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Interview | 26 Sep 06 | Comments (2) | Stumble
While Gimena is in London we interview her husband, designer Francisco Gomez Paz. "Inspiration is not a supernatural gift you get from the Holy Spirit but the result of concentrating on the resolution of a given problem. Once you focus your mind on a specific project everything can be inspiration: technology, the user, the company, the brand, the problem itself, life.".
Omero magazine rack for Driade.
When did you decide to become a designer?
When I was a small child I spent most of my useful time trying to disassemble toys and inventing new ones and even now that I’ve grown up I still do. My dad is an architect and I grew up surrounded by his creative process, which settled the basis for my way of thinking and approaching life. Choosing to be an industrial designer was my natural evolution.
Where do you do most of your design work?
There is absolutely no specific place or time for conceiving an idea; when I’m working on a project I think of it day and night, no matter what I’m physically doing, it's like having a parallel dimension where time and space do not exist.
Is design for you a hands on process or is it mostly conceptual and intellectual? How much do you need to get in touch with materials?
The beauty of design lays in being an activity that combines the intellect with the matter; and these two elements play with each other in a permanent vital cycle. As a designer being in close contact with materials is essential; it's from materials that I get most of the inspiration for my projects, their properties and constraints challenge my creative instinct and lead me to unexpected solutions.
Metro rolled lighting system.
Where, or from what, do you get inspiration for your work?
Inspiration is not a supernatural gift you get from the Holy Spirit but the result of concentrating on the resolution of a given problem. Once you focus your mind on a specific project everything can be inspiration: technology, the user, the company, the brand, the problem itself, life.
What is your favorite part of the design process and why?
I think I enjoy equally every part of the creative process; each of them has its own challenge and delight.
Do you confront your ideas when you are in the process of designing? And in that case, who do you share your thoughts with, who do you ask for opinions and critics?
I’m lucky enough to have design at home; my wife is a designer herself and is for me an open and balanced critic. My neighbours happen to be good friends and designers so I easily find ears when I need them.
How would you label/categorize your work?
I’m not a fan of labels as they can reduce the professional freedom, but if I have to, I would say that I’m not only a designer but also an inventor.
Do you have a signature style? If yes, what are the hallmarks of your style?
If I happen to have a signature style it's not in anyway intentional. I do not believe in formalisms either in the repetition of forms and styles. I never start a project from a predefined formal language, it's the design process and the particularities of each of them that lead me to the shape of an object. Maybe it's possible to determine some common elements in my work but it is probably easier for you to recognize them than myself.
Ovidio table for Danese.
Who are your favorite designers and/or architects?
Magistretti and Castiglione.
What item (PC, pen, etc) can you not do without when you are designing?
For going from the initial idea to the final product both of them are essential to me, for designing I use loads of paper and pen and countless hours in Pro-Engineering.
What's next?
Having as much fun as I’ve had designing so far.
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VITAL STATS
Full name: Francisco Gomez Paz
Location: Milan
Size of team: 1
In business since: 2003
Claim to fame projects: chaise longue Apero (Sumampa 2004) Ovidio table (Danese 2005) and Omero magazine rack (Driade 2006)
Spare time: I’m an irrecoverable golf addict
MEDIA FAVES
Favorite website(s): Google
What music is on your iPod or radio? All kinds of music but mostly argentinean folk music
Your favorite magazine(s): Golf Digest, ID, Interni, Wallpaper
Last or current book you are reading: Simplicity by Edward de Bono
Last movie you saw: Cars, twice, with my little one
wow! impressive work ...
Hi,
We are Casaviva, a magazine about architecture and design based in Mexico City, and we are interested in presenting some of your work in the news section of our magazine. Therefore,we would like to have a high resolution picture and information of it. I hope you can help us.
Best regards,
Sandra von Bertrab
Art Director