A NEW REALM OF THINKING
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us a little bit about yourself... I am: - 27 years old, 6 foot 2inches, 90kg, dark hair. - A surfing and mountain biking lover. - A designer with an obsession for all things 2 & 3D. How much of your talent lies with intuition as opposed to training? I spent some time growing up as a fairly serious athlete, and there was a saying to the effect that no matter how talented you are, you have to train hard to win, and I think that's the same in design. Natural talent takes you someway to being a good designer, but I don't know any successful designers that don't work ridiculously hard for their success, and aren't constantly developing and 'training'...  You studied in Europe and Australia, at Facchoschule Hildesheim and Swinburne University respectively. Which one was more valuable in developing your skills? Or were they even? After my degree in Industrial Design at Swinburne University here in Melbourne I ventured to Germany to study a combination of Graphics and Architecture. This included a stint at an Architectural workshop in Budapest with 60 other international students. That was probably a highlight and defining point of my design thinking and has impacted greatly on my direction since. Studying at Swinburne definitely taught me how to design, but studying in Germany introduced me to a whole new realm of thinking. You run an agency called Buro North. Can you tell us a little about the origin of the name, and how you got started? Given the German influence I was attracted to the word 'Buro' which means studio, and when I first started my business I was working part-time for an Architect, and found it interesting how every design they did was located with a north point, which I thought was a nice starting point for my design career, thus Buro North was coined.  What were some of the first projects you worked on, and how did you land the briefs for them? Buro North's first projects were a combination of self initiated work, experimental stuff, exhibitions, and work for friends. Quite early on I began part-time work at an Architectural office, doing Graphics to pay for my time spent developing Buro North, and that also lead to a number of more substantial projects. How would you compare you initial work with the work you do today? Having better briefs, with more budget makes life a lot easier for outputting good work, and we have really only been receiving great briefs lately, it has taken a while developing a brand, or reputation, and as that builds, people come to you with briefs that suit the business more accurately. What is your favourite time of day to work? 7.30am-lunchtime and then 8pm-1am for some reason the afternoons are full of reading, music, talking and coffee. Do you have a specific project you have worked on that you think would sum up your style and approach to your work? Every project is so different, that its hard to find a consistent style, and a 'defined' style is actually something I have always consciously avoided. Essentially I think designers are service providers. We exist because people have problems; be that communication, market position, functional requirement, aesthetic requirement, marketing goal, etc etc... To assume that ones own personal (subjective) stylistic preference is prioritized over someone else's is somewhat arrogant and something I do consciously avoid. By analyzing the brief, requirement, parameters, conditions, budgets, audience, functions and any other relevant influences, then a 'consistent aesthetic style' cannot really function, because every job should be so focused, that a generic solution cannot adequately achieve.  Do you have a favourite past project? Why? I think building the business has been a project, and that' the one that has obviously consumed me for 3 years... I love to design, and to design, I need a business that can facilitate that, so developing, or designing the business has been my favourite project... Its also very self-indulgent, I'm the client, and what I want goes! Have developments in technology changed the way you approach and output your work? Advances in computing technology have created the opportunity to facilitate different design solutions in many areas. Anyone can create a film of high quality using I-Movie, and that type of technology will only become more and more accessible. Technology is opening up opportunities that make the design process more accessible and faster, which allows more time for the creative part of the process. Flexibility in design software technology has even permeated through to the management of design practices. There are amazing tools designed for the creative industry that manage projects, organize files and facilitate collaborations between offices and countries easily and this makes it a pretty exciting time to be a young designer, shifting and adapting to projects and having software that facilitates this. Just like change, technology is one of the only constants we can rely on. |
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