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Design
Design requires constraint. The two are inseparable. Without problems to solve, or parameters to work within, we may still have art but we cannot have design.
I am a designer by nature. Give me a blank canvas and I have no idea where to begin. Give me constraints, parameters, problems to solve and, on a good day, my mind goes crazy with possibilities.
I design furniture for living with. Every item of furniture has a job to do, day after day, year after year. It is important to me to design for long life and quiet efficiency. Good design may not always be immediately obvious, but the lack of it can become increasingly irritating as the years go by.
I enjoy the freshness and freedom of working with contemporary design concepts and materials, and also the wisdom, integrity of construction and thorough practicality of much traditional design. Although clearly important, I see style variations as largely window dressing, the difference between this year’s and last year’s model. The true challenge for me as a designer is in the balancing act. Proportion, form and function. Materials, construction and environment. Finding the delicate balance, producing a piece that has its own personality, stretches boundaries where possible, and yet is truly at peace with itself and its surroundings.
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