We’d love to gain an insight into your background in the design sector.Where did this initially begin for you and how has this developed?

My creative career started with a foundation course and BA in Industrial Design at the then Central School of Art, now part of UAL. I then went to the Royal College of Art to do a two year masters. Pretty much immediately after graduating in 1990 I set up my own design practice in my bedroom in London.

My design practice has taken me in many directions from hard core industrial design, self production, exhibition design, curation and more recently edition projects for individuals and galleries. I have always enjoyed the variety of opportunities afforded to me and the challenges I’ve faced.

Although it has sometimes been a struggle, I feel very lucky to have been able to earn a living doing something I love for so long.

What is your view on how one can educate the consumer market of the inherent value of designed products? Is greater awareness behind pricing of ‘collectible’ works being sought by the general public?

 Establishing a price or value for designed or crafted objects is difficult. Typically I think, the man in the street imagines the value of the creator's input to be a certain amount. In a mass produced item this is spread thinly so the impact on the price is little. In a hand made or unique piece, that amount is spread between very few so the impact on the price is high. If you then add the real cost of the making and getting something to market you have a sense of its price. 

The problems begin when a unique piece looks like a mass produced item. The general public naturally associates a low price with an object that deserves a high one. Vica versa, when mass produced objects achieve a crafted or one-off feel, the consumer is very happy to pay the lower price for something that appears unique.

For a buyer to be happy with the price of an object, they need to fully understand the story and process behind that object. It is therefore in all of our interests as makers of different sorts to communicate as much as possible about ourselves and how our objects are made. In addition, the context in which something is presented is key in regulating expectations, the same object presented for sale in a gallery or supermarket will be perceived very differently by a very different public.

 Lastly, the aspect that will of course cut through all preconceptions is meaning. In certain situations an immediate emotional contact is made between object and viewer. Whether due to its associations or simply a gut reaction, a certain work will appeal to someone in such a way that the price is almost irrelevant. Perhaps this is the area we need to explore further?

 Either way, pricing and giving value to what we do is very hard. I generally feel we should all be charging much more for the things we design or make but in the end, as Publilius Syrus wrote in the 1st century BC: "Something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it”.

With an increase in the ‘collectible’ contemporary designed products, is a designer's R&D time seen of value by the consumer market at the end pricing of work? If not, what do you feel would improve this awareness?

 Any creator's R&D time is inherent in what they do. I remember being told as a student that design was not a career choice but a life choice. This I have found to be true, so it is impossible to isolate research from producing a particular work. Everything ends up informing everything else. 

What is important is that when we give a price for doing a particular job, we do not only consider the actual time designing or making the piece, there must be a factor included that accounts for all the experience and testing that has gone before.

Recently, we have seen the launch of your platform ‘Creative Skills Network’ providing mentorship for emerging designers hosted by established designers. What are your intentions with the platform and what does the future hold?

 The Creative Skills Network was conceived during the first Corona lockdown when I began to realise the potential impact of the pandemic on our creative careers. It is an online community connecting emerging designers and artists to established practitioners, professionals and inspirational educators for onscreen skills training and guidance through the live online medium that we have become so familiar with these past months.

We all have less and less traditional career paths with spontaneous needs to learn new skills and be supported by experts in real time. There is increasing demand from creatives who are beyond or outside the traditional education system. My hope is that the Creative Skills Network becomes a way of linking creative practitioners of all generations and responds to these needs in a way that compliments regular education channels.

 We launched on September 1st so it is still early days, but I am hopeful that we can develop in a way that will support each other and value the knowledge and experience of the established practitioners in our various creative fields.

Across your ‘Editions’ series, from ‘Candle Brick’ to ‘On Reflection’, these products display a wide diversity in medium, but each with a contemporary style. For designers in the early stages of their career, what advice would you offer in finding a unique design voice?

 I come from a product design background so have never been limited or defined by a particular material or medium. In my studio editions I am led by my ideas and collaborate with different workshops to produce objects where a material or manufacturing choice might be integral with the piece. Each creative individual needs to find their own path, this might be through a material or process but might also be an approach or ideology, something that works for them and can be associated with their identity.

Do you feel ‘expertise’ within the design sector is gained through specialisation in a style / medium? How can one stay proactive when established in their field?

 Following on from the previous question, in the end I think we all become experts in a way, some in materials but others in ideas or on a certain agenda. Maintaining your expertise requires continued effort and evolving interest. In my own case my career has taken me through industrial design, education, self production and the creation of unique or gallery objects. My own area of expertise seems to have become the object in general. My own continued research is into all aspects of the object, how and why they are made and in what way they reflect or define our culture.

Rather than designers innovating solely through an aesthetic viewpoint, what’s your opinion on designers shifting their focus towards championing innovation / solutions? Can both aesthetics and innovation work in tandem and what makes this successful?

 It is essential to strive for Innovation of some sort in any kind of design or making. We have no need to repeat exactly what has been made before. That said innovation does not always need to be radical or even visible. It might be an innovation in the way something has been made or assembled, it’s impact on the environment or meaning in today's world.

 Solutions is an exhibition you curate yearly in Frankfurt across design innovation. What intentions do you hope to voice across these exhibitions and what do you hope the visitor gains from these curated displays?

 Next year will be the 10th year that I curate and design the Solutions exhibition during the Ambiente trade fair in Frankfurt. The purpose of the exhibition is to seek out and recognise companies that are investing time and money into functional or material innovation in their field. I select products from those entered by exhibitors and we aim to highlight the importance of striving to make things better. This does not mean that being beautiful is not important but by not focusing on aesthetics for a moment we are able to value something else more.

What does the future hold for your practice? Any insights you can share with us? 

As already discussed, the future is less clear than ever, as with most creatives, my own practice will rely on my ability to create and adapt. That said, it is important to me that whatever comes next relates in some way with what has been before.

https://www.creativeskillsnetwork.com/