VI. Design is not decoration. It is a decision
VI. Design is not decoration. It is a decision
2 min read
The confusion between design and decoration is old and well maintained, perhaps because it is economically useful. Objects bought for their appearance are replaced when appearances change. Right objects, you keep.
I come from sculpture, where form owes nothing to function. It exists for itself. It is from that freedom that I approach design, not as an additional constraint but as another terrain where form is tested differently.
Deciding the exact height of a tabletop is deciding the posture of the person who sits at it. Not metaphorically. Physically.
" Deciding the exact height of a tabletop is deciding the posture of the person who sits at it. Not metaphorically, physically."
The Pyrite Console is a good example of what this means in practice. It is a piece larger than most consoles, even by designers, with a top of nearly two metres entirely composed of interlocking, truncated cubes. Some forms are connected to each other only by very small surfaces. The difficulty was not aesthetic, it was structural: designing an internal architecture solid enough to guarantee a durable, functional piece, without any concession on the formal result.
Every piece takes time. Not out of neurotic perfectionism. Important formal decisions are not made quickly, they mature, confront material, are corrected through contact with craftsmen. What comes out, when the work is done, speaks for itself.
2 min read
The confusion between design and decoration is old and well maintained, perhaps because it is economically useful. Objects bought for their appearance are replaced when appearances change. Right objects, you keep.
I come from sculpture, where form owes nothing to function. It exists for itself. It is from that freedom that I approach design, not as an additional constraint but as another terrain where form is tested differently.
Deciding the exact height of a tabletop is deciding the posture of the person who sits at it. Not metaphorically. Physically.
" Deciding the exact height of a tabletop is deciding the posture of the person who sits at it. Not metaphorically, physically."
The Pyrite Console is a good example of what this means in practice. It is a piece larger than most consoles, even by designers, with a top of nearly two metres entirely composed of interlocking, truncated cubes. Some forms are connected to each other only by very small surfaces. The difficulty was not aesthetic, it was structural: designing an internal architecture solid enough to guarantee a durable, functional piece, without any concession on the formal result.
Every piece takes time. Not out of neurotic perfectionism. Important formal decisions are not made quickly, they mature, confront material, are corrected through contact with craftsmen. What comes out, when the work is done, speaks for itself.
