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Isiqu Sofa by Lila Demarcq |
Home > Winners > Design #84331 >Interview |
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FS: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
LD: My first principle is to make the user dream. Make him dream with a story. Isiqu was created from a childhood memory, spent in South Africa. The memory of an elephant, lying on the ground, the body half in the water. He’s covered with delicate reflection and its skin is adorned with textured details. With his slow and delicate movements I feel that he’s there to protect others. I then made an elongated structure in the space that offers the user a soft relaxation area where he can lie down, sit, sleep, rest, work, chat ... With Isiqu, I sought to create unity and cohesion with space, give new sensations and inspire questions. By its different forms, materials and possibilities of use, I wish that the user appropriates the object with emotion.
FS: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
LD: My goal was to materialize this memory in a subtle way so that everyone could appropriate it with their own feelings. For this it was necessary that the form doesn’t stuck the object in only one function. This object proposes and opens the doors of the imagination.
FS: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
LD: I propose this hybrid sofa to individuals who lives in spacious spaces but also companies that offer to their employees and their customers relaxation areas where they can work and take a break with serenity.
FS: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
LD: I took about 4 months to design Isiqu, from the first drawing to the realization of the first model.
FS: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
LD: Isiqu was created in connection with my memories of South Africa. Several years later, my need to tell my feelings was more than vital. This long trip marked me and I wanted to let people discover the beauty and poetry I had seen there.
FS: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
LD: I practice self-publishing. I'm looking for my manufacturers myself.
FS: What made you design this particular type of work?
LD: It's the travels, the landscapes that have marked me. They are an inexhaustible source of inspiration that allowed me to give free rein to my imagination and thus create this new concept of sofa with multiple materials.
FS: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
LD: It offers a different way of seeing and experiencing space and material.
FS: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
LD: Isiqu means "trunk" in Zulu language. A very spoken language in the small town where I lived in South Africa.
FS: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
LD: I first write poems describing my feelings. I then made drawings related to these poems. When these drawings corresponded to what I had in mind, I looked for a function which could be alsow related to my feelings. So I went through the writing, the drawings, the physical model and the actual size plan.
FS: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
LD: Freedom of form and use. It allows people to dream more easily, to give free rein to their imagination.
FS: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
LD: Yes I worked with a metalworker, a seamstress and a custom foam cutting company.
FS: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
LD: Most items are handmade. Only the foam is cut with machines. I was able to obtain complex shapes very well done with great precision.
FS: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
LD: The hardest part was to find the type of forms that offer a good comfort.
FS: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
LD: To make Isiqu, I learned to knit because I wanted a handmade production, with love. I think this project has also enormously developed my imagination.
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
LD: Isiqu is part of an objects series. In connection with my memories of Africa, I also designed Indlu, a rack and spaces creator, as well as Isihla, a removable shutter in steel and ceramic.
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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