interview :: silje nesdal - confessions of a design geek

This article was published 10 years

I met Silje Nesdal both in Oslo for the 100{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} Norway preview and then again at 100{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} Norway itself during the London Design Festival last year. I immediately loved her style and her approach to design, so this interview has been a long time coming. We talked yellow coats, post-war design and tiny Japanese rulers…

What’s the most important thing to know about you?

I am an Oslo-based furniture designer with a passion for materials and joinery and a love of wood, Illmari Tapiovaara, black coffee, Will Ferrell, my yellow coat, Japan, Brian Eno and my Dr.Martens.

What inspires your work?

I have always been interested in materials, old craft techniques and joinery. Recently, I have been looking at old Scandinavian designers, in particular how they had to think smart in the years after the second world war to fit furniture into small apartments, make everyday life easier for the end user, and how they treated materials to fit their needs. Old furniture designers like Alvar Aalto and Torbjørn Afdal have been a source of inspiration, in addition to things like architecture and traveling. My stays in Japan and Finland have been important too and in fact have probably been the greatest inspiration of all.

Talk me through your design and making process.

Every design process is different – it depends if it starts with a need, an idea or a material. If the design comes from an idea, it can come from anything, like an interesting shape, a construction mistake or just a nice detail. I play with the idea, sketching, making models, moving on to bigger and more detailed models, each more materialistic and real than the last. Eventually, when the main proportions are set, I draw it up in 3D, to see if it works. 3D drawing is a great tool to use, but I am careful not to introduce it too early in my process. I make mock-ups in whatever material fits the purpose, and eventually I make a real prototype. If the process starts with a material, it starts out of curiosity by testing the characteristics of the material and that is what drives it. This process can go many ways, but I always end up building and making models of the products. Deadlines are good to have!

What’s your favourite part of the process?

Working with models, shaping products with my hands, searching for the best way to use the material and tweaking the proportions. It is very satisfying seeing how the product comes together and becomes what you have worked for.

What’s your favourite tool and why?

My calipers or my tiny Japanese ruler. Many things can happen between millimeters.

Tell me about a really good day and a really bad day in the life of Silje Nesdal.

Good day: Long breakfast on my veranda, all day in the wood workshop, endless supplies of sunshine and black coffee.

Bad day: Toothpaste on my shirt, my visa gets turned down, I have glued something wrongly, and then a long e-mail I have just written disappears.

What defines good design?

I don’t think I could put it any better than Dieter Rams’ 10 Principles for Good Design. Good design for me is long lasting and environmentally friendly. I think it is important to make products that are considered down to the last detail, and honest in the choice of materials and design.

What are you most proud of?

I am proud that I have made the choice to do my best to become a furniture designer, leaving a safe job and going for it. I spent a long time working in fashion before this career, but I have never looked back, and being picked out for the Stockholm Furniture Fair, 100{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} Norway in London and being nominated for Newcomer of the Year in Norway 2015, shows me that I do have a place here in the tough world of furniture design.

What advice would you give to an aspiring designer?

Since I am a quite new designer myself, I can only say what I did and still do: go for it!