole making process. When all the components start to come together it validates all the time considering the design, materials and processes used. There a number of pleasing moments from receiving the raw materials to making the first component. Even polishing can be satisfying as long at there isn’t too much to do!
What’s your favourite tool?
I have an AC/DC TIG welder which is probably my favourite bit of kit. I spent three years working as a metalworker and TIG welding was my speciality. It is a really satisfying process and producing a perfect shiny weld every time is something that took a while to master so using that one machine shows all the practice I have put in every time I use it.
Describe a really good day in the life of Primary Grey and a really bad day.
A really good day is probably one where I get to spend the whole day working on ideas and getting them sorted without any interruptions. It also has to have a bit of sun in it as my workshop is quite dark and everything looks better in natural light.
A really really bad day isn’t something that comes along that often, but the quarterly rent day is not such a fun day and the weekly day doing the pile of admin that will have built up over the week isn’t much fun either.
Where does the name come from?
The name took quite a while to come up with but it is based upon the fact I am colourblind and so over the years have predominately used a colour palette of the primary colours plus grey. Though oddly since starting Primary Grey I have seemed to branch out a bit more. It is still the most stressful part of the whole process as I love colour but there are so few that I can be certain about, so I have to call on my sisters to help me choose them. I do keep threatening to go back to a colour palette of four again though as it does make me constantly worry when a new colour is introduced.
What defines good design?
It has to have a function and it has to perform that function in a very simple manner. I like nature to be fussy, but all the design I really love is incredibly simple.
What are you most proud of?
Taking the plunge to set Primary Grey up as I was finding it very hard to find the time or money to realise any of my ideas – and still have a large folder of work thats been too expensive to make so far. So the day I decided I needed to quit my job and give it a go for real was a big moment and I am very proud of what I have produced so far.
What advice would you give to an aspiring designer?
There isn’t any point waiting to be given a chance – you have to just believe you can do it and try. If you give it a go then you have already shown a lot of courage to put your ideas out there. I guess you have to ask yourself if designing for someone else would be satisfying enough or if you need to be pushing your own ideas.
What’s your favourite colour?
The kind of blue which is so saturated you loose all sense of depth when looking at it, but knowing me that would probably turn out to be purple!
Further reading for the especially geeky:
- out and about :: stockholm
- out and about :: twelve at stockholm furniture fair 2015
- out and about :: ambiente frankfurt
- out and about :: greenhouse, sff15
