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Interview with Nils Fischer |
Home > Designer Interviews > Nils Fischer |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Nils Fischer (NF) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Nils Fischer 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?
NF: Coming from an artsy family, I grew up around artists and art-enthusiasts. I made my first contact with design as a field of work in school, where I had a marvelous art teacher. So this encounter was setting the course to study industrial design and work in this field.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
NF: My Studio is my laboratory. Next to my work for customers it leaves space for experimental work - which then also becomes a benefit for the customers. Besides my studio I founded a company – Studio ASF GmbH – with two colleagues wich is running the production processes of products of our own brands (woof, Aero Postale. etc) and our white label products.
FS: What is "design" for you?
NF: Design is when you don’t even think about how to use an object and yet it is a pleasure to live with it when it is not being used. And design is something that fulfills a need. Design is always content, never just styling.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
NF: I enjoy working on heavy machinery, it is a very nice mixture of engineering and designing – the interaction between machine and user is very clear and it is a good opportunity to design something, that is actually helping the user to do their daily work.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
NF: It was an educational machine for mechatronic and engineering students.
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
NF: Thats hard so define. In my career I worked a lot with metal, especially alloy but I’m also very intrigued by the abilities and haptics of wood and stone. As for a technology, I’m very much interested in 3d-printing - it will be the next big revolution in the history of mankind.
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
NF: When I’m on holidays with spare time on my hands, on the border to absolute boredom.
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
NF: I explore how an object can be used most intuitively. That usually leads me to a logic shape that is also very clean and simple and nice to look at.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
NF: I like to think that I can improve a little something for other people. That gives me a feeling of being fulfilled.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
NF: Happy and a little bit proud. But to be honest, the time span between designing and finished production is mostly very long. So a realized product is mostly a look back in time and I find it more attractive to look into the future.
FS: What makes a design successful?
NF: that is very hard to tell because there are a lot of factors in a successful product. Design has to be „non-designy“ – if you don’t immediately recognize it, it does its job as an interface between content and recipient well.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
NF: I appreciate it when a design is self explaining. The other primaries are the quality of the details and the quality of the chosen material.
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
NF: even though design can be luxurious in making known things even nicer I still very much think that we should not pollute our lives and our planet with useless stuff and unnecessary waste.
FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
NF: My last exhibition was in Zurich with a group of designer which I’m part of. „moralisch schön“ is a group of author-designers with their own brands focused on fair and ecologically correct products in the field of living and furniture.
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?
NF: I see my work as an interface design in objects.
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?
NF: I live in Germany. The heritage of precise craftsmanship and long-lasting quality products are pros I can rely on. Business partners are concerned to keep their promises, but on the other hand, it can be challenging to convince people to try something different.
FS: How do you work with companies?
NF: I work with various producing companies. I like the fact that craftsmen are always willing to expand their skills to get the job done.
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
NF: It appears that many small and medium sized companies don’t even consider working with a designer, mostly because they have no idea where to find one and also because they don’t know how much a good design can boost their product.
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
NF: I usually have an idea straight away and I scibble and make little models to test shapes and functions. Then I might consult craftsmen for a prototype that can change the concept again.
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
NF: Designing changes how you see the world. It is a pleasure to create for others and to create your own environment. The obvious disadvantage is that the word designer is not precise and the public thinks of fashion and graphic design and doesn’t really fathom that each and every object in their environment is designed.
FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
NF: keep it simple
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
NF: You should be able to understand complex systems, filter the important parts and explain it simple and elegant.
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
NF: I split my day into office, creative design and hands on workshop sections, so I have some kind of progress on each level.
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
NF: weeks and months and sometimes years – it really depends on the complexity of the task.
FS: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
NF: People usually doubt whether you can make a living as a designer. And for sure, to become the business person you need to be is something you don’t learn in university.
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
NF: the design draft with pen and paper where you can play with your imagination… and the engineering part where you need your intellect.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
NF: I would like to grow as a studio. And I planned some interesting workshops in Universities.
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
NF: I like both, designing as a team or alone. It depends on the amount of work a job offers.
FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
NF: yes, but I`m not allowed talk about it.
FS: How can people contact you?
NF: My website www.StudioNilsFischer.com provides all contact information.
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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