I found a Canadian designer, Yorgo Lykouria, who's design philosophy is beautiful. He approaches designs as if they were dampened hearts that need mending and uplifting.... well kind of. He uses the functionality, the problem solving, to start his designs. Like the airport design (check the link! It's really a great interview) where he began with what bothered him about check-in lines, or the departure area. He pointed out that it should be something exciting, you're about to witness something amazing... the technology that allows us to fly. The poetry seeps from his concepts so naturally; here he wants to problem solve, design, but he also considers the human experience. His new design for a sink basin uses this consideration: "A metonymic approach to design is perhaps one way of describing what Lykouria does. He's concerned not just with giving form to a product, like, for example, a wash basin, but also with how his design designs the user's experience – in this case their perception of, and interaction with, water. For him, it's about reintroducing moments of conscious reflection, of pleasure and awe into everyday life, turning the mundane and the prosaic into poetry. 'For me, a precious commodity is human consciousness,' he explains."
I love love love seeing designers use poetry and meaning and a life to their designs. Definitely hope to see more of him in the future!
Here's an excerpt from the latter part of his interview (below)::::
We've talked about the poetic aspect of design and the functional aspect. But there's also the issue of responsibility, is there not? In terms of your new wash basin, it's considering the usage of water. I wondered to what extent your 'Tangens' project was informed by that.
To be honest, I was thinking about water not so much as a precious resource, but more in terms of a precious entity, or substance. Again, the poetry of it. In a way, they arrive at the same place but via a different road. Realising that it's precious means being aware of the fact it's not to be wasted.
Well, maybe that's a more successful of getting people to think about the wastage of water.
Possibly. It's more emotional, certainly. More impactful. I think sometimes there's a bit of salesmanship on this aspect of ecological thinking and corporate responsibility. There are companies that do these things because they have to. They wouldn't be doing them if they weren't marketable. That's the sad reality. If you're doing it for that reason, then it's too much on the nose, and if you can find a more poetic approach it might be more impactful, because it gets to people in a more subconscious way.
I think sustainability is still at the point where it's being used by the marketing machine as a trend, as opposed to something that is innate and runs through everything.
For me, it moves from the marketing side of things into the functional side of things. Of course it has to be there. It has to work, of course it has to be ecological. If you're doing something that is wasteful, you need to stop and rethink it. But for me, it's not the only issue. For me, another precious commodity is human consciousness. Just our lives. The way we live. We're driven faster and faster. We're constantly being pushed and pulled. There are not enough of those moments to enjoy where you are and what you're doing. A simplicity. That's also a precious resource that we shouldn't waste. Ultimately, when we're all at our end, looking back, what are we going to think and feel?
It's like the end of the film 'Blade Runner'. Batty, the android, is dying, just having saved Harrison Ford's life, and he says, 'I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. All these moments will be lost like tears in the rain.' And, in a way, it's that. That's the essence of life. All these things that we experience are what really mater. It's not much how you accumulate. And that's what, in a beautiful way, dies with you. It's all yours and nobody else's. And that's why I design. It's for those things. Hopefully, I have the opportunities and abilities to do that in a better way each time.
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