What inspires you?
I am inspired by the world around us. We are all human and need and desire human connections.
So we can develop the inanimate world to be an extension of our emotions and our physical being.I am also very inspired from my travels.The best way to see any place is to work there and learn a culture from within. Design for me is like I am a cultural editor, I absorb information like a sponge and have a great memory to retain and dissect that information. I observe and memorize, then I read every bit of literature on the area, then I try to see and film everything.I smell, listen, touch, and taste as much as I can in the shortest amount of time.Every place inspires me - I love and get inspired usually by the unfamiliar so even the lost local places of industrial parks, airport’s hotels in small towns, alley ways in big cites, taxis in London, a gym in Hong Kong, a bathroom in Paris, a prop plane in Sweden, a cinema in Milan, a Renault in Sweden, food in Qatar, shanty towns in South Africa, anything that is new to my senses, unusual, odd, inspires me. Beauty is in everything if we want to see it.
Ideas are abundant if we want to embrace them.
DEC- JAN 2013/14
Tell us about your collaboration with BoConcept? What have you created for them?
I was very flattered to be invited to work with BoConcept because I've respected their brand for so long and even purchased some of their furniture.
I always felt they had a similar feeling and climate to one another. I was also inspired by BoConcept’s history of democratic design which is very much in line with my philosophy. I created a dining collection of a modular table, chairs, side board, hutch, lamp, tableware and accessories. My favorite piece is the chair itself. It’s a leaf-like form.The shapes of the legs of the chair, table and sideboard seem to creates a forest of trees; a branchy landscape. Best part of the chair is that it’s comfortable!!! All the detailing of the collection is soft so you feel relaxed and invited into a home.
Interview Lera Gavin
What are some of the other high profile projects you worked?
I was the design director for Method Home, styling and creating their brand which is now in every home. I created beautiful limited edition objects for Veuve Clicquot. They gave me great freedom because they are not manufacturers with strict guidelines on what they create. Artemide , Italy has been a long standing client because they continue to produce magnificent lighting. I’ve also worked with Umbra, Audi, Dirt Devil, Swavorski, Citibank, Nhow Hotels, Related Group to name a few.
What is your style of design? And why?
I call my work sensual minimalism because it is reductive yet human, minimal yet organic and amorphous. I use organic curves to break up an atmosphere and create strong statements, hopefully achieving a sense of vitality and stunning beauty.
What do you think of minimalist designs and the idea of "less is more"?
I think that as designers we tend to clean up the world – we make order from chaos. Yet 'modernism' and minimalism is sterile and too brutal to live in. I have said this for years. I believe there is a trend away from tired archetypes, and/or very cold minimalism. I wanted to challenge the boundaries of design, to bring a fulgent vibrancy to an environment.
Have you ever been or worked in Miami?
Yes I own a home in South Beach in a building designed by Chad Oppenheim. It’s been a joy to get to know Miami Beach. Most people know South Beach, but all Miami Beach and even surrounding areas such as Bal Harbour, Surfside, and Key Biscayne are all really beautiful and quite remote. My first visit was 30 years ago when it was a small retirement village for old people full of small art deco buildings that were decrepit. I then returned 10 years ago for Art Basel and I’ve been coming back ever since. My wife and I love strolling from 23rd down to south of fifth, stopping for Cuban food or coffee or working out at Equinox Gym. Also, we like suntanning nude at Haulover Beach Park. I’ve since designed a new condo with the Related Group,called My Brickell, set to open any day now