What is your job title what you do on a day-to-day basis?
I’m creative director at Platform and I oversee projects from inception to completion – this means that I have an input into the whole process of projects from a creative standpoint.
Finish this sentence: The ideal way to start my day is …
Ideal way to start my day is… I must have a pastry and a coffee otherwise it’s not going to be an ideal day! I’ll come in, I will firstly and foremost have those two items then I look at some emails and then what I like to do is grab the team usually for a quick catch up just see where we are with projects, what stages we’re at, has anybody got any problems. Then I will check if we’ve got any deadlines or if projects have had changes, I’ll probably catch up with clients and just keep them informed where we are with the projects and then I will generally be inputting into: projects, creative processes, answering questions and just ensuring that it’s a good day.
What excites you about your job?
I like when I come in and people are solving problems, coming up with creative ways of answering those questions that maybe we’ve been umming and ahhing and thinking: how do we do that? How do we get round that? quite often that’s done with collaboration: someone come up with a ping moment and it will just…. hit that spot and you think: this is it! We’ve got it, we’re on the right track.
What’s the most unusual job you’ve ever done?
The most unusual job was probably when I had a brief sabbatical to help out in a refugee camp. I was working for an NGO that wanted to bring dignity to refugees and one of the challenges was to build and design a shop within an old disused army barracks in a refugee camp in Greece. Obviously, you haven’t got the luxury of normal projects, you haven’t got luxury brands you can pull in on and different furniture, you had to use materials that you can get your hands on and you had to use the skill that people, with no design or architectural skills, or no construction skills had to use. So providing that environment was great, it was still design, it provided dignity, it looked great, it was on budget, it was a great project.
Who’s is your favourite designer?
My favourite designer that’s a tricky question… It’s a bit like asking somebody their favourite record, it changes. I’d have to pop for: Ettore Sottsass founder of the Memphis movement. I think in the 80s he injected a burst of colour into that whole greyness of the 80s and I think what I admire about him is his influence over different fields: everything from the Valentine typewriter through to Interiors, Architecture that whole cultural spectrum.
What will be the impact of ai in design?
I think, like any technology, it will help design – I think you could look at it as a second Industrial Revolution. It’s gonna have a big impact and I think… looking to the Future things… things I’ve been hearing about… you might even have a process where you take contractors Purely out of the process because designers, architects will be able to send things digitally to 3d printing farms, places like that so it will put a total spin on the whole process of design.
What’s your industries most overused phrase?
Industries most overused phrase has got a be: Wow!
What would you be if you weren’t a designer?
If I wasn’t a designer, I would have gone on in the Merchant Navy – I’ve always likes the sea, I’ve got a history of it in my family, I like travel, opening up your eyes to new things. I think I would have gone for that.