Matias Zuckerman is one of the principals of Perfectos Dragones Design, a studio based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Producing a mix of graphic and industrial design, Perfectos Dragones designs for others as well as for their own branded line of products. Even though the South American design industry is less industrialized than Europe or N.A., Matias sees opportunity where others might see a challenge; “We find in a less industrialized process the way to test products in a small market” by producing small batches more economically than in the Northern hemisphere and then scaling the production if the product is a success. More after the jump. GP

Bulb lamp.

When did you decide to become a designer?
When I was 16 years old one of my cousins explained to me what industrial design meant and involved. At that time I was focused on painting but I soon realized that it would be very complicated to make a living out of it.

Where do you do most of your design work?
We do all of our design work at Perfectos Dragones Design studio, a big and nice place where we started this brand together with four other designers: Gustavo Stekolschik (industrial designer), Debora Hirsch and Leticia Churba (graphic designers) and Mara Zuckermann (textile designer).

In designing there is both, the thinking and the materializing process. Do you do both strictly at the office or does it happen that you find yourselves designing elsewhere?
The thinking process occurs everywhere at any time. Maybe when finding an idea or looking for a solution, our head is in constant revolution. Solving a design problem might cause you a bad sleep, because bringing ideas to concrete products is a process that feels at the moment like your most important aim in life.

Your team has a set of different creative disciplines; do you all participate in the design process of all projects? if yes, which part of the creative process do you share and how?
We do not really participate 100% in all projects. We work with a project manager and the team comes in the scene for a first presentation, when we give our different points of view of the product. We do work as a team when solving things since we find different solutions to a same problem. I am really into strategic design for brands, and supervising the design process for the industrial designers of our team. Regarding our own line of products is when I really get into my own world where I can feel free about respecting our own brief.

Submarino hot chocolate die set.

Because of its less industrialized reality South American design seems to have a closer relation with handicraft, how much do you get inspired by local techniques and materials?
We do not really focus in local techniques or materials. We find in a less industrialized process the way to test products in a small market. When starting this process we investigate how will we produce in big quantities if the product is a success. We apply this change when that first production is quickly sold and the market shows us the way.

Where, or from what, do you get inspiration for your work?
Inspiration comes from different areas, new materials used in other industries, industrial and handmade procedures. Maybe one of the characteristics of designers is that we are constantly looking at small details, such as an interesting resolution in a jacket or the use of a specific material in urban furniture.

Where do you go hunting for inspiration when you need?
We find in the industry a great place to take our inspiration from. We are in constant contact with new providers that can show us their manufacturing capacities or a new material. We do also find in experimentation a great source. We cast some plastic in the oven and mix silicon rubber with some fabric, and through these experiments we discover interesting substance that will give birth to some new line of product.

What is your favorite part of the design process and why?
Maybe the best moment of the design process is when I have an idea in my head during my spare time, and I arrive to the studio where I can draw it and confirm that what I was thinking is possible. I love this part because when some ideas get to my head, the image is rough until I can visualize it in a drawing.

How would you label/categorize your work?
I would label our design as a creative and original design intervention that goes from handmade to industrial. This could be easily explained with some of our products, which start as a small hand-made production, to later find and investigate the way of producing them in larger series.

Who are your favorite designers and/or architects?
Marc Newson, ora-ito

What item (PC, pen, etc) can you not do without when you are designing?
Both, pen and PC. It is impossible to forget the pen when trying to visualize an idea, although a drawing might be rough the pen is indispensable. Also the PC is very important to see what the final look of the product will be like, since we can not only check shapes but also materials and the overall final aesthetics.

What's next?
We actually work in different areas; one of these is our own branded product range. Regarding our own products we are actually working in a lighting series manufactured in neoprene. For our new area ¨by dragones¨ we are working on some new sunglasses for an Argentinean brand.

Asterisco handbag.

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VITAL STATS
Full name: Matias Zuckermann
Location: Buenos Aires Argentina
Size of team: 10 people
In business since: 1995
Claim to fame projects: Bulb lamp, submarine set, silicon jewellery
Spare time: sports, windsurf, boxing, jogging

MEDIA FAVES
Favorite website(s): www.ora-ito.com
What music is on your iPod or radio? Coldplay –blind melon – moorcheba – portishead- asterisks bags
Your favorite magazine(s): Wallpaper
Last movie you saw: The Constant Gardener