Interview: Greg Blonder

by / August 14, 2006

Greg Blonder was trained in the sciences, and may look the part, but there's no mistaking he is an inspired designer/artist with a unique vision. We first featured his multifunctional, geometric Talus Table in 2004. Since then he has added to his design portfolio with the Flipout table and 2fer table-chairs (see them after the jump). We discovered the artist when we did this interview...

When did you decide to become a designer?
Since I was old enough to run with scissors. As a child, I built high tree forts and low folding desks. Robots and racetracks. At twelve I covered my bedroom ceiling with strips of aluminum foil. It’s a compulsion.

Professionally, most of my training is in the sciences. I first considered a career in design or architecture, but quickly realized clients wielded most of the power. And so decided to be a client first, and incorporate design from the periphery as an advocate and occasional, practitioner. Over the last few years, design has become a major theme in my life, and sales at talusfurniture are growing slowly but steadily.

That's an interesting trajectory, client first then designer, and a long side discussion we should have sometime. Your designs are innovative and geometric, almost as if you were solving problems with math, does math figure into your designs? If yes, how?
On occasion. The talus ottoman converts from a square fabric bench, to a "conga line" of four interconnected polyhedra, to an equilateral triangle ottoman. And back again. Mathematically, this transition is called a "dissection". But from a designer's point of view, the math inspires a flexible, compact and charming piece of furniture, emerging from the boringly conventional.

Where do you do most of your design work?
In my head. Sometimes I imagine fifty or more variations on a theme - rotating, coloring and working though an assembly sequence (that part of the SAT was a breeze). I create dozens of alternate solutions, weighing their peculiar advantages, and remixing to avoid their inevitable problems. Then I usually tighten the design using SketchUp, and finally build two or three prototypes, until the mind and the hand are in harmony. Good design has to look right, and feel right. A chair must please the eye and be fit to use- otherwise, it’s not a chair, its sculpture.

Talus 2fers, untangled and tangled.

There are a lot of hard angles in your 2fer collection, are those chairs comfortable?
Surprisingly so- yes. They are, of course, wood, but a small padded back rest is revealed when the 2fer bench is placed upright. And the basic dimensions (seat height, armrest height/width/spacing) are conventional. In fact, discovering a way to maintain standard proportions while still assuring the two pieces nest smoothly was the biggest design challenge.

Where, or from what, do you get inspiration for your work?
From uncovering a challenging problem- all my ideas are problem-centric. Sometimes they arise out of frustration. Sometimes out of serendipity. And often my best ideas are born from jealousy- “hell, even a TRAINED PIG could do a better job in its sleep”. And so another projects begins.

AboutTime.

Any examples of projects borne of jealousy?
Well, I once had a colleague who liked to wear a watch with a single hour hand. No minutes- just hours. He was sending a clear message that he was not a slave to time (or that he was too important to be bound by convention- I was never sure). Anyway, I thought I could do better- and came up with the AboutTime watch design as an alternative. One manufacturer plans on introducing the design in late 2007.

What is your favorite part of the design process and why?
That look of delight and surprise when your customer sees your design for the fist time, and instantly “gets it”.

How would you label/categorize your work?
I don’t.

Do you have a signature style? If yes, what are the hallmarks of your style?
I like clean lines, broken by small asymmetries. Proportions driven by a task-specific pattern language. And most of my designs are based on insights drawn from nature or science- but I hate obscurity in art or design, so all my work can be enjoyed without recourse to hidden texts.

Although hidden text can provide context, and there appears to be a desire/trend today to provide cultural or other context to design. Any examples of hidden text we might enjoy?
If there is a hidden text, its secondary to the design's primary purpose and emotional appeal. I think of it like the sunset- which can be enjoyed for its beauty and sheer poetry. Or, you can also appreciate Rayleigh scattering causes the red coloration, and atmospheric lensing distorts the sun into an oblate sphere.

I do believe analogies deepen a design's impact, providing there is a reasonable chance the viewer will uncover the intended analogy, undamaged. But I find that's rarely the case- everyone brings their own experience to the table, and its hard for any design to anticipate all possible reinterpretations. Some of my art work is intentionally multi-layered and intended for a narrow audience- but that's why its art, and not design.

Greg Blonder, 122968, poured latex and oil paint on wood.

Who are your favorite designers and/or architects?
Leonardo DaVinci- a perfect match of science, art and design. Alvar Aalto- whose buildings first taught me the power of the built environment to affect behavior. Charles and Rae Eames- they humanized contemporary design. Don Norman - I don’t always agree with Don, but he (pointedly) reminds designers that clients actually plan on using what they buy. Are we meeting their expectations?

What item (PC, pen, etc) can you not do without when you are designing?
A mechanical pencil, a 5x7 white pad, and increasingly, a pair of reading glasses.

TiWalkMe Escapement. Watch the video here.

What's next?
I’m working on a long term project in landscape design, making deep time palpable and in doing so, helping society trade off future prosperity against current priorities. It may take twenty five years before the first tree is planted…

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VITAL STATS
Full name: Greg Blonder
Location: Summit, NJ
Size of team: just me- plus a wide circle of vendors and friends
In business since: 1998
Claim to fame projects: First operable Dick Tracy wrist phone/AT&T
Spare time: sculptor, columnist