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Interview with Karin Castens |
Home > Designer Interviews > Karin Castens |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Karin Castens (KC) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Karin Castens 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?
KC: I was a creative child, drawing constantly and therefore went to schools and courses which supported this. After high school, where I finished my arts exam with the highest degree, I went on to an art school, where I studied construction of sewing patterns and drawing – and where I for the first time had jewelers tools in my hands! From university I hold a Masters’ degree in Communications and History of Arts and carried on to the Institute of Precious Metals, where I fought for my right to combine beauty and meaningfulness in a piece of jewellery. It was a fight, because I was expected to create pieces of art, which related to the body – and beauty was considered somewhat suspect.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
KC: My workshop turned professional when the recession put me out of my communications job at a marketing company. I had worked at my own hobby workshop in the boiler room of our building for over a decade, but now decided to seize the day and make something out of an otherwise bad situation. In 2010 I opened the doors to a high-ceilinged shop/workshop in central Copenhagen – right next to New Harbour and behind the Royal Theatre. Here the antique chandelier shines its light on the art nouveau swirls which divide the workshop from the shop proper and the jewellery glitters from vitrines built for antique, guilt picture frames. It is a lively place where my customers can follow the work first hand and admire the large anvil, which used to belong to my grandfather, the blacksmith.
FS: What is "design" for you?
KC: Design is when a product goes from being merely functional to working extra smart while being extra pleasant to the eye. Design isn’t just “pinking” – putting a certain color or pattern on a given product and now it “looks nice”. Form and function should work closely together, tuning into a logical, aesthetic unity.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
KC: I prefer to design rings, because next to bracelets, these are the only ones, which you as a user get to admire yourself. A ring is enormously 3-dimensional and therefore presents a challenge as well as a blessing, because it can change a lot depending on what angle you see it from. Therefore, my often somewhat asymmetrical designs have 2 different looks to them, depending on which way you wear them on your finger.
FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
KC: My al time favorite is the Primavera ring – a cocktail ring, which features a very beautiful yellow citrine, depicting the sun. It is placed at a 45 degree angle and held above the finger in an airy basket setting made of white gold. From beneath, small yellow gold sprouts - tipped with green peridots - wind their way up towards the warmth of the citrine sun. It is stunning and tells a story of joy and hope at the end of the winter.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
KC: I have never designed for anyone else than my own company.
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
KC: I love working with the cire perdue technique of lost wax carving. My designs are very 3-dimensional and have an organic look, which makes it seem like the piece of jewellery has grown naturally. I often work directly with the gold, but wax provides an even better opportunity for creating the designs that makes my (and my customers) heart soar. Carving wax very much feels like Michelangelo described it: I know the shape which hides inside the block – my task is merely to liberate it.
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
KC: The Muse comes and goes – as is her nature. However, I am often very creative in the morning while still in my bed. Here impressions from the previous day have matured overnight and when I wake up, the ideas surface. Then I am forced out of bed and grab a drawing pad in order to draw all the ideas and possible variations I can come up with before carrying on with the day – or go back to bed…
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
KC: Fusing beauty with usability is always the biggest challenge. The prime task of jewellery is to adorn and so beauty (to me at least) is a given. However, only in rather rare occasions, like cocktail rings, practicality can be overshadowed by mere expression. Making these two issues work together is always a case of weighing one against the other. A curl can look most exquisite, but unless you attach it to the main body of the piece, it might get caught in clothes or hair and become a point of irritation. So when to forfeit practicality for beauty and vice versa is the most difficult part – and the one which brings the greatest rewards if I succeed. I claim, that I very much succeeded in the task with the Two Forever Design.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
KC: Elevated, happy and in the flow
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
KC: Sometimes frustrations when the 3-dimansional version of my drawing doesn’t work – and deep satisfaction when it DOES work!
FS: What makes a design successful?
KC: Good design is when functionality and beauty meet in a comfortable way which is never a nuisance in everyday life. This is also why I never use sharp angles and points in my designs, such as claw settings. The softness of a closed setting is much more gentle to live with and will therefore only please, not irritate.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
KC: Ahhh… a hard one! I tend to judge beauty first, but if it doesn’t function properly – sometimes DUE to aesthetical choices, the product instantly looses my positive attention.
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
KC: First and foremost: Do you contribute to making your customer a happier person? If my design elevates the user’s mental wellbeing, this will spill over into his or her life will all sorts of positive side effects. Plus if in any way possible: When creating the product, try to work as sensible as you can: Use renewable materials or materials sourced in ethically sustainable ways. Make sure your employees work in a safe and pleasant environment (happy employees = better products) and above all: Be kind!
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
KC: It seems like more and more products are being “designed” rather than constructed – and that “designers” seem to become more and more aplenty. Being such a “designer” (myself included) seems to have a higher status now than previously. I don’t mind!
FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
KC: I was part of the “Show of the Guilds” at the Moltkes Mansion, Copenhagen last winter – for the second time. It is a fashion-based affair with a runway and stalls in the adjoining salons after the show and is well-visited by dignitaries, none the least HRH Princess Benedicte, who is the patroness of the show. Read more about my last participation and the Rocaille jewellery which I designed for it here: http://castens.com/en/blog/castens-og-coture/Right now I have not planned any new exhibitions as I am concentrating on creating an online universe for my customers.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
KC: My main inspiration is nature – the soft flowing lines of smoke tendrils, growing vines and unfurling ferns. When looking at my designs, French Art Nouveau is an obvious source of inspiration too – none the least of cause Lalique. In Denmark, the late jewellery artist Arje Griegst and our colleague Torben Hardenberg are also big inspirations to me.
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?
KC: My jewellery is very romantic and soft and has a distinct drizzle of a bit of fairytale. I usually claim to create jewellery for everyday princesses and other shameless romantics. In my world, being a feminine romantic is positive and in no ways shameful. I embrace it and take it all the way to tiaras and fairytale princess crowns!
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?
KC: I live in Denmark and here DANISH DESIGN is obviously a large thing. However, Danish Design is rooted in the 30’s and the following decades, when the designers struggled to free themselves from the aesthetic of the Victorian area, when any and all styles were mixed together. The result was (at times at least) a rather confusing mixture of over-embellishments. No wonder the designers wanted something simpler. However, in my opinion, some of the fabled “Danish Design” has taken it a bit too far. We humans LIKE embellishments, just not everywhere and all the time. This is why I try do my work by combining smooth simplicity – often with a coarse surface for contrast – with romantic details, enabling you to fall into a dream-like state while you study how a piece unfolds new details as you change the angle. In other words… rather far from the classic “Danish Design” which I rebel against!Oh… creating designs which lean on fairytales of cause also links to a certain rather well known Danish writer of fairytales, but that is a completely other story…
FS: How do you work with companies?
KC: I only work with my providers of materials. Here the close connection is very important, because sometimes obtaining a certain gem can be VERY difficult!
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
KC: Look at their previous body of work and if it suits your taste/need have a meeting where agreeing on expectations is the most important issue.
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
KC: I always start with drawings based on a certain idea. This I work through in as many versions as I can, before deciding on one, which I would like to take to the next level: The model or, if it is a bespoke piece created especially for my customer, the final piece of jewellery. Often the piece changes a bit from the original design, because reality behaves differently than 2 dimensions. This however is not an issue – mostly the design evolves into something even better. On rare occasions I have to abandon the design because I am not satisfied with how it works. In that case it is literally “back to the drawing board”. IF the design works, however, I finish it off for the customer or in order to have a mold made and copies cast.
FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
KC: My Margrethe bowl, smooth kitchen tools made of olive wood from Greece, a staff blender, a small scissor for removing sewing threads and a dress I created myself.
FS: Can you describe a day in your life?
KC: We get up early – a bit to 6 – in order to have time for a calm morning. I wake up my teenage girl and together we meditate before I bike to work through Copenhagen, which is usually a pleasure with all the pretty buildings and green parks. At my workshop I go through my bullet journal to prepare for the day before my employees arrive and we start working. My tasks usually comprise of talking to my customers and designing jewellery, working with marketing and sometimes – unfortunately too rarely – I create prototypes and custom made jewellery at the bench.
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
KC: Don’t expect world dominion within the first couple of years, but just work humbly creating a LARGE body of work. You might think that you have gotten the techniques under your belt – in 5 years you will look back at your designs now and think “aww… cute!” So just create as much as you can as fast as possible in order to get to the stage where you create the substantial designs.
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
KC: Positives are the initial stage of “anything is possible” and the fulfilling moment when it also works in real life. That can be truly euphoric! Negatives are when reality kicks in with budget limitations, materials which don’t perform as you wished them to or designs which looked stunning on paper and are rubbish when brought to life. As a designer as well as other creatives, you are only as good as your last design and so your self esteem tends to be based on what others think about your work.
FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
KC: Make lots of drawings and possibly models before attempting to build the real deal – not doing so can be enormously time consuming and expensive.
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
KC: Imagination! You are, after all, inventing something which doesn’t yet exist!
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
KC: Automatic pencil, 0,1 black pen and good paper. Plus some colored pencils. Sometimes I also scan the designs and manipulate them in Photoshop in order to create variations of the same design to choose from for my customers. However, I prefer hand drawn designs in the initial stage. On rare occasions, such as the Two Forever set, I am working with a 3D designer in order to get the lines exact and symmetrical.
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
KC: Designing is playtime and NOT time consuming! Running a business with all the logistics involved plus working with marketing is the real time sink. I wished I had more time for designing and creating prototypes!
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
KC: Designing and subsequently creating a piece of jewellery can take anything from 2 hours to 20 hours – or MUCH more if it’s a grand project such as the convertible Adorabella tiara!
FS: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
KC: “How did you get so good at drawing?” The answer: Lots and lots of practice, also drawing anything else than jewellery.
FS: What was your most important job experience?
KC: Working as a PA at the media bureau Omnicom Media Group for the CEO. Experiencing his tasks in running such a big company as well as the big emphasis put on how to make the employees happy has probably prepared me better for running my own business than anything else.
FS: Who are some of your clients?
KC: Men, who want to propose, couples who want to get married, but most importantly: Grown up women who want to celebrate something in their lives! This could be the end of an education, a new beginning with for instance a new career or cherishing the memory of someone deceased.
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
KC: I love creating prototypes, because this is the playground. This is where I get to design a variety of versions of an idea, knowing, that if I don’t take my time here, the collection will fall flat.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
KC: I would like to see some of my creations abroad – especially the Adorabella collection, which is a bit too far away from the conservative “Danish Design – Danes”. As a beginning, I am on the verge of opening both my own web shop as well as one at Jewelstreet.com
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
KC: All my designs are developed by myself, but I have a few talented employees who help me actually create the jewellery since I mostly don’t have the time to do so myself.
FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
KC: I am currently working on a new collection called CUPIDO. So far it consists of a pendant which also can be worn as a choker when put on a satin band plus earrings. In future there will also be a ring plus possibly a bracelet. I hope to launch the collection within a month or two!
FS: How can people contact you?
KC: Please mail me at design@castens.com or call me at +45 32 20 04 44
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
KC: Nope.
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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