Discussion about Challenges of One’s Own Production

Design Talks – The First Day.

On the first day of Belgrade Furniture Fair Design Talks were held with young designers who exhibited their products at this year’s Fair. Dunja Palček, who established štap&kanap studio from Novi Sad and Uroš Janković, founder of Wood Line studio from Požarevac, spoke about the projects they are currently working on, experiences, challenges, motivation, functioning, creative blockade overcoming, the relation of designer and client, compromise. The most attention was paid to the question what motivated these young people to design and manufacture themselves.

Uroš Janković

„Počeo sam da se bavim proizvodnjom zbog toga što kada stvari radite in house možete kontrolisati rokove, količine i kvalitet i nisam imao nedoumice da li neko drugi treba da proizvodi ono što sam kao dizajner smislio. Bilo mi je važno da, kada stvari držite u svojim rukama, svoju zamisao prenesete na konačni proizvod, da prenesete priču i koncept. Kada je proizvodnja u vašoj režiji možete naći pravu granicu između dobrog dizajna i industrijske proizvodnje.“

“Još kao student sam shvatio da je sve evaluiralo, samo je nameštaj ostao zamrznut. Ne oblikovno, ali suštinski. Nameštaj je ostao u nekom vakuumu. Mi radimo hand made autorski nameštaj i kada to uprostite dođete do toga da ljudi rade za ljude, to je živa stvar. Iz upotrebne vrednosti nekog predmeta vučete njegovu funkcionalnost i onda dolazite do željenog oblika”.

Uroš Janković

„I began manufacturing because when you do things in house, you can control deadlines, quantities and quality and I had no doubt if someone else should manufacture what I as designer thought out. It was important to me when you kept something in your hands, you transferred your idea to the final product, you transferred the story and the concept. If you manage your production, you can find the real limit between the good design and industrial production”.

“Already as a student, I realized everything was evaluated, just the furniture remained frozen. Not in form, but substantially. The furniture remained in a vacuum. We produce handmade author furniture and when you simplify this, you come to the conclusion people work for people, this is a live thing. You take from the using value of an item its functioning and then you come to the desired form”.

Dunja Palček

„At furniture design and production, the objective is not to accomplish something in an easier way, but create something as you planned. This was one of the key reasons that I wanted to manufacture the things I design. Furniture manufacturing under the home conditions is a challenge, but so far it is great for me”.

“When I begin designing, I always start from the function, from the way an item should be used. It seems to me design begins at a moment missing this aspect, the most important one, since there is no point if something is not functioning. This is my starting point”.