I just saw this article about essentially re-branding design ability. We have been dragged through the whole design thinking bullshit and now have a few celebrity design dudes scrambling to find the next neat box to hang around the process of creativity… like it’s something the academic world finds alluring and viable for some hefty profit.
What sucks about this is that good design really doesn’t need this jargon and hype. It speaks for itself.
There’s no formula – no magical quad. Design is based on need and identity. Needs of client and designer – and the identity to be portrayed.
Working with Tricia Guild and Mark Homewood at Designers Guild on a pioneering contemporary rustic collection changed not only my scope of practice but opened up a whole vista of opportunities for artists and designers.
One off pieces are where my work is at. They have a wealth of stories embedded… the paint reflects the energy of the piece.
By using traditional paint and manipulating the layers much as I do in restoration I made the surface of these pieces reflect their original history an age… yet Tricia wanted of course the colours of the moment: bright pure pigments, vitriol, copper sulfate, ceruleum, and combining this powerful colour palate with a final fine overlay of either watery egg white and chalk, or diluted, talc and damar varnish mix. The surface became powdery and dry, exactly the chalky feel we wanted on the pastels yet stable.
The final trick was to make the surface feel to the touch absolutely fine and silky – to belie its often craggy ‘driftwood’ appearance… this trick I will keep for another day!
Living in Italy today I am sourcing 17th and 18th century country rustics for restoration and contemporary twists of colour and motif.
The results are spectacular and entirely original.
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Painted cupboard DG Nick Garrett for Designers Guild
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Nick Garrett 