I am really impressed with your work, they are sculptures, but most of them could be jewellery pieces, have you ever thought about it?
Yes, I have thought about them as jewellery and sometimes making very simple, assembled pieces, but making sculpture is a different activity and has a kind of intention that does not include being useful.

Tell us how you began, because you used to make drawings and later, with everything that you usually collect you found a way to express your drawings?
I have always drawn on paper and have sometimes drawn from natural objects I collected. At some point I realized I was drawing sculptural forms and did not need the rectangle of the paper, or the paper for that matter. I found a black wire that looked like a pencil line and started “drawing” with that. Eventually I began to include some of the wonderful objects I had collected on walks and hikes, from the city or the countryside. I still think of most of the work as drawings. They are just paperless drawings.

You use different materials, do you treat some of them beforehand to be able to work with them?
Not usually. Work I make from natural materials can change in color or shrink and dry out. It is part of the work. I try not to work with materials that disintegrate however.

Did you develop your own technique?
I developed my “wire work” by myself, no instructors, but I did attend college and graduate school and have taken some welding classes along the way.

You use wire in its natural color, what about adding artificial coloring?
Yes, I use materials as I find them. I haven’t made much work with artificial color, although I have a huge soil collection that I sometimes use in pieces. It is very colorful.

Do you consider each piece to be unique?
Yes.

How much time can it take to create one of your works?
It can take a couple of weeks or months. Sometimes one day, it depends on the materials and size.

You design all of your own works. Do you ever accept commissions?
I do accept commissions.

You work on your own. How do you feel working alone all day long?
I love to work alone. I love solitude. I just completed a residency in North Norfolk England. It took three weeks, of which I was alone the whole time, except for interacting occasionally with my hosts. It was very productive.

How did you start to become known for your work?
I just kept reaching out, looking for exhibition opportunities and building my experience and, as a result, my resume.

How do you sell your work?
I have several galleries who sell my work.

Being an artist, how do you deal with the highs and lows?
I believe in myself and keep working.

What is the most difficult thing about your work?
It’s fragility.

What do you enjoy most about your work?
Accidents.

Which work has had the biggest success?
Work that includes stones.

What’s your dream project?
Creating an entire environment of steel rods and stones.

You are an industrial designer and all of your fantastic designs, as La Flaca or Cornucopia, are designed in a way to reduce to the minimum expression. Has this PET lamp project changed your point of view in some way for designing?
The PET lamp has also been a project based in reduction but in this case it was orientated towards simplifying the process of transforming the bottle into a lampshade to the maximum, so that it could be understood and done by any artisan and with basic tools found anywhere.
The great difference has been producing an object with artisans rather than industry. We had to leave much more freedom and loose control on the final look of the object rather than controlling every detail.

PET lamp is a very attractive project, from the initial idea to the final result. How did you participate in it, just with the concept? Did you learn from the artisans how to weave the weft?
We worked on the concept in the studio in Madrid and once we saw the potential we looked for a sponsor to develop the project in Colombia (Coca-Cola Colombia) and an organization to give us the advice on who to work with and where (Artesanías de Colombia). Once we had that, we did a workshop hand by hand with the artisans in Bogotá for 2 months.

Were the colors and mixture of them defined at the beginning, or was it the “artisan’s way” of doing?
We didn’t want to influence the artisan in colors and patterns. In fact, our aim is to have their traditional crafts and motives reflected in their lampshade so that you can have the whole cosmogony of the artisans ancestral culture perceived in the object they produce.
In any case, they have a greater knowledge in the colors and pigments they use and how to combine them than we do. We certainly didn’t want to take the European style into Colombia, but do it the other way round. And with this attitude the artisan feels much more motivated and active within the project. Realizing this project has revealed the great difference between working with industries and working with artisans.

What did you learn from the artisans?
Collaborating with this group of artisans has opened my eyes to the reality of a country, a culture and a completely different way of understanding how to live in this world, which would have been much more difficult in any other way.

Would you integrate colors in your next designs?
I like using the natural colors of the materials I choose to use and in the case of fabrics it feels very natural to use pigmented fibers. This way it has opened me to a new way of understanding color. In any case, now we are developing the project in Chile using wicker, which you can’t dye so we will use it in its natural color and different shades such as when you boil it, it becomes darker. I think that in this case coloring it would loose contact with the actual material and wouldn’t add anything more to the project.

From the moment you finish a design, up until you make a prototype, what is the process you go through until it is ready to be sold?
It’s a very long process that usually takes us around a year to have it ready for the market and an extra year to really have the production running smoothly. We start with the idea, reduce it to the basic and start directly with the materials making prototypes. These slowly change until they arrive to the final solution, usually working with the artisan or industry that will eventually manufacture the final object. Then comes the part where we get ready for the packaging, instructions, photos, graphics, communication, fairs…

Do you fabricate your prototypes yourself?
Yes, together with the artisan. We don’t use too many renders or drawings, but we work directly with the materials.

Almost all of your designs are lamps, what does light signify for you?
My two-degree projects at Central Saint Martins were lamps and I guess that one project takes you to the next and you end up specializing. In any case, I have also done a table and stool and look forward to try making other objects as well. However, lamps have a material side to it (thinking about the object, the actual lamp) and an abstract aspect too which is the light they emit. Then there is also the story behind every project.

What are your sources of inspiration?
I don’t really understand were inspiration comes from, but I especially enjoy music, films, traveling, architecture… what doesn’t interest me so much is design really.

What would be your ideal project?
I’d like to design my own country house. These past months, I have remodeled my new house/studio and have enjoyed it very much.

What is beauty for you?
When things naturally fall into place. It can be in an ordered way or in a chaotic way too, as long as they feel comfortable and that it triggers something special in your perception.

Do you dedicate time in your work to publications or other media to make yourself know and increase sales, or do you have someone to help you with all that?
I do a lot of fairs and press naturally comes to me rather that I going after them. Then I try to follow it personally as much as I can.

What is the most difficult thing in your work?
Handling too many different things at the same time and answering all the emails!

What do you like most in your work?
That every day is completely different.

What has been your biggest success?
Waking up and having something to do, since I set up my studio straight after university, and surviving since then.

What is your biggest dream for the future?
I’d rather think in what I have to do today or tomorrow at the latest…

Any advice?
Follow your instincts.

PAST
We always …. smile as gratitude
As a child, we wanted to be… an actor a farmer and a hair dresser.
College was… heaven for some and hell for others….

PRESENT
We are… Wanda Barcelona
Right now… doing paper roses for Dior
Our favorite pastime… the 80´s?
Our work represents… our personal point of view
Working …dignifies the human being
On a rainy day … we work
we couldn’t live without… wandaing…
we wish we knew … more 3d studio max
Everyday we like… good music in the studio
We love … thanks it.. we love.
We are a big believer … in Melissa (our Yoga instrutor)
A little known secret about us… We are sexy shit !!!
A perfect day …ends in a terrace with friends and beers
If you’re going to travel to… Colombia… tell us before you go !!!
We get bored … do we? ?

FUTURE
Someday we hope… to have a house by the beach, in the middle of the mountains and in the alps.
We’d like to be … thin until we are old;)
Our next step is … surviving summer…
In 10 years … we´ll be 35;) …. LOL!

How did you start making these types of temporary installations? Did you see it clearly to dedicate your work to manual origami?
It all started by chance… In a bar over a beer… a girl was looking for someone to make origami for the opening of MUJI and found me in a bar at 3 in the morning;). It is easy to find the opportunity… it is difficult to make it well and to remain well known. We never had it clear, in fact at first, we didn’t want to be pigeonholed as origami people… but little by little we found that origami was only a micro universe of a vaster one without boarders…. The world of paper. It was when we discovered this that we decided to specialise in this noble and beautiful material.

Did you know where you wanted and could get to? Have you come much further than you imagined?
As creative birth… I suppose our dream since university is to live by making what we are passionate about, creating non stop, we said that it was where we wanted to and could get … to risk everything (well what little we had) and make a studio in a time of crisis… It was not easy, but we didn’t have a point of reference of “good times” so we assumed it was normal and never stopped believing.
We got to where we wanted… to live off our creativity, making things that we like and creating non stop.

How does the idea come up for each exhibition? Is it heavily based on the client’s idea or do you convince them of an idea once you have seen the space?
Each project is different, sometimes we design everything from the concept to the final details, and in some cases the client comes to us with a vision in their head and we give them the form. We move in a very corporate world, which means that there are many brand values, colours and markings that sometimes complement the design.

The site is fundamental, for each project we try to personally see the space… Of course when you cannot… a good 3d and voila!

Did you have a learning process for this type of installations from the start? Was it hard?
It is pure “trial and error” we learn from our mistakes, none learned to make this at university. Everything is little by little and comes from our pervious experiences… We have certain laws that help us in all designs, for example: Better to over structure than destroy… we usually respond to our doubts with this type of law and so we heal them.

Do you have a team that do all the manual work?
We are lucky to be in a group of excellent suppliers. We are a small group surviving in a world of titans… we have to stay together and support ourselves if we don’t want to disappear. As for the manual work, we do everything at home. We always have a scholarship that help us in everything and when things are blown out of proportion we have a freelance team who help us with everything that is necessary.

Eight years ago, could you imagine yourself doing what you do today?
Not for a moment…

What is the creative process from the moment you have an idea to the day the project is launched?
We always participate in a close communication with the client to avoid wasting time and going to the wrong direction… many briefings of general ideas, colour palettes and intentions until it takes us to 100% satisfy for both the client and ourselves. Once at that point, we start the design process, the true form only comes once the path has been studied.

What do you do with the installation once the exhibition is finished?
We photograph it and recycle it.

Can you make a living from it?
Maybe not from it… you can make a living from selling it.

Have you thought about selling smaller products like this poster and not only at exhibitions?
We are in a country that sells to China, and what we all think is that it is not possible to compete with China. We already had two lamps, The Lotto Lamp and the Brunna Lamp, in our investigation, both turned out to be very expensive to produce locally so the solution would be to produce them in China. And Wanda Barcelona DO NOT produce in China. It is against the philosophy of our studio.

We believe that this is what is slowly bleeding out Spain, and even worse it is causing creative minds to migrate and give their talent to other counties, leaving Spain full of mediocre designers and hundreds of Chinese products round every corner. In our opinion, it is these small gestures that make the designer regain their status today, and it is completely undervalued.

What is the installation that you enjoyed making the most?
All of them are like our children… and we gave birth to them all and so they are loved. However, we can highlight FANtástico… working with the Ministry of Foreign Buildings representing Spain in New York design week was quiet rewarding for two Colombians.

What have been the worst and the best moments of your professional life up until now?
The worst… to have to live month my month for more than 4 years…. and the best… all the months of making nice things!

What would be the perfect project you would like to make?
One without the word “budget” around it.

Is there anything you would not do again professionally?
Work for free, we do not agree with it, we do not encourage it and we do not do it. We believe that it devalues our profession.

Is there anything you would repeat even though it has been a crazy thing, only for the experience?
Restart the process.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue this?
If you are already sure that this is what you want to dedicate to… you already have 80% of your work done…. Pursuing it is not difficult, what is hard is knowing what you want. Never give up and above all do not be timid, be bold (if you have lots of talent) and know how to sell yourself… Otherwise it will be to no avail.

And today it is released by Ingrid Heijne, interior designer, who realizes some objects in felt and paper, and tells us a bit about her work and her philosophy of life. I hope you like it!!

You have a great collection done in felt and in paper, how did you learn to make hand-knotted felt and the Japanese “kumihimo” technique? It is really nice!

Traditional fashion and product techniques always have fascinated me. Several of these techniques are used in different cultures called with different names, but all have all kind of functional applications in history. By applying this technique in another way and in another scale there arises something new and esthetical. The techniques I learned just by studying books and practice it.

Does felt have a special meaning for you?

Felt and Wool, it’s going back to my roots. I was born on the country side in a part of the Netherlands that is called Drente. Where there is a special sheep race, the Drenthe Heath Sheep, with long curly hair, a sort of dreadlocks. In the holiday periods we went to my anti’s farm on a Island called Texel, famous because of its sheeps, wool and sheep products. So I grow up with it. Felt is a natural, very primeval, ‘earthly’ material. Nice and soft material to feel and to work with.

You create a 3d dimension with felt and also with paper, do you work on this materials directly testing it, or you develop first a drawing and you follow it?

I take a blank sheet, a scissors and then I cut en bow. A form or structure arises. When i find this feeling of being ‘mine’, and abstraction and poetry is in the form, then I work directly with the material. In felt or in a special paper. Because each material has it’s one substance, tactility, flexibility, thickness and scale that’s suitable.

Are you inspired by Japanese culture?

Yes, it feels like (my) nature

Do you fabricate by your own designs?

Most of the work is made by hand. For some parts of the work we use technique by machines, For example cutting/ laser or color printing.

What means color for you?

With colors and light I can create an atmosphere and seduce. I apply colors very balanced and like to be inspired by the colors in landscapes and nature. Full or an accent.

Who in the industry do you admire?

Artist painters.

Have you ever had a mentor that has supported and guided you?

No

What is beauty for you?

The tension between perfection and imperfection.

Images by Hugo Thomassen and Wouter Jansen

Tell us a how a normal day in your work is.

9 to 6 en more…I am very disciplined and focused so I work and live my life 24/7

Who do you surround yourself with?

Warm and sincere people

Which would be an ideal project?

To create a big abstract sculpture floating in the air…

Which ones have been the best moments of your professional life?

Living in the moment.

And the worst?

Hush

Which is the most difficult from your work, and what you like more?

Time and time

Which is the best advice that you have received? And the advice that you will give to?

Have an open mind.

And finally….. her own “mdby paper image”….

What I love about our this interviews, is meeting people who are passionate about their work,

and bring up works that we wouldn’t necessarily think of, but that can be so fascinating!! Today I introduce you to Barbara Veselá and her geological plans!!!

I really like the pair of shoes that you have made with the concept of geological plans, How do you define your work?

*as inquisitive, playful with essence of traditional craft.

When did you begin your own business? Hard?

*to be honest I am just on the beginning. It is not easy but it is exciting.

You fabricate each piece by hand, so each piece is a unique piece; do you mark them in some way?

*there will be a certain amount of these shoes each pair marked with unique number embossed on the sole.

For whom you fabricate these pieces? Do you ever imagine the final client?

* they are for people who can afford to appreciate unique product. If there is a chance of adjusting the final product for specific client I happily do so, because I know how a little change can make a big difference.

How long takes to create a pair of shoes?

* It depends what kind of shoes and what you take as a starting point. In case we are talking about the one made of many small pieces then there is about one week of intense labor but some things needs to be prepared ahead and is not a made to measure pair.

Are you working on developing other models, apart form the one you show in your web?

* yes I am, I have some new ideas, but most of my time recently goes into sorting out business issues.

Do you work by your own ?

*yes, at this moment is only me.

How your ideas come up? Which ones are your sources of inspiration?

* I would say everyday life, looking at things around closely or from different angle and shoemaking world on it’s own.

Are you influenced by anyone?

*no, as far as I know.

Do you spend time in your work to publications or other media to make yourself know and increase sales, or you have someone to help you?

* From what I have experienced so far is that film is very powerful medium, people likes to see what’s behind the product, when done well and published on online platforms will definitely increase interest.

Which would be your ideal project?

* The one I would have plenty of time and capital for to develop it and the one everyone would love and desire.

Tell us how a normal day in your work is

* Because there are so many different stages and roles involved in what I do is difficult to describe a normal day. But nearly every day I spend some time at the workshop and on emails, plus running around and sorting some minor things out.

What is beauty for you?

*an uplifting experience

What is the most difficult and the one you like more in your work?

* most difficult is how restrictive is shoe construction in consideration to its function and price.

* I like how strong relationship one can have with its own shoes.

Which one has been your biggest success?

*finding out wide audience likes what I do and nomination for Discovery of the Year by Czech Grand Design Awards 2013

What is your biggest dream for the future?

*To have fulfilling life in all aspects.

Any advice?

* Smile

I am really impressed with Marian Bijlenga‘s work; she creates a very attractive 3d dimension, the object the wall and the effect of the light over both. It is a spatial drawing and you will learn a lot through everything she tells us about

You use different materials, but how you work with horsehair and fish scales? How do you treat them to be able to work with them?

When I studied textiles, I began by learning to weave, but for me, weaving was too slow. It took a lot of time before you could start, and I did not like the technique. I was looking for a more direct way of working. I took the threads held by the loom and began instead to make drawings, stiffening the fibre by dipping it in glue. It was a much freer technique. But glue and thread are not very durable, so I was looking for a material that was stiff on its own, and discovered the horsehair. The fibre provides the necessary strength and flexibility to construct embroidered compositions of lines and dots. And I found the fishscales by chance, at a fish leather factory. I was not actually searching for new materials, but they fit perfectly into the dot pieces I was making.

Did you learn it by yourself?

I studied at the textile design department of the Rietveld Art Academy in Amsterdam (1977-1982). But I developed the techniques myself.

Do you think about an idea, and draw a sketch and over it you chose materials, the geometry, the size, proportions? Or is a natural process?

My work is more like a natural process: it grows. For an outsider, the production may seem as painstaking as weaving, but it is the immediacy of the process that is important to me. I make one element and give it a place on my wall, and then I make another element, so the work grows until I like it. The work itself is meticulous, but I see the construction of each individual element as just the beginning. After I have the pattern pinned on my wall, then the real work starts. In the beginning, it is like playing. Then, finally, I use water-soluble fabric and make a drawing on it, so I know how to attach the pieces. Then I use monofilament to attach the small pieces to each other, and finally it all becomes one big piece. You only need some pins at the top of the piece to hang it on the wall. When seen with the right amount of natural light, the work seems to float just in front of the wall, defying gravity.

Which are your inspirations?

Much of my early work was inspired by calligraphy, but I explored the positive and negative, abstracted shapes created by calligraphic forms, instead of its narrative possibilities, It is very interesting when I cannot read the words — the rhythm of the writing, the space between the letters and the connections between the lines. It is still a source of inspiration, but my work has grown more abstract. Nature is more important than writing. Small circles, ovals and streaks grow into compositions that map positive and negative space.

I am fascinated by dots, lines and contours, by their rhythmical movements and the empty spaces they confine.

Link

There are some of your works in which each piece that takes part is different from the rest. How long can it take to create one of your works?

Sometimes I work on several pieces at the same time. I can make a piece in a day, or in a year. In time, I might cut up a piece I don’t like any more, and use the leftovers to start again.

You always draw in space, but only walls, what about ceiling or floor?

The shadow on a white wall is an essential part of my work. By leaving some space between my structure and the wall, the object is freed from its background and interacts with the white wall. I need the silence of a white wall.

What would be your ideal project?

I don’t think in terms of an ideal project for the future, but when I look back, the

“Palimpsest” series (2007) comes close. Palimpsest implies working over an older, existing surface. My work builds on the work of my mentor and colleague, Herman Scholten (b. 1932), who constructed irregularly shaped weavings by working with yarns and pins on his studio wall. I began working with the traces that had been left by the pins on that wall. It was a map of the contours of his wall hangings. I transferred thirty years of holes left by pins in his studio to my own studio. Then I followed the traces they had left by covering each of the pinholes with a unique dot of colour, eventually producing a series of 11 large pieces, which I see as a continuation of where Herman Scholten stopped working.

You work by your own, do you feel good working alone all day long?

Yes, I like working alone in my studio. My studio is in a former hospital complex, where 120 artists have had studios to work in since 1984. It was my first studio, and I am glad I have never had to move. It is a very social environment, and we grow together in this inspiring place.

How do you deal, as an artist, with the highs and lows?

I have learned that I can always expect a high after a low. I am not in search of it; it just happens.

What about the money? Do you always succeed in making it work or is it something that’s not so important to you?

I can live from selling my work. I do not teach or make works on commission. When I started out, I was fortunate to receive a working grant from the Dutch government, so I could put all my energy into developing my work. Since then I have been able to support myself.

What is the most difficult thing about your work?

To say what I do in words. I prefer to speak through images.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

My work is my life.

Which work has been your biggest success?

Red dots from 1999.

In 1999, the Red Dots won the Excellence Award at the 6e International Textile Competition in Kyoto, Japan. The prize included a trip to Japan. When the work returned to the Netherlands, it was purchased by the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum. It was included in the exhibition that Queen Beatrix selected from the Stedelijk Museum collection in 2000.

What’s your dream project?

It is whatever I am working on at the moment.

What is beauty for you?

Traces, left by others. This could be holes in a wall, or punch holes in leather made at random by the use of a machine. It could be holes in leaves, eaten away by insects, or skid marks on the roadLink

An advice?

Be guided by what happens around you. Don’t try too hard to direct, plan, master everything. For me, it is more important to be led by what crosses your path, the accidental encounter, things that happen outside yourself.

Tegan & Lara make a great team in Ink & Spindle and they tell us how they created their business, the difficulties and the great joys that carries for them. You can see how they work here.

How do you define your work?

Bespoke, handcrafted, ethically produced, organic.

Both come from different worlds, but with the design as the common element, how did you know each other?

We met through a mutual friend & almost immediately felt we shared a common set of beliefs.

Did you realize that you wanted to create a business together?

Our first actual meeting essentially turned in to our first business meeting! I suppose it’s a bit unusual to go in to business with someone you don’t know, but luckily for us it worked really well! We felt there was an opportunity in the market to start a print studio, talked it through and decided to take the chance!

Have you ever had a mentor that has supported and guided you?

We engaged a professional small business mentor for a period of about 9 months in the first year of our business. He was incredibly helpful & we recommend others do the same!

Do you divide your tasks or both make the same with Tegan’s and Lara’s designs?

We each work on our own designs, with input & advice from the other. However within the business there are specific tasks that we each do – Teegs is more in charge of print production & communications side of things, whilst Lara is more in charge of financials, dispatch and photography.

Is it easy to work together? Tell us…any difficult moment?

Lara & I work as a pretty good team – we have discovered the trick to maintaining a healthy friendship and a functioning business partnership is communication & flexibility – you have to allow your partner to convince you their idea is better for the business than yours & vice versa.

I am really interested about the handmade process through which you make your design & print. You make a mould for each design and then your repeat it creating a screen. How do you make your first mould?

Each design varies, but for example we hand draw our design motifs, then we might turn them in to a lino print, make some paper prints, scan the paper prints in to Illustrator where we then put the scanned paper prints in to repeat. Once the design is in repeat, we print it out full scale on clear film, then expose a screen which is coated in a light sensitive material called emulsion. This creates a detailed stencil which we can use many times.

This product handmade has a great value, I love it, but talking about business, did you sometime calculate the cost in an industrialized system and your cost? Or you do not even want to think about it…..

Yes we think about our cost versus the cost of the highly industrialized textile production. We think about it more than most people – we take in to account the REAL cost of industrialized production: the human cost of indentured slave labor, the environmental cost in shocking toxins used at every level of the production as well as the dollar value placed on textiles. We do our sums & have worked out when you take in to account the WHOLE COST, our textiles are by far the cheaper option. We do only have one planet with finite resources.

Would you be possible to make some wall arts using your designs?

We collaborate with The Wallsticker Company here in Australia & they use some of our designs to create beautiful wallcovering.

What colors mean for you? Any favorite one?

I love our colors Inky Blue, Greylead & Mustard. Lara’s favorite’s are our Robin’s Egg, Red Orange & Mustard.

You make your designs and you let people to customize those, choosing colors for the design elements, for the base cloth….. This is really nice and gives the last exciting part to the customer, did you wanted the customer to be part of the process?

Absolutely! It adds another level to our work; we love seeing what our customers come up with! It’s also the fundamental aspect of what makes us unique – we don’t get our fabrics mass produced, we print them here in the studio, which means we can tailor our range to suit our customers’ specific requirements.

Your work is based in nature, animals, do you discard geometrical forms?

Not at all. But it seems we are more inspired by nature. We also find natural forms are more sympathetic to the hand printed process.

Which ones have been the best and the worst moments of your professional life?

There have been many wonderful moments; thankfully very few bad moments. The worst would have to be the moment we saw the first ever rip off of one of our designs. That feeling was indescribably awful.

The most recent best moment was winning a Melbourne Design Award! Such an honor.

What is beauty for you?

Elegant, clever designs designed with longevity in mind.

What is the most difficult and the one you like more in your work?

In terms of printing our designs, Birch Forest is the most challenging to print, as it requires almost mechanical perfection. Designs like Grevillea Superb or Flowering Gum are a dream to print from a technical perspective & and two color designs are more fun to play around with. In terms of our day to day work, we find managing cash flow to be one of the hardest parts of running a small business, and also finding time to create. Needless to say, creating new designs, printing new colourways and seeing our textiles used in all sorts of contexts are our favorite parts of what we do.

Which would be your ideal project?

We really love collaborating with creatives in other fields! It would be great to work with more furniture makers – either doing upholstery for a new furniture design or printing directly onto timber.

What is your biggest dream for the future?

That Ink & Spindle continues to grow & develop as an established & respected design/print house. We don’t want our business to grow too large; instead we want to ensure we have a sustainable business model well into the future.

Which is the best advice that you have received? And the advice that you would give?

The best advice we can give is to just go out & do whatever it is that you are passionate about. Don’t worry if you have no formal education or experience. Find someone who knows what it is you want to learn about & beg them to let you assist them for free for a month – that is by far the best education!

Our other big piece of advice is to make sure you approach your creative business idea with a solid business plan and think about the financial side of things first and foremost, don’t get sucked in to the romanticism of having a “creative” business – it’s a lot of hard work!

One piece of advice we found most valuable was this formula for pricing your wares:

Cost of Time (basic hourly labor rate) + Cost of Materials = Cost Price

Cost Price x 2 = Wholesale Price

Wholesale Price x 2 = Retail Price.

This may seem like the retail price is too high, but it’s the only way to ensure that your pricing allows you to wholesale your product – essential for a growing business! Retailers like to be able to mark-up your wholesale price by 100%. You also need to ensure that if you are retailing directly (via an online store etc) then your retail price matches that of your retail customers so you are not undercutting them!

Do you remember ANA KRAŠ? I really llike her work, and you have here more about her colorful work……

How ‘Bonbon’ lamps idea comes up?

5 years ago, one day, i had the image of a bonbon lamp in my head and idea of how to make it, and i tried and that is how i made the first one.

What do you try to express through colors?

I choose colors very instinctively, without thinking

All of them are diferent? you make them by commission?

Each one so far was handmade by me and different, and yes, i most often make them per request.

ANA KRAŠ was born in Belgrade, Serbia, and she moved to New York, where she continues with her designs, and here we present you their great ‘Bonbon’ lamps.

How do you define your work?

There is no definition really. I work in a few different fields, and in each i try to make simple things.

How did you begin? Was it hard?

I started working after i finished my university.

I work a lot, sometimes it is hard, of course, but i enjoy even the hard parts of it.

Have you ever discouraged?

No. I do struggle sometimes and things seem to be unmanageable to organize, especially when it comes to furniture production but nothing makes me question doing what i do.

Which would be your ideal project? Do you have such one?

So many. I would love to do the design of a public place, a hotel or a school, and a swimming-pool.

Lately I’m dreaming of doing large stone sculptures, too.

How your ideas come up? Which ones are your sources of inspiration? Are you influenced by anyone?

I mostly think of what i would like to make and how i would make it as i am waking up, then i write it down or draw a simple something as a reminder.

Have you ever had a mentor that has supported and guided you?

I do have one mentor, but it’s much more of a general guidance, it’s not about my work.

Which is the philosophy of your firm?

I like to make simple things that will make someone happy while being used, there’s not much of a philosophy behind my work.

What is beauty for you?

Anything. I am very attracted to ugly things, as i prefer them over the very beautiful ones.

Tell us how a normal day in your work is

At a normal day, i spend from 8-14 hours in my studio working.

There is just enough time to get a spicy tuna bowl at soy downstairs but other than that, no other activities.

Which is the most difficult from your work?

Organizing the production of my furniture pieces, and the business part of it.

Which is what you like more from your work?

Making things with my two hands.

Which one has been your biggest success?

I stood up on my first wave when i tried to surf for the very first time.

I am still blown away by that success.

João Bruno in 2006 leaves his profession, leaving technologies, and getting into manufactured world, creating a fantastic world in wool. His firm, ÀGUA DE PRATA, through it, he shows his work and his way of working and living in a colorful way.

You’re graduated in Communication Sciences. How did this manufacture activity born?

That’s true. I have a degree in Communication Sciences and till 2003 I was a TV journalist. After that I created my own communication project, but it didn’t work the way I expected. In 2006 I gave up my own company and I was looking for a new job. At that time I had plenty of free time and that’s how everything started. I never predicted this, it just happened. A friend of mine gave me an old chair which was broken and I fixed it. I decided to use the wool because I’ve always been in contact with this material since I was a child – my mother was a teacher but for passion she use to make the traditional carpets of Arraiolos, the same wool of my work – much more resistant. And then it was just me, the chair and the wool… I was so happy with the result and at the same time a little tired of being a journalist, that when this fortunate episode happened I had no doubt about what would be my future after that moment.

Have you ever discouraged?

To be honest sometimes it’s not easy. Not my work itself but selling it. And this is the only thing I do for living. So it’s not easy, at least in Portugal. But I try not to think too much about all the problems and just try to focus on my work, because I really believe that one day everything will be different.

How do you get the money to finance your projects?

At the beginning the project was supported by the microcredit. Right now I’m depending on the orders I’m having. So I only invest when I can.

Which ones have been the best and the worst moments of your professional life?

So far the best moments were to be found through internet in Italy and because of that I was invited to represent Portugal at the Palermo Design Week in 2009. A top moment was also to cooperate with a boutique hotel in Évora, where my work is part of its decoration.

The worst moment was last year when I left my atelier, the place where all my work was born.

Have you ever had a mentor that has supported and guided you?

No. I’m alone since the beginning.

Which is the philosophy of your firm?

To create new and original objects and awake people to importance of simple things.

What is beauty for you?

Beauty is the most important thing for me as an inspiration and also for life. And for me beauty can be as simple as the sunrise, the nature or most important, the architecture. I just need to be surrounded by beauty and I try to be… by creating it somehow. It makes me feel good and that way I believe I can express it through my work.

Tell us how a normal day in your work is

I get up very early to seize the morning light. I almost never work at night only if I really need it.

Normally If I have any client’s order I work on the object itself but if not my time is spent mostly in the garden or constructing things at my new house.

Which is the most difficult of your work?

I don’t find my work difficult. Sometimes people ask me that and I say that actually it’s very simple. But of course it takes time, patience and of course some skills.

Which is what you like more from your work?

Create something with my hands.

Where have you learnt to assembly the materials that you use and where do you get them?

I’m a self-taught artisan and designer. Everything I do is the result of my experience.

The wool I buy it directly from the factory. Regarding the other materials it depends. In my own designs, if I need a wood structure I directly work with my carpenter but also with other professionals when the objects require metal frames. Constantly I also seek for old objects and furniture that can be recycled and sometimes I even found some in the garbage.

How does an object take form? From a drawn project or through the direct contact with materials and instruments?

I only draw the objects when I’m creating new structures. But not the patterns. The wool work is made directly. It’s much more fun. Fortunately it’s very simple for me to imagine the final result on my head. When I look to an object, for instance, I can easily see it done.

Which is the main reason why do you use so much colors?

Personally I like strong colors and I really believe in its importance. In the world of Design and particularly in the Interior Design, everything is so clean and white or black or grey… sometimes is boring. I’m a color defender. We must bring color to our lives.

Through which words would you define your way of combining traditional materials and techniques with design?

Innovation; Originality; Simplicity; Beauty

Which would be your ideal project?

To be involved since the beginning in the interior design project for an hotel or any public space.

Which one has been your biggest success?

Besides the hotel in Évora I mentioned I would say that my biggest success is that I have objects in many different countries.

Which is the best advice that you have received? And the advice that you will give to someone who wants to create a new firm?

Once someone told me that to quit journalism was a courageous act and an inspiration for many people and therefore I should be very proud and never quit! What I can say is that we must never stop dreaming!