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Interview with Mudita |
Home > Designer Interviews > Mudita |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Mudita (M) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Mudita 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?
M: My dad who is a self made designer was a main inspiration to follow that path. I was raised in Poland in the 90's where just after the fall of communism there was not much choice of the products, not talking about the good looking well designed ones. People didn’t have much choice and they couldn’ afford a lot. As a small kid I've always admired what my dad created - that among all the gray concrete reality the beautiful objects made by him occurred and I could have associated and admired them. My grandpa was an architect therefore my grandparents’ home where I spent a lot of time was also very thoughtfully arranged, full of clever and neat solutions. Designer’s path was rooted in my family. It was natural that at some point I started attending drawing classes and as I found design more interesting than architecture to eventually apply to Academy of Fine Arts to become my adventure with design.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
M: Mudita We are a new kind of tech company. We care about freedom, joy and living in the present moment. We believe that great things happen when we’re fully present. We’d like to find a deeper and more stable peace of mind, clarity and focus. We’d like to build authentic relationships. Our mission at Mudita is to make products that bring balance and quality to people’s lives. We’ve reached a moment, where we refuse to be bombarded with more digital distractions, irrelevant information and excessive functionalities. Instead, we need to make space for discovering and embracing who we are and what makes us unique.
FS: What is "design" for you?
M: Most people say design is about observing, noticing and solving problems. I absolutely agree, however as the word “problem” has a negative connotation I don't like describing it that way. I prefer to describe design as making life easier. Helping people become better, helping them to make progress.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
M: What I personally like is creating objects which are closer to handcraft. On the borderline with art which does not have to be produced in thousands. Their function might be to start discussion, raise questions, give something for thought and start a change by their appeal.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
M: It was a faucet I designed for a competition for some polish company. My first designer’s success. Afterwards there were few more faucets designed in different circumstances. And I loved them all, thinking it was my niche for a moment and I liked that space - more of a sculptural thingy.
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
M: When I’m in the right environment with inspiring people without too much pressure and lot’s of intersecting, independent topics.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
M: Pleasure. Excitement. Self development. It’s great to have challenges and get to know new things.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
M: Happiness, sense of accomplishment, relief but also uncertainty, kind of fear.
FS: What makes a design successful?
M: When people are fancy to use it and it brings them joy and relief in the way. When it makes life easier and the user doesn;t have to think about it.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
M: Usually, sight is the first sense that meets the design therefore the look is the first layer of judgment.
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
M: Creating mindful products which have a deeper sense of existence. It’s important to look at the whole product life cycle. It’s great when design not only fosters some activities but also shapes peoples’ behaviours and attitudes.
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
M: In my opinion what we can observe in Eindhoven during Dutch Design Week every year is the most developed state of design we are watching right now and I think that’s where we are going - innovations in materials, in processes, in systems like education, design questioning our state as a mankind. We will help companies in what they are doing by teaching them design process, problem solving and user-centered approach.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
M: People. Nature. Data. Observation.
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?
M: I live and work in Poland. The cons is that as a nation we are still not surrounded by pretty, functional things in our daily lives. Poles have a very specific taste and we love to criticize it, therefore, it’s not pleasurable to satisfy the average polish customer or rather most of the polish brands targeting the Polish market. The cons is that poles will always have the approach “nothing is impossible”.
FS: How do you work with companies?
M: I work internally for the client and I’m really happy to be a part of whole brand development.
FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
M: 1)Art deco glass carafe and glasses I heritage after my great-grandma 2)Metal pendant lamp which is a danish classics - looks like a flying saucer 3)Classic Chemex made out of glass and wood 4)Moonshine distilling table which was my master’s project 5)MUJI aroma diffuser which distribute the smell perfectly and has a very cozy light
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
M: Be organized in each field - it’s a key to success, everything has a cause and effect sequence, design is a talent is not enough. Be flexible. Have a strong opinion that you are not afraid to express. Search, question and verify things.
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
M: Negatives - people like coworkers, clients, think that they know how to make products that they know how to make great things. Sometimes it’s difficult to persuade them to your solutions. You have been a fighter in the way. It’s a great book How I Stopped Loving Design by polish graphic designer Marcin Wicha which explains all the struggle designers come through. Positives - it’s an exciting job! It’s never boring, you learn new stuff with every single project.
FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
M: Reduce when you can. Minimalism is my middle name. :)
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
M: In question 25.
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
M: I mainly use Sketchbook Also Basic workshop with plywood, foam, acrylic, laser and 3d printer, Fusion 360, Solidworks. as well as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I find inspiring books according to projects I work on, I especially like books which show design methodologies.
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
M: I got a lot of tricks and tips from my superior while working as a team leader. I make plans which I guess is one of the hated tasks to do. I try to establish 3 goals for the week/sprint and then 3 smaller tasks to do daily to accomplish weekly goals. I track my time, I try really hard not to switch between tasks too often.
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
M: Really depends on the object type.
FS: What was your most important job experience?
M: What I’ve been doing now for almost 3 years: being ahead of design and a team lead at Mudita. We’ve built an amazing design team with very skilled people I can learn from and we work on the next exciting products.
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
M: What I really like at Mudita is that we create mindful products for mindful people. Products which have a bigger sense - we want to change something. Show people calmer life in current hectic times. What I love about that work is that it’s natural that designers take part in product development from the first ideas, research, creating a brief, then all the development process and finally production. As a designer, I also find in Mudita a great balance between creating consumer electronic and more lifestyle “soft” products.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
M: Currently not thinking about it.
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
M: As a team in Mudita.
FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
M: There are a couple of designs my team and I are working on right now. One of them is a minimalist alarm clock Mudita Bell. All in Mudita's philosophy. However, at this moment I can't reveal the details.
FS: How can people contact you?
M: The best way is to write an email to hello@mudita.com.
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
M: I think at this moment we covered most of the things that I can talk about. Thank you!
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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