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Interview with Miriam Trilety |
Home > Designer Interviews > Miriam Trilety |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Miriam Trilety (MT) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Miriam Trilety by clicking here.
FS: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
MT: Already as a child and adolescent, I was passionate about drawing. It was a way to dive into a parallel world, to visually connect different realities and create new ones. In addition, I felt that in drawing I could express myself in a way, that was difficult to me verbally.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
MT: The name of my studio, Praxisbüro Trilety, brings together two essential aspects of my working life. On the one hand as a Psychotherapist I create realities of life and self conceptions with patients in my practice, on the other hand I design graphically visual worlds in my office. In both cases, the practice shows itself in the creative design of new references to oneself and the environment.
FS: What is "design" for you?
MT: Design is reflexive thinking in visual form, a kind of symbolic intellectualism, the very picture, the whole vision, the very multivalency.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
MT: Art brut, everyday experiences, satirical and ironic references to politics and society.
FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
MT: Honestly I am not sure. I have a bad memory, if I like something, then this is a snapshot, as in an encounter, something very original and intimate, I have trouble describing that.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
MT: As part of my training at the Graphic Design College (Die Graphische) in Vienna, a competition was announced by the Kommunalkredit Bank in Vienna. The assignment was to redesign the Corporate Design of the bank. I had little idea and little interest in corporate design before, but at that time I had unexpectedly and unbelievably won the jury's first prize.
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
MT: I always had a fondness for fine pen and ink on photo paper, thus a completely smooth, coated paper surface. The feeling of working on glass, almost free of resistance, is what I used to like the most. Today I almost exclusively work on iPad Pro. I feel free and unlimited through the material. It feels like it is possible to visualize illusions only through the movement of the hand in the air or through thoughts.
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
MT: When I get the impression, something works inside of me that I do not understand, when I'm restless or confused, when I feel useless, aroused, weird, sometimes even when I'm depressed.
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
MT: I am highly concentrated, very autistic. I can spend hours working on a thing, that in the end is very reduced. At most, a simple picture is created, usually with little detail, narrowed down to the essentials, but it still feels like full of details.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
MT: Lust, joy, anger, a strange form of tension. And I feel awesome, maybe you're a little megalomaniac when you're creative.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
MT: I feel fulfilled but exhausted, sometimes dissatisfied, because the outcome can only show a fraction of what happens in my mind in the creative process.
FS: What makes a design successful?
MT: It is successful when it feels right to me. If it can express the actual intention, or if I work without a plan on something that ultimately presents itself as a new birth of what was not previously intended.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
MT: That is hard to say. It is the proportion, color, form, contrast, relationship of objects in space, intention, and an original individual aura that arises through the design, the handwriting, or perhaps soul of the object.
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
MT: In my view the designer should reflect on current but also historical socio-political conditions in the world. Opening new perspectives, while critically analyzing and contextualizing previous existence.
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
MT: I can not say how technologies and culture will evolve, it has a lot to do with evaluation and the zeitgeist. Such a thing may only be understood retrospectively, and it will become apparent if it has relevance.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
MT: I am very playful, I often start to draw, just to keep busy, to calm down, or to feel like it's something special that I do. This often spontaneously creates ideas, which I then playfully implement. Anyway, at first I often do not know what comes out in the end, unless of course I have a concrete project in mind, which interestingly enough, often does not implement as I imagine. The objects are created by themselves. I'm just the tool.
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?
MT: Oh, that's a tough one. Of course, the history of my country and my family has influenced me a lot. I can say that Vienna exudes a certain self-forgetfulness, that's how we Viennese live. I need to rest a lot when working, which seems to reflect the Viennese lifestyle. There is a saying about Austria: "Whenever there is something happening in the world, no matter what it is, even if it were the end of the world, go to Vienna, here it will not happen until 30 years later."
FS: How do you work with companies?
MT: I work with companies as equal partners. I generally appreciate project-based collaboration as it allows for more autonomy, forcing one to stay creative, to come up with new ideas.
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
MT: I think that it is a bit like a blind date: You may talk to each other or you don't. The respect for each other is important and the clarity of what you stand for. There should be some kind of boundaries that you can not morally cross, within that you can probably agree on a lot. And I think the designer's visual personality is a special resource. I would not want to change my style just to please a company.
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
MT: I often randomly start to scribble, which I then discard. Therefore, I do not know in the beginning where I will end up. Sometimes, however, there is something that saddens or strains me from the inside. I use the creative process to make this experience visible. Frequently, these works then become forms of ironic or satirical concepts.
FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
MT: A pretty design table by Hay, which I really appreciate and like to work on. My Ipad Pro. My pretty yellow and blue striped sheepskin sweatshirt, that always reminds me of Maya the Honey Bee. My lunch box from Wesco, which I call "little alien". My pink cardboard pig by Papertrophy, which the daughter of a friend painted pink and which always makes me happy.
FS: Can you describe a day in your life?
MT: I usually work as a psychotherapist in private practice and in a hospital at a psychiatric ward. When I'm not working as a therapist, I either work on new designs or I read, play with my cats, or go to concerts, the theater, or events.
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
MT: I suppose being a designer means being aware that you have something like a creative disease, something that somehow always accompanies you. That also means that you have to learn how to handle your own creativity, which needs to be developed at first and might be painful and unclear in the beginning. Questions like "what what is my particularity as a designer? What are the fears and doubts?" may also be helpful resources. The experience of developing as a person, even if it may be hard at times, is very important for the artistic expression of the designer.
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
MT: In my view it is most important to visually reflect on social and personal phenomena in my work.
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
MT: I really love James Victore "Dangerous Ideas" because he makes me feel confident and makes me belief in myself. This is what really boosts my creativity. The software I use is procreate which is so complex and simple at the same time. I always feel free of any pressure to choose between different techniques. The Programm provides so many options, though I sometimes just use my old fashioned HB Colour Pencil, but at the same time I know, that it can provide me with much more. Moreover there are many inspiring artists out there. I love to search Instagram and Behance to see all these great creative people sharing their work. I am deeply touched by the "Gugginger KünstlerInnen" (Artists of Art Brut) in Austria. I always was.
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
MT: I only design, when I am in the right mood, and when I know I can be absolutely focused, without any distraction. I am not capable of multitasking, so it is always one design after another.
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
MT: Usually one to three days. Sometimes only a couple of hours a day, it depends on how focused I am.
FS: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
MT: Do people buy your work? Can you make a living of your work? How much do you earn?
FS: What was your most important job experience?
MT: My work with psychiatric patients at the Hospital I am currently working at inspires me the most.
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
MT: Free Grafik designing, Illustrating and doodling is what i enjoy most.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
MT: A great wish would be a broader visibility of my work in different media, such as books, magazines, newspapers, online magazines, websites, blogs, social media on billboards or in socially critical advertising campaigns.
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
MT: I usually develop my designs by myself. The different aspects of my personality kind of work together to create a design.
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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