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Interview with Ioannis Solomozis |
Home > Designer Interviews > Ioannis Solomozis |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Ioannis Solomozis (IS) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Ioannis Solomozis 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?
IS: I’ve been raised by a mechanical engineer (my father) and a passionate merchant of home linen and textiles (my mother). Both of them are lovers of design. Design has been all over around me since I remember myself. However, I became a designer only when I realized that I was looking for things that I couldn’t find.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
IS: SØLØ is made up by designers and makers. Our workplaces are a studio/showroom as well as an in-house design factory, both based in Athens-Greece. We produce everything from scratch while taking part in every step of the creative process. Currently we are a group of 8 extremely different people, working together by sharing the same mentality.
FS: What is "design" for you?
IS: something that works well in a set
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
IS: diverse and difficult
FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
IS: My sofa, which is inspired by an 80’s cartoon-car of ThunderCats. It was Panthro’s car thunder tank which was wide and spacious while it had two big arms on each side.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
IS: a pattern
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
IS: i love fabric and the ways you can manipulate its form
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
IS: when i am happy and not hungry
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
IS: the concept and the materials
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
IS: While I design, I feel cool to welcome any possible and creative emotion. I actually don’t rush it during the design process, it just comes out; so I think that I’m in a state of meditation by watching my emotions come and go.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
IS: fulfilment
FS: What makes a design successful?
IS: Its utility
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
IS: If it has a purpose to serve
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
IS: to educate and preserve
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
IS: I cannot say but what I hope; and I sincerely hope for design industry to believe more in designers’ visions as well as to reduce and eventually stop producing copy-paste low quality products for no reason.
FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
IS: The latest exhibition was about hospitality and design and took place in London. The next one will take place in Dubai and one more about hotel design follows in Athens.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
IS: Inspiration could be found in any place. Several Ideas are coming by my integration with environment. I travel a lot, mainly for business and I love it so far. I might say that all I do is connecting the dots, so I can show off the whole picture which I have in my mind.
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?
IS: I don’t believe that I own a recognizable style of design in terms of first sight. My approach to design is the Change and the diversities in and around it. My designs have stories to tell; a different one each of them.
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?
IS: I live in Athens, Greece. The cultural heritage of my country is a heavy one and it motivates me to create long-life products, but not in a way that determines my design style
FS: How do you work with companies?
IS: with pleasure
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
IS: Companies that are willing to get to know better the designers as persons and have an actual knowledge of all of their skills, are always able to select the right person to design for them. So, what I suggest is communication.
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
IS: Research , concept, food, music, utilisation
FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
IS: my batman egg holder is the ultimate design item i can think of right now
FS: Can you describe a day in your life?
IS: a Tuesday, 7:30 gym 10:00 factory 12:00 studio 14:00 lunch 15:00 plans of design world domination 20:00 family 23:00zzzzzz
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
IS: do not criticise other designers, focus on your domain, work and do not do drugs
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
IS: I can make my own stuff but I cannot easily communicate with people, I might say
FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
IS: make something epic
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
IS: Work hard and be humble
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
IS: the adobe suite, paper, water colours, drone, camera and burgers
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
IS: I am terrible when it comes to follow an agenda. Next question please!
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
IS: Once a concept is decided, it might be a matter of hours.
FS: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
IS: did you design anything that you use?
FS: What was your most important job experience?
IS: ... is yet to come
FS: Who are some of your clients?
IS: marriot hotels, ibis hotels, como hotels, gervassoni spa, sylloges, paola navone
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
IS: The cool ones; when I design for cool clients, I enjoy the design of a small object, a pattern or a sofa, equally. I also enjoy cool client’s desire to hug me afterwards.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
IS: i am designing a hotel concept from top to bottom
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
IS: Both work. I’m blessed with team mates that got it and I’m very pleased that we don’t need to say much to each other in order to communicate.
FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
IS: Now I’m working on a Greek oriented concept to be applied in a hotel of Athens.
FS: How can people contact you?
IS: via Social Media
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
IS: I cannot believe that I have answered to all of your 40 questions... Thank you for asking!
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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