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Interview with Mac Nordman |
Home > Designer Interviews > Mac Nordman |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Mac Nordman (MN) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Mac Nordman 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?
MN: I wanted to become a industrial designer ever since i first heard of the profession. I always been the making things type of person since i was a child, my idols were inventors and designers.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
MN: Nordman Design is focused on furniture and lights, its a small company and i hope to grow it bigger. It has a combined design and workshop location, all prototyping is done in house.
FS: What is "design" for you?
MN: Design is creativity to me, be it trying to make an object beautiful or resolving a practical problem.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
MN: I do love lights and furniture, ones im better tooled up i would if possibly also want to get back into more complex industrial design, im also really into film props and futuristic weapons, having workt a fair bit in the movie industry in Australia.
FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
MN: Im happy with most of my own designs, that the Manta light did win the A design Digital entry award made me very happy with it, likewise that the Polygon chair came 2nd in furniture design for digital entry. With my older works "the rocket chair" stands out i say, it was quite complex to resolve, it has some 160+ parts i recall.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
MN: A hard case "wallet" for the iPhone 2, it could hold the phone, some creditcards and the then corded earphones. Another early job was to do a mechanical stretch bench to train and massage the lower back on pregnant women. For Wolverine Origins i designed some hand cuffs to restrain mutants.
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
MN: I say wood is my favorite and second is plywood, i done a lot in finnish birch and hoop plywood, its very structurally stable and looks good with just a little water based clear for protection. I would like to work more in plastics to, especially colored or quirky kinds. My workshop is well sett up for handling wood and plastics, i still need more tools to fully being able to work in metals, im getting there to in time and then if i can partner up with another designer i hope to get hold of a cnc and laser cutter.
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
MN: Probably when i can "afford" to be creative, its all about getting the circumstances to line up to "enable" me to sit down and design or prototype on ideas i already have on sketch. Im kind of living in suppressed creativity since i have to do so many other things then being creative to earn a living. Its literally being able to afford my own time that is the big constraint.
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
MN: I love the concept generating phase in particular but obviously one has to settle for something and then run the full process with that, i say i enjoy all of it but perhaps the least enjoyable is anything that is just of documentation or admin type part of the job, but any creative would say that i guess..
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
MN: I love it, i feel creative happy and challenged, im also often filled with hope as well that perhaps this thing can be a seller or winner and make my small company take off. That it will be noted by the press and then hopefully somebody wants to manufacture it or they want me to produce a batch of it.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
MN: I feel very accomplished, im the sort of person who want to tick of boxes and when i have another design to my name i feel like a ticked of an enormous box. Then it is always the question will this lead to something ?
FS: What makes a design successful?
MN: Im not sure of that, my company has not taken off yet. I do have received very good reviews on my efforts thoe, some 20 percent of designs i have on my webpage:nordmandesign.com. And my insta: nordman_design_ Has made it into design competitions and some 10 percent has been publicized. I believe i just need to bee seen more, its self promote or die i suppose..
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
MN: That it is doing its thing first and that it is attractive second, what good is a beautiful can opener that dont work or causes injuries ?
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
MN: To make things that work and that people would like to buy as well, then obviously one should design for sustainability and the environment in mind.
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
MN: Ai is going to get involved in it a lot, most likely to the detriment of the designer, there will be even less designers able to make a living if the computer can outright replace human creativity and problem solving. I always wanted to be able to speak directly to a computer, to make it understand exactly what im trying to do, or help and guide me with it, but i do not want to be outright bypassed or replaced by the computer as it starting to look. What midjourney (ai program) can already do is extremely impressive and as a consequence im sadly also advising my daughter to not try to become a illustrator or "waste time" studying in that direction, going to art school etc. Theres a real chanse here that Ai will take away all the fun and creative jobs for humans, it might be to good for us that.. And currently im on a movie that is extremely likely to go into hiatus or be canned due to the strikes in hollywood, were the handling of Ai is a big part of it, Ai can remove a lot of people that make a living in the movie making industry and is that really a good thing ? Less background actors, less costuming, less props and less film setts is what letting Ai run unrestrained would mean. It might be doable around the corner to have Ai wright the script and digitally just render a full length movie.
FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
MN: Lastly i was accepted into "Australias next top Designer" exhibition/ competition in Melbourne june 15-18 as one of its finalists. I Was there with my Polygon chair that came runner up (2nd) in Milan. Next im contemplating running a solo exhibition somewhere in Sydney.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
MN: Things normally just pop up in my head as ideas and then i normally take down a sketch, just seeing things when out and about can make me come up with an idea. I might see a cool plant and then i start thinking can i make a light that looks a bitt like that maby.
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?
MN: I come to think that my natural style is "retro futuristic Scandinavian" at least in furniture, but this is me unrestrained, if designing with not my own brand in mind i would follow what design language that has already been established.
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?
MN: I live in Sydney Australia, but prior to that i had lived my first 25 years in Sweden, i do feel strongly inspired by swedish design but its better to call it Scandinavian since Danish, Finnish and Swedish designs / designers are often considered together. Australia is not much of a design country, people now of Mark Newson but not of any other designer and there is virtually no support at all for designers that are trying to emerge such as my self.
FS: How do you work with companies?
MN: That has not happened so much, apart from that iPhone case i had not had much exposure, im still trying to emerge. Im setting up my own design company since its near impossible getting hired into one and there is virtually no support for setting up your own company so its a bit of a slow process to say the least. Design is not a supported thing in Australia.
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
MN: Just hire one and let the designer go at it ones the brief and parameters are set, asking for work samples or doing the digital research to get to see the designers past work samples is the way to go with that.
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
MN: It eater starts with a idea in my head and i sketch it down or i decide to just sitt down and generate ideas, they come when i put pen to paper, i do like to further resolve sketches with scale models and mock ups, in paper, thick paper, cardboard or 20mm foam even and if im going for full size furniture it might be in foam or 3/6/9/12/16mm mdf first.
FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
MN: Probably my own 5 most liked furniture and lights prototypes i say, could i afford it i would have a house full of mid century and modern design items.
FS: Can you describe a day in your life?
MN: Its mostly being involved in making something or trying to figure out how to make it, i normally work in movies, theatre, settbuilding, exhibitions and events.
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
MN: Always do your best work and leap for every opportunity, it might be best to try to form partnerships with other designers and start your own design agency from scratch rather then trying to get employed in an existing one. That is because its near impossible being hired in the field as a graduate, employers wants you to have 3-5 years work experience prior to them giving you your first job, a complete catch 22 that one..
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
MN: Positive is that its a bitt of a "state of being" i see practical solutions faster then most non designers i noticed and i do look at /appreciate well designed objects differently than non designers to. Negatives is that its extremely hard getting "established"/ employed in the profession, it can be most frustrating being creative and not get the chance to act it out, that normally comes down to having the time and money.
FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
MN: It has to commercially sustainable or it is not worth doing, some of my furniture designs are highly complex to manufacture but they are not impossible to manufacture, i would limit the number of materials and components that goes into an object for the same reason. Some of my lights are quite uncomplicated and could even flat pack, i tried making IKEA interested but you can virtually not contact them, i spent a day trying 15 different ways to contact IKEA some years ago and i have not heard one word back, thats what they are nown to be like, but most companies never return emails i noticed.
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
MN: I would say coming up with good ideas, second to that being able to refine that, pen to paper ( im old school ) and lastly being able to work true the technical issues and getting a prototype made. Getting good ideas are paramount thoe, no refinement will make an ugly idea better.
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
MN: Im a mostly pen and paper type of designer, i mostly do scale models and full size mock ups to refine my designs. I get inspired from all over the place including from things just popping up in my head.
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
MN: Im not exactly a established designer as in able to make a full time living as one so when i have the time / can afford Im very efficient with it, im on the master level with using tools and building things since that is mostly what i do for a living, so consequently my prototype builds happen relatively fast, it helps that i established quite a workshop by now. If i was able to extensively make my living from working as a designer or able to live on royalties from my designs being produced my design output would go up manyfold. If i could retire right now i would spend the time designing independently even more.
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
MN: I try to be really efficient with that since there is only so much time i get to do that, i belive the Rocket chair took me abt 120 hours from start to finish, thats from first sketch, to scale model to 4 mock ups to built prototype. The Polygone chair maby 80h and with lights it can be way less.
FS: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
MN: How did you work out the intersecting angles in your furniture ? And answer to that is that i literally workt it out, there are many tricks to that and quite some headache to.. It helps having good measuring tools and some grasp on mathematics.
FS: What was your most important job experience?
MN: In the Design world i can not really talk of that so much since its near impossible to get a paid design job, i resolved a lot of highly difficult to build things in the film and theatre world and for clients coming to my workshop. I get things to build in film that the designers / art directors there do not now how to make, working on Chang Shi and Thor love and thunder as a furniture maker and props builder was so far my best job experience. On Thor love and Thunder I got to build all the Viking furniture that went into the Viking ship, that was the hi light of my whole movie manufacturing career. I also done a lot of dashboards for spaceships, space shuttles and fighter jets in the movies. I built on several consoles in the Alien covenant space ship, the finished results are a multi departmental effort thoe, paint, sett dressing and lights department and even computer graphics, electronics departments gets involved before something like that looks like what you see in the finished movie.
FS: Who are some of your clients?
MN: I have on repeat built custom furniture and most of my clients are repeat clients when it comes to commissions i take on in my workshop, "workshop creations" i call my making things for others company, some of my clients are sydney based theatre companies and exhibition designers etc.
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
MN: Furniture and lights i say, i would like to be a concept designer for scfi film or computer games as well if i could. It would require more free time to get back on computer's thoe.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
MN: However slow it is going im going to continue trying to get established as a designer and push the brand "Nordman Design" as far as i can take it, im hopefully starting up on a big movie in a few weeks, its an action is all i now. That job should make it possible for me to save up some money i can invest in some more heavy machinery, i come to think i might have to become my own factory if i want to get my own designs manufactured, if i cant find a producer and retailer that could enable me to be just a designer instead. Once i get time to prototype again i hope to once more compete with it if i deem it good enough and then hopefully some opportunities comes ?
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
MN: I completely work by myself, i would love to be working in a team or hire a team to work with, if i could afford it i would love to have a staff of people to work on like 30 old designs i have on paper that i would like to prototype. I would love to partner up with one or several more designers as well, I think that would help move things forward faster. Cost of getting a cnc or laser-cutter could be split on more designers etc.
FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
MN: I have ideas im refining in my head, thats abt 7 lights i also sketched them down so that they dont just dissapere. Im also keen to make a type of furniture pice i never built before, im thinking of a french style commode in a modern day take, it will be a real challenge to make and im keen to try after i hopefully find a way to afford a edge sanding machine, hopefully 3phaze.
FS: How can people contact you?
MN: True nordmandesign.com True nordman_design_ on instagram True mac.nordman@gmai.com True 61 (0)430726515 in Australia ; do please mind the time difference thoe if not in Australia. 9h+from uk time.
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
MN: I wish Australia was more of a design nation, design and designers dont have much status here, design is seen as something of a term that one has to pay extra for. Design has a very bad press coverage in Australia and i have not come across ANY practical support for emerging designers other than that there are very few competitions, they normally select just one winner per year and come with no support or money other then the honor of winning or participating in them. They frequently dont even get press coverage or seek to get it ? I been looking for grants myself in respect of trying to get my own creations into production and there is absolutely nothing unless you already turn over a minimum 500000, there is just NO ground level support. But Australia is a bit of a strange place were the economy is all abt exporting minerals and making housing increasingly more and more unaffordable not abt making things. I been trying for some 3 weeks now (16/8/2023) to get the Australian press to publish that i did win in furniture and light design for Australia in Milan 2023 with the Manta light and the Polygon chair, i sent more than 250 emails abt that to the press and so far i had no outcome on that.. Australia care very little abt design/ designers is the situation.. Had i done a sports accomplishment they be all over it im guessing..
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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