Hasta La Ideas

Our interview with the honorary designer and co-curator of the NYC-based art and design showcase

by Matt Domino

BOFFO was founded in 2008 as a means of fostering artist collaboration and inspiration in the design world during a time of financial and, for many young architects and designers, spiritual crisis. Nearly four years later, Faris Al-Shathir and Gregory Sparks, BOFFO ‘s founders, asked designer Andrew YES to be the honorary designer and co-curator of the first BOFFO Show House, running from 15 May through 4 June at NYC’s Madison Jackson building.

To create custom designs specifically tailored for the space YES has been working closely with various designers and architects. The show itself will sprawl across four duplex condominium units with each separate unit expressing a theme—Work, Nature, Future, and Play. YES will also present some of his own designs and work at the BOFFO Show House. Some of which will include Persian Helmet Lights, which are draped with chain mail and would seem to fit at home in a medieval gathering hall; a Van Eyck Mirror that alludes to the legendary Arnolfini Portrait and is framed with recycled wood and hand-made Flemish suede; a 62″ Fossil Meeting Table inspired by the equality implied in King Arthur’s round table and made of grey marble with real mollusk fossils embedded in its matrix; and Surreal Pillow Balls, which are Andrew YES latest creation.

We recently talked with YES about the BOFFO Show House, his ongoing work with Mr. Al-Shathir and Mr. Sparks as well as his aspirations as a rising designer in New York.

What is your primary thought when designing an item? Functionality? Overall design?

I see functionality in every piece I create. Some things that we think are not functional actually have a deeper function in our psyche. Materials and art inspire me. I think about who will enjoy the design, and how it will improve the lives of people experiencing it.

What piece of yours that will appear in the show is your favorite?

I’d say my “Pillow Ball” collections, which are spherical, down-filled pillows made in sets of three. The set comes with pillows in diameters of 9″, 12″, 15″ and clients can personalize larger sizes if they want. Collection themes include: Batiks, Cosmic, Tapestry, and Surreal. I feel that each different theme has a color or texture that will find a match for each different person.

How do you decide on a color scheme when you design something?

Colors are determined by the pieces of art and design that I find in my clients spaces, as well as the energy of a space and the light. Yellow and happy colors have always been big colors for me.

How did you get involved with BOFFO?

My work caught the attention of Greg [Sparks] and Faris [Al-Shathir] during the 2009 BOFFO artists residency in an old Bible factory in Brooklyn Heights. This year they invited me to develop the first BOFFO Show House for which I am also curator.

How does your work fit into the BOFFO aesthetic and story?

BOFFO’s modern, multifaceted, and young spirit resonates with my work.

Can you describe what each different section of the show (Work, Nature, Future Play) means to you?

I thought that the common denominator for every New Yorker’s apartment was embodied in those four themes. “Work” is designed with creative and physical work in mind. “Nature” is meant to be psychedelic and vibrant and full of surprises. “Future” features sacred geometries and “alien” light. “Play” is designed as a super cool space that is still in progress and features a bedroom for someone with a sense of fun, of daring.

What result from the show would satisfy you?

Prove one more time that BOFFO is a germinator of great talent. I want to see everybody to succeed.

Milan 2012: in Milan earlier this month Zaha Hadid paid a surprise visit to Dezeen Studio at MOST to chat to us about her Secret Garden installation, some of the other projects she has in the pipeline and her impression of this year’s furniture fair.

We published an abridged version of this interview in our Thursday TV show (below).

Dezeen was filming and editing all week from Dezeen Studio powered by Jambox at MOST. See all our TV shows here.

See all our stories about Zaha Hadid here.

Our interview with the spirited Italian designer on a child-like design approach and his latest collection for Kartell

Trained as an architect some 30 years ago, Italian-born Piero Lissoni has since mastered every design discipline from architecture and interiors to product and graphic design. Lissoni has established himself as one of most notable names is contemporary design for his clean, industrial aesthetic while collaborating with many of the world’s most notable design companies. After a productive 2011 his collection for Italian furniture maker Kartell has drawn much attention for its innovative design and production processes. While visiting Milan for Design Week we caught up with Lissoni at Salone del Mobile to learn a bit more about his broad design portfolio and take a closer look at his two new pieces in the Kartell collection.

With a studio that works in architecture, furniture, graphic and product design, how do you manage one discipline over another?

I’m quite convinced it’s better if you start being a little bit more humanistic. I never believed in a specialized way of life. Every day you study something completely new. In an Anglo-Saxon way of life architects are architects and they design a shell. The interior’s something inside, designers design only products and somebody designs furniture and somebody designs industrial. For us it is more easy. You have to be open and able to design all facets. For me it’s impossible to think I design one building, only the external parts and somebody decides for me the technical parts inside, the decoration inside and somebody decides inside for me the spaces. That’s exactly the opposite way. If I design a table or if I design a chair, of course I’m totally convinced it’s interactive. The interactivity with the people, with the human beings, with the party, with the movement, it’s inside. And one space fits inside another space. I never accept the idea to disconnect these different qualities of work.

Do you think this comprehensive design mentality is the reason why so many architects find success in product design?

I don’t know if this is the reason why, but to be an architect, for me the meaning is being flexible. When you design one watch, at the same time you change the scale and design a building. It doesn’t matter if the building is bigger or smaller in the end it is a pleasure to be good on a different scale. I like to work like a child. If I design one small object I am a child with a small toy. If I design a big object, again I’m the same child with one toy, a little bit bigger. I like to live inside this toy’s life.

For your latest collection for Kartell you designed the “Zoom Table”, which is Kartell’s first ever extendable table. How did this idea come about?

I was asked to do a series, a family, and we used a special name. The nickname for the project was “Il Progetto Misteri”. During the day the table is a mystery, during the night with friends, with people it becomes a project. But the morning later, zoom, it’s again the mystery—perfect, small, pure, clean with flowers and with coffee. But again at night again it is bigger with friends, with noise, with food, with alcohol, with whatever you want. That was the exploration point. The second part was the discussion around doing something so precise with the super soft movement like a camera. When you move one macro in a camera the movement is so gentle, so soft. We tried to design a movement like this. It’s so easy to design one table, but the movement, the cinematics inside, small wheels inside, this was the goal. I told you I’m like a child.

How did the design process of the “Audrey Chair” differ from other projects you’ve worked with Kartell on?

When we designed Audrey, we started to design five years ago. Five years ago Audrey was a piece of paper with pieces of plastic and pieces of small models, but normally I never accept to design something in a small scale. Normally when I design I do some prototypes in a 1-1 scale. But the real project was not to design another chair but to design a process. This one, it was a secret.

We talked about robotics, and they designed for us the whole process of production with robots, building this chair. After that we started to design the chair because the robots, they are so fantastic but full of limits and we have to follow the limits of the machine, follow the limits of this technology. But again I become a child in front of the robots. We started to remodel the chair, one millimeter thicker, one millimeter thinner, one corner a little bit heavier, another one a little straighter—and then the process begins to become a project.

Although “Audrey’s” specific production process was a bit unconventional for you, is this concept of industrial over artisanal important to your design?

I like to stay in a family of industrial designers. For me design means industrial. Design without industrial isn’t impressive. Of course I like the unique pieces, I like the unique production, but I’m not good at it. I prefer to think in another way. I’m connected with the hardware, I’m connected with the factories, I’m connected with the users, with the human beings.

What other designers or companies have you worked with in 2011?

I’m very lucky because I design for many many companies. And luckily for me some of these companies are certainly very good. I designed a new collection for Cassina, Matteograssi, Flos, Porro, Kartel, I designed a collection of kitchen for Boffi. You know what more can I ask for?

What have you been working on since finishing your collections for Salone?

Two weeks ago I was asked to start to design one project for one house. I was without anything and then I rediscovered at home one piece of lego. And I designed a house with lego bricks. And I was inspired by the small lego house for my project. My studio laughed a lot and came to me and said to sit there and don’t use the telephone until I start to design the house. But it is funny because I am the boss. I like to be like a child.

Our interview with the rockstar designer on his debut collaboration with Philippe Stark

Each spring Salone del Mobile arrives in Milan, bringing with it the world’s top designers, architects and design enthusiasts. Among the many highly anticipated product launches, pop ups and parties, this year saw iconic Italian furniture company Kartell formally introduce a series of pieces designed by both new and known designers, including rock star Lenny Kravitz. Although better known for his music, Kravitz can include designer on his CV, having founded his own studio, Kravitz Design Inc, in 2003. In recent years he’s been involved with multiple large-scale hotel projects, a collaboration with Swarovski and now, is collaborating with none other than famed design personality Philippe Stark on a new rendition of his Mademoiselle chair.

Kravitz touched down in Milan to celebrate the collaboration at Salone, where we caught up with him at the Kartell booth. Here we had the chance to chat about his love of design, where he finds inspiration and his experience with Kartell.

When switching between music and design do you need a break to switch mindsets or find a workspace?

Not at all, I do a lot of design work on the road. I can’t be at my office, obviously, like one would expect. So I have to work where and when I can. So that’s on the tour bus, on the plane or hotel, backstage, and days off. The design team is just three of us, so they’ll come out on the road and whatever project we’re working on we’ll do what we have to do and then they’ll go back to the office and carry on. And then we’ll meet up again. We do a lot by computer and all. But no, no break at all. I’m always thinking about design and music.

Do you see design an alternative way to exercise your creative mind?

I like having different mediums to express myself, I do photography, I have a design company, I make music and I’m doing films now. It all comes from the same place. The thing about design I love so much and why it’s been in my life for so long is that for me in making music—or being creative in general—the environment has so much to do with it. Ever since I was a kid I was really concerned with how my room was, even the lighting, how things were laid out. Because it made me feel a certain way, made me hear music a certain way or create music a certain way, just by that feeling. It’s all about making your environment so comfortable and inspiring and sexy, that you want to be creative.

With your design studio being based in SoHo you must spend a lot of time in New York, where do you go for design inspiration?

All over. You know I grew up between Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn and the Upper East Side. So I have a real feeling for things that are very luxurious and very upscale, I love the UES between Fifth and Madison from the upper 60s to the low 80s, I grew up loving these beautiful Beaux-Arts buildings and spending time in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But at the same time I love Brooklyn—and I’m talking old school Bed-Stuy—and Alphabet City and Times Square, when it was Times Square. I love the whole high-low thing.

Since starting your design studio have you thought about doing collaborations?

Actually most of the stuff we’ve done hasn’t been collaborations. Like the Paramount Bay, the 47-story luxury condo we’re doing, that’s us. And we’re doing a hotel project in Toronto right now, that’s us. The only collaboration we’ve done so far is with Philippe Starck. So, not a bad place to start. I have to say that’s been very enjoyable.

How closely did you actually work with him on the Mademoiselle chair project?

He gave me a lot of freedom. So we basically did what we did and he gave his opinions and edited. And of course the piece was already designed, the Mademoiselle chair, which is completely iconic. He’s done his job, right? So it was just about reinterpreting it. But who knows where we will go in the future. We like each other very much, we’ve known each other for a long time. He’s been very supportive. He’s one of the people who saw my work early on and encouraged me to really move forward, so that’s incredible to have someone like that in your corner. But I’d love to collaborate with more people, yeah.

Your style is definitely bold and very masculine, whereas Starck’s designs tend to be more playful and feminine, how did this play in with transforming the chair?

We made the legs, they’re not see through anymore. In fact when looking from a distance you don’t know if its wood or solid. I just wanted to give it that “thing”. Like you said, it already has its playful, you know, feminine edge. So it was just about giving it a bit of… you know, me. And I think they work very well together.

Talk a bit about your choice of materials.

I like things that are organic and natural, I love reptile patterns and fur—we used faux fur. The nature. You know. On the other end the Bahamas chair, the one that’s a woven fabric, it’s very organic and a nice contrast to the plastic.

Another recent project you did was some custom wall papers with Flavor Paper, do you think wallpaper is under appreciated in contemporary interior design?

Yes, yes I do. When I grew up as a kid you’d go to your aunt’s house or grandmother’s house and there’d be wallpaper everywhere. I love wallpaper. It’s a really simple way to dress a place up and give it a whole new appearance by just apply paper. I use it a lot. I think that it’s getting more popular. And I think people like Flavor Paper who are young and modern are doing really interesting things with paper. It’s helping to bring it to the forefront.

Having now worked with Starck and Kartell, if given the opportunity to work with any other designer—dead or alive—on a project who would it be?

Dead or alive? Wow. I’d probably want to go to Spain and hang out with Gaudi. Yeah, yeah. It was the first thing that I really fell in love with when I came to Europe for the first time. I fell in love with Art Nouveau. And that’s where it all really started. Although you don’t really see that in any of my stuff right now. But I was a big collector even of the French, of Majorelle furniture. But I think Gaudi would have been really interesting to hang out with, and work with.

Our interview with Li Daiguo on the band’s experimental mix of tradition and ceremony

One of the most interesting phenomena to hit Chinese avant-garde music is The Tea Rockers Quintet—a tea ceremony performed by master Lao Gu and accompanied by the all-stars of Chinese contemporary music: contemporary folk singer Xiao He, China’s top noise artist Yan Jun, academic guqin player Wu Na and the young and talented instrumentalist, Li Daiguo. Together they create a mesmerizing blend of traditional instruments, vocalisms, noise music, and harmonious movement.

We recently had the chance to talk with Li Daiguo (aka Douglas Lee)—the ensemble’s eclectic musician and gifted solo performer—just before the release of their first album “Ceremony.”

How was the idea of the Tea Rockers Quintet born?

Yan Jun was invited to participate in a Swiss cultural/arts festival in 2010 and he put us together for two shows that went well. That was probably the catalyst for making us decide that this is a long-term project. Before that, we were all friends and had played together in various formations as duos and trios etc., but nothing regular like the Tea Rockers had become.

You have different styles and backgrounds, how do you work together?

We all love new music, different kinds of Chinese traditional music, improvisation, nature and each other. Finding the right blend is a matter of mutual listening and enjoying each others’ sounds. Musicians are often regularly getting new ideas or developing new skills and techniques, so it’s really important to improvise together to listen to who a person is and what they are saying at that moment and not be stuck in some image you have of their identity or who they should be based on your past experiences with them.

You started playing piano and violin when you were five years old. Where does your passion for music come from?

I trained in different kinds of classical music for years before I realized it was a form of expression that really works for me. It has become an important practice for me, and one of the guiding things in my life because it is such an integral part of how I keep learning more about my body and consciousness and other important things.

In your work you’ve been exploring several music traditions from all over the world—what contributed the most to shape your own style?

Western classical music and the classical musics of the erhu and pipa were huge influences early on in terms of technique. Later I studied bluegrass, played a lot of heavy metal, and was getting into different kinds of new music. Aesthetically I am really touched by so many different sounds, but I would say in recent years I have been influenced most by Shona music of Zimbabwe and different music from Mali. Of course I am still practicing 5-8 hours a day, so my ideas and techniques are still developing.

You grew up in Oklahoma and you studied in San Diego, why did you decide to leave the U.S. and come back to China?

Since I was young and was interested in erhu and other things about Chinese tradition, I was attracted to the idea of coming to China to live. My father is a pretty spiritual person and is really interested in Daoism and Buddhism, and that had some influence on me for sure. By the time I moved to Sichuan in 2004 I was already very interested in different kinds of spiritual practices, so one of the things in my mind in coming was to get closer to some of those traditions. When I arrived and stayed for a year there were so many doors opened and so many possible roads to go down I just decided to stay and eventually built my life here.

Released on 4 April 2012, The Tea Rockers Quintet’s debut album “Ceremony” is now available through Amazon and iTunes.