Hasta La Ideas

Willenz and his Profile chair

This is the latest installment of our Core77 Questionnaire. Previously, we talked to the lighting designer Bec Brittain.

Name: Sylvain Willenz

Occupation: Industrial designer

Location: Brussels

Current projects: At the moment we are working on a variety of things. It’s mainly chairs and lighting, which are products that I have a strong interest in. And then there are some complementary accessories as well, such as tables and mirrors, for example. We are also working on a number of textile-based projects using several techniques; this is an area that we are developing and in which I enjoy working.

Mission: To design useful things that people will enjoy using. But also to contribute to the company that is making these things. So I’m not just concerned about the end user; I’m also concerned about the context of the product and it being something interesting and viable for whoever’s producing it.

Drop is a simple, affordable, injection-molded-plastic bucket designed by Willenz for the Belgian housewares company Xala.

The legs of Willenz’s Candy tables are steel rebar like that normally found on construction sites.

When did you decide that you wanted to be a designer? I guess when I was around 18 and I discovered that this profession existed. At first I wanted to be an illustrator, doing comics. Then when I discovered that you could actually design things and objects, I got really interested in that. But I believe that I have kept my interest in comics and sort of translated it into objects. Because I’ve always had a really strong interest in drawings—in drawing myself, in other people’s drawings, in comics, in how you can simplify reality into a drawing. And I liked the idea of doing that with products, of making sort of three-dimensional sketches that are resolved in really functional and useful objects.

Education: I studied in the UK. I did a B.A. in three-dimensional design, and then I did a two-year masters course at the Royal College of Art in London, in what they called Design Products, rather than product design. That was something that Ron Arad had put into place when he started as the director of the course. I believe he thought it was more interesting to turn things around and call it Design Products, because it opened the possibilities of what you could design.

First design job: The Brackets Included shelf, which was my graduation project and which went into production a year later, in 2004, with a company that no longer exists—and which now, ten years later, has been put back into production by Wrong For Hay in a revised design. The design concept is still the same, but we refined it and tuned a few details. It’s much nicer now.

Who is your design hero? There are many designers I admire for obvious reasons. Philippe Starck would be a major one, because I think he’s a fascinating mind. Not that I necessarily like what he does in terms of his work and style and products; not that I necessarily agree with everything or understand everything that he does—but I do think he is a profoundly interesting mind.

The Profile chair and table

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