Deniz Aktay Born in Stuttgart Germany, 1984

2005 - 2012 - Studies of architecture and urban planning | University of Stuttgart diploma in architecture and urban planning at university of Stuttgart
Since 2011 – Working in the field of furniture design / participating on the first contest with the “Hommage” chaise lounge

Interview by Startdesignart.com

What is your design background?
During my studies of architecture and urban planning at the University of Stuttgart and for my perennial work experience as an architect, the aspects creating, forming and designing always have been important in my creative work. Following this passion also in my free time, I could successfully participate on several furniture design contests. Additionally, the more I focused on designing furniture and objects, the more my enthusiasm grew. Over time I figured out that good design means for me finding the right harmony between proportion, material and functionality. This goes with my demand for simplicity, originality, proper element joining, detailing and appropriate use of the materials involved. Considering all these aspects, designing a new piece is an interesting challenge every time. While getting more and more visible on social media, I could attract attention from various interesting manufacturers.

What characterizes your work as an artist? (Design Process)
The first design step happens automatically and unintentionally. While scrolling through social media networks, be it Pinterest, Instagram, you name it, you are shown tons of images of fine design. Consequently, your antennae for nice shapes and good proportions improve unknowingly and, in addition, it immediately sparks my desire to be creative and to design a piece myself. The next steps in the process are very typical and empirical, I would say. Mostly I sketch my first concepts very quickly on a piece of paper. Here it is also important to relieve yourself from geometrical and perspective correctness and to sketch freely. Your drawing doesn’t demand perfection but helps you in finding ideas. Usually, I then turn my sketch into a virtual or physical 3D model to check the idea. And in the end, if I like the concept, I will try to visualize it in a real environment – which is also the most challenging part, I guess.

How do you transmit your idea to the viewer or manufacturer? Which perspective is the best, which part or detail do you want to show and which not?
For me, these decisions are the most demanding.

Why did you make this work and what is the idea behind it? What is your philosophy or the origin of the work?
I wanted to create uncommon furniture pieces. There are great designs on the market and I know furniture have to be simple and clean to get sold these days. But most of the current designs are also a bit boring so I thought why not approaching furniture design more playful and not necessarily with the aim to produce them. So most of the designs I create I know they are maybe impossible or inefficient to produce or sell for the mass market but I always liked to create something extraordinary. I wanted as I started with furniture design is thinking out of the box. Nowadays I have the feeling that most manufacturers don’t have the heart anymore to do extraordinary designs which is understandable because this is very risky so you don’t know if people will buy them. So for me you see lots of good designs, clean, simple, minimal, but only few which are really extraordinary. So I don’t want to say that all designs are boring and mine are better, I just wanted to design something different and of course I can do that easy because I am free to do whatever I want without risk in the visualizations and without confirming that they will be stable. Second thing is what I experienced a lot during my work as an architect: if a manufacturer says that a design is impossible to do, that does not always mean it is really impossible to do but means that it needs lots of work to get done. It has to be exciting. This could evolve from a nice and extraordinary detail, from a shape itself, from a big functionality but sometimes also from a surprising use of colours.

Why is a particular technique, approach, instrument or medium important to the work?
Usually I use only sketches and 3d-models approaching my concept designs. Sometimes if I want to see it in a physical model I use card board to build little mockups. Also lately I bought a 3d-printer (Ender) and I love to print some models also. This is fast and your hands stay clean (but can also be frustrating because sometimes the printing doesn’t work and you have to try it several times). I think you should use what works best for you. But usually I recommend traditional, old school sketching and prototyping to get new ideas for unique designs.

Where does your work relate to the current work of others?
Of course like in many design disciplines I get inspired by other artists and arts. Also I am a child of my time so with all of my designs I try to be sort of timeless minimalistic although most of the designs are uncommon.

Who influenced you, and how does your work relate to the work of your sources of inspiration?
I can find inspiration in many places but most I get inspired by other related arts like music, painting, sculpting and fine arts. But mostly I get inspired by other artists of the same field. Searching for good design pieces via Instagram or Pinterest is the main source of inspiration. Just looking at other designs you get both conscious and unconscious influenced by other designs and arts.

Website: https://www.dezin.de/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dezin_design/

Ukrainian industrial and interior designer Daria Zinovatnaya creates furniture, interiors and architectural concepts, combining bold colors and geometric shapes to create extraordinary mid-century projects.

What makes Zinovatnaya's designs unique is that she combines simple shapes with an unusual execution. By bringing together bold colors and shapes that complement each other rather than overwhelm. Zinovatnaya invents not just one item, but the entire space: the wall art, the chairs or sofas, the lighting design, the rugs, and the furniture and floor and ceiling patterns.

In 2017 a Reddot Award for her daring collection of furniture design.

Zinovatnaya is curious about testing different products, currently she focuses on furniture design, accessories and lighting design. She is interested in seeing how her ideas resonate with other people and whether they are of interest to consumers. The main task of Zinovatnaya's work is to use color and different shapes, combine them and create something special. The interior architecture that Daria Zinovatnaya focuses on is modern and eccentric.

Website: https://zinovatnaya.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zinovatnaya/

Freia Achenbach is an object, furniture and spatial designer from Stuttgart. Her approach enables movement between disciplines and explores playful material, shape and color. In her work, Freia Achenbach experiments with a wide variety of materials and both traditional and innovative production processes.

Her objects always tell a story and convey a certain ambiguity. All objects are handmade and / or made in collaboration with small factories. She makes both unique objects and small series and realizes commissioned works for clients.

Since 2018 she has been working with June Gschwander and Carlo Kurth under the joint design studio Anima Ona.

Website: http://freia-achenbach.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freia_achenbach/

The 20-year-old Jip Nieuwland is a third year student of Industrial Product Design at Saxion University of Applied Siences.

In addition to his studies, Nieuwland works a lot on personal design projects such as hand sketching, digital sketching, 3D modeling and rendering. Nieuwland has had a company with which he works on product visualization for other brands, often electronics companies.

Nieuwland loves functional and minimalistic shapes, Dieter Rams' style really appeals to him.

Photo: speaker concept for @renderweekly / https://www.instagram.com/newland.design/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newland.design/

The Cocoon is the second collaboration between the Campana Brothers and Louis Vuitton and was produced using high-end technology to cover the structure in resin and glass fiber with refined leather.

Created in 1984 in Sao Paulo by Fernando (1961) and Humberto (1953), Estudio Campana is recognized for its furniture design and intriguing pieces. Currently, the studio operates in the areas of architecture, landscaping, scenography, fashion as well as special projects and commissions.
The São Paulo-based studio celebrates its 35th anniversary acknowledged internationally as pioneers of disruptive design, which led them to create a ground-breaking language in their field. Proudly rooted in Brazilian culture and traditions, their work carries universal values in its core, such as freedom and human dignity, through the search of our identity from life experiences.

Their creative process raises everyday materials to nobility, bringing not only creativity to design but also Brazilian characteristics - the colors, the mixtures, the creative chaos - the triumph of simple solutions, in an artistic and poetic way.

Campana pieces are part of permanent collections of renowned cultural institutions such as Centre Pompidou and the Musée Des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, MoMa, New York, Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo and Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein.
In 2009, the Campana Brothers founded Instituto Campana, in order to preserve their ever-growing collection for future generations and to promote design as a tool for transformation through social and educational programs (Source reference: http://campanas.com.br/biography/).

Website: http://campanas.com.br/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estudiocampana/

Born in Utrecht 1941

Goldsmith - discovered in herself a passion for luminous jewelry (Source reference: Raak catalog 8).

Academy of Visual arts, Crafts & Design, Arnhem, Precious metal department. Grant by the Italian Government: apprentice at the workshop of master goldsmith Ugo Marcacci in Florence, Italy.
Jewelry workshop of her own in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Maker's mark:
Gradual transition towards industrial design for a wide range of companies in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the Philippines.
Participant in various exhibitions; a special survey was organized by 'Bouwfonds Nederlandse Gemeenten' in Hoevelaken. Work acquired by several museums.
Amongst her best selling and most successful designs: the Bolide lamp by Raak, the Pericón mirror by Deknudt Decora, the Birillo glass table by Tonelli, the Zilbo bowls by Ligne Roset, the K5 clock by Artimeta (Source reference: http://www.sneydersdevogel.nl/info).

Website: http://www.sneydersdevogel.nl/

Core tenets of longevity, functionality, and joy guide the Kooij collection. Of each object we ask: is this a permanent, worthy application of the resources used?

In 2009, Dirk van der Kooij founded this studio in the basement of the Design Academy, Eindhoven. His guiding question was seemingly simple: could plastic be an honest, durable material? Six pizza ovens welded together proved that yes, it could. The resulting Elephant Skin series saw recycled plastic wrinkle and contract as it cooled outside of a mould, conjuring a rich, living tactility. The ultimate imitator had finally found an identity of its own.

Elephant Skin set a precedent for the work that would follow: across the collection, we have found new life in unlikely places. Discarded CDs, leather sofas, kitchen appliances, chocolate moulds, and diseased wood all present rich textural and structural fodder.

A romance with unconventional materials necessitates that form follow process. Our family of house-developed presses, robots, and extruders have directly shaped the identity of the collection. The limitations of these imperfect machines have gifted a visual language which envelops the function, tactility, and beloved oddness of the Kooij collection.

Working alongside our patchwork of machines is a studio of highly passionate craftspeople. Carpenters, welders, colourists, and finishers breathe life into the work. It is only through a union of crafts and technology that we are able to carry waste from loss to luxury.

A decade since this adventure began, we produce a tightly curated range of forever furniture in our Amsterdam-based factory. Select pieces have joined the permanent collections of the Stedelijk museum, MoMA New York, MoMA San Francisco, Vitra Design Musuem, Design Museum London, and the National Museum in Oslo (Source reference: https://dirkvanderkooij.com/about ).

Photo by To Huidekoper

Website: https://dirkvanderkooij.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dirkvanderkooij/

Frederik Kurzweg trained as a cabinet maker at a traditional company near Münster, Germany.

His hand crafted journeyman's piece attracted a lot of attention and also received several design awards. Motivated by this early success, he started studying industrial design at the University of Applied Sciences in Magdeburg where he expanded his professional knowlege about different material properties and technical design processes.

After graduating he added the Master of Arts in product design at the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg where he focused his work on furniture design.

With his practical Master thesis „bender“ he especially deepens his knowlege on bending metal and synthetic resins processing (polyester, epoxy, and vinylester resins) reinforced with glass and carbon fiber (Source reference: http://www.frederikkurzweg.com/about).

Photo by Jeppe Sørensen

Superpose pendant lamp / Frederik Kurzweg
Website: http://www.frederikkurzweg.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frederik_kurzweg_studio/

My aim is to embrace irregularity through craft, focusing on intuitive construction methods and spontaneous form by rhythmically connecting and growing each piece to realize a liminal position between design art and craft, balancing metaphor and utility. Each piece pursues beauty in chaos within a structured landscape, reimagining objects that create expressive dialogue in a space. Discovering a poetic moment in dystopia and confronting present dilemmas may be an opportunity to celebrate new perspectives in design (Source reference: http://www.evanfayfurniture.com/info)

Photo by Clare Gatto

Lawless Sofa / Evan Fay, 2000
Website: http://www.evanfayfurniture.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evan_fay_design/