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Interview with Duncan Shotton |
Home > Designer Interviews > Duncan Shotton |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Duncan Shotton (DS) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Duncan Shotton by clicking here.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
DS: http://dshott.co.uk
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
DS: tape dispenser, for j-me in 2007
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
DS: One of them is egg-box moulded paper, lot of time for that.
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
DS: When I haven't eaten.
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
DS: All of them. If you don't look at everything, you aren't doing it properly.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
DS: Rocket-like excitement, that's the most rewarding one and why I do it.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
DS: Rocket-like excitement
FS: What makes a design successful?
DS: Everyone loves it.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
DS: If it works.
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
DS: Benefit society & be responsible to the environment.
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
DS: More designer-producers, more collaborations, less corporation-owned design.
FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
DS: During Tokyo Design Week with Designboom Mart, October 2012. I'd like to do a solo exhibition in Harajuku, Tokyo, and get to London and New York at some point too.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
DS: I do a lot of trend research online and in the retail environment.
FS: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
DS: Well-excecuted wit.
FS: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
DS: My Studio is in Tokyo. The city fills me with excitement, but it's much harder to communicate directly as my Japanese is still pretty basic. Japanese colleagues are essential to the studio being a success.
FS: How do you work with companies?
DS: Joint-branded collaborations.
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
DS: Select me.
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
DS: Research, idea, prototype, research, prototype, prototype, engage with partner companies (sometimes from the start), finesse, produce.
FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
DS: Mini-Cleaner (Midori), Gundam Mega-size plastic model, cat earphone jack, automatic tape dispenser (leti), my next design...
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
DS: I am a young designer. Aren't I? Just work hard, you only go round once.
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
DS: Positve : I think about things that would make people happy, then a make them real, then people are happy. Negative : Almost always, you have to make compromises because of factors out of your control (e.g. Cost)
FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
DS: It must make people happy.
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
DS: Designers need every skill, conceptualisation is just as important as verbal communication.
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
DS: A computer, the internet, a notebook, card, a ruler and a scalpel.
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
DS: Work at light speed.
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
DS: Totally depends. My Irish friend at university used to say "Do it in a night", there's a lot you can do in a night. Many of my projects take typically 1-2 years.
FS: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
DS: "What's Product Design?", I say "It's the design of Stuff and Things"
FS: What was your most important job experience?
DS: Year placement at J-me in London. It was really tough, but really rewarding.
FS: Who are some of your clients?
DS: Mars, HighTide, Kinneir Dufort, NOTCOT.com, EntreX, Suck UK, Cara Technology, Unilever,
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
DS: Product and Packaging, you can feel it. I love one-offs too, if you do something great, you only need to do it once.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
DS: I want to grow the Studio, to hire a few more staff to help with design as well as the general running of the business.
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
DS: Mostly myself, but I always share them first with my colleagues, friends and manufacturers. Other people sometimes notice things that you haven't.
FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
DS: I'm planning to release 4 new works this year. They'll be first released at http://facebook.com/DuncanShottonDesignStudio , http://twitter.com/_dshott and to people that have signed up to the newsletter at http://dshott.co.uk/newsletter
FS: How can people contact you?
DS: via http://dshott.co.uk
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A’ Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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