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Emotionally durable: Mike Kann interview
What really ties us to an object? Mike Kann, designer at Studio 801, has been reflecting on this subject since his college years in Brighton. The catalyst to his investigation is a book, Emotionally Durable Design by Jonathan Chapman, a tutor at Mike's university and in those years a strong influence on his approach to design.
"The commercial objects of today have no lasting power, we immediately fall out of love with them", says Mike. "Which is why all my projects have the same objective: to create a connection and emotional tie by involving the client in every step". A relationship that Mike tries to establish with the use of "smart" materials that are able to interact thanks to thermo-chromic surfaces ("Lexham Bedside Tables") or the use of humor and playfulness ("Muybridge Chair").
His studies took place at University of Brighton, where Mike learns the technical aspects of design and at Central Saint Martins in London, where he refines his personal creative approach. In between, internships at Suck, Fredriksson Stallard and Moritz Waldemeyer.
We meet Mike in London, at "The Auction Room" exhibition, where we bid on and win his "Louis XVI Medallion Chair". The chair is part of the "Solid Shadows" series and it plays with the possibilities of transforming an iconic piece of furniture into something entirely new.
Like in a friendship, if there’s no life inside the object, no amount of technology can maintain our tie with it. Mike has no doubts about this: "To feed that flame, the object has to have multiple facets, be able to communicate them, and, with time, teach us something new".
Solid Shadows @ The Auction Room/Designersblock - Photo © Ed Kulakowski
What are your favorite emerging technologies in design and why?
What I find interesting at the moment is not necessarily just Arduino, programmable boards and sensors, but especially smart materials. They allow you to create interaction without necessarily having to implement all the technology of it. It's a massive development issue to have to design the technology if you don't have the engineering know-how of someone like Moritz Waldemeyer.
I'm also interested in memory wire which I will work with at some point, once I can afford to buy enough of it to make a piece of furniture.
Solid Shadows @ The Auction Room/Designersblock - Photo © Ed Kulakowski
Another important aspect is the use of emerging technology in the manufacturing process, using 3D printing or laser cutting or CNC milling, which allows people to make crazy pieces of furniture that were just impossible 10-15 years ago, like Verhoeven's "Cinderella Table".
Solid Shadows @ The Auction Room/Designersblock - Photo © Ed Kulakowski
I think my approach to technology and technological materials is to use them as a tool to give an object more internal life. This goes back to emotionally durable design, where instead of having a fixed mental model of something, you have to keep learning about the piece as it changes. In my opinion, the most important thing about technology isn't how it is implemented, but why it is implemented.
Solid Shadows @ The Auction Room/Designersblock - Photo © Ed Kulakowski
In the future I'm really interested in using some smart materials and emergent technologies in time-based reactions. It would be interesting to have a desk that can sense how long you have been using it and then opens up hidden compartments as a reward of sorts. Or if you don't use it for a certain amount of time it won’t allow itself to be used and gets into a sulk.
What do you think about the emerging "Maker Movement" that Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson celebrates as the next big thing in the design industry?
The maker movement seems to me to be about using existing technologies and products, ripping them apart and hacking them together in ways that manufacturers and companies don't expect. A lot of the time these people are more imaginative than the large electronic companies in their use of these products and components. It's so important because this approach is completely different from that of the big companies who do research and experiments into emergent technology which rarely make it into marketable products – it seems as if their work is mainly so that they can develop their patents and IP.
Muybridge Chairs - Photo © Jo Russell
The maker movement reflects that people want to play, have fun, create stories or create things that are more interesting than anything on the market. People want to play with culture rather than pure commercial objects.
The life cycle of electronic products is so brief and here in the UK it’s 18 months for mobile phones, while in India it’s 7 years. I think this ridiculously fast progression is playing a massive role in allowing people to play with technologies and allowing them to produce rather than just consume things. The experimentation that is taking place is really exciting. Nonetheless it's odd being involved in part of the maker movement: it's very technical and a lot of people have a tunnel vision on technology.
Muybridge Chairs - Photo © Jo Russell
Where are you producing your pieces?
Either at my home workshop, or I'll outsource manufacturing to specialist companies.
Muybridge Chairs - Photo © Jo Russell
How do you like the format of The Auction Room?
I think The Auction Room is a kind of reflection of the present times. There's not a lot of money circulating at the moment, and many people trade skills and expertise with each other. It’s a really nice way of doing things especially in artistic fields or in design, where some people have a set of skills that other people need and you get to build a network.
Muybridge Chairs - Photo © Jo Russell
Future projects?
I have some commissions - I'm developing a wardrobe and a bedside table for private clients, something for a synagogue and I have just débuted a new product of a concrete coaster with patterns of heat sensitive material inlayed into it. They were on show and in use at the bar section of InteriorsUK 2012 curated by Designersblock in Birmingham, alongside some of the best up and coming designers in the country.
Tuft Stools - Photo © Jo Russell
Tuft Stools - Photo © Jo Russell
Tuft Stools - Photo © Jo Russell
Lexham Bedside Tables - Photo © Jo Russell
Lexham Bedside Tables - Photo © Jo Russell
Lexham Bedside Tables - Photo © Jo Russell
Lexham Bedside Tables - Photo © Jo Russell
Designs via studio801.co.uk - Photos © Ed Kulakowski & Jo Russell
"The commercial objects of today have no lasting power, we immediately fall out of love with them", says Mike. "Which is why all my projects have the same objective: to create a connection and emotional tie by involving the client in every step". A relationship that Mike tries to establish with the use of "smart" materials that are able to interact thanks to thermo-chromic surfaces ("Lexham Bedside Tables") or the use of humor and playfulness ("Muybridge Chair").
His studies took place at University of Brighton, where Mike learns the technical aspects of design and at Central Saint Martins in London, where he refines his personal creative approach. In between, internships at Suck, Fredriksson Stallard and Moritz Waldemeyer.
We meet Mike in London, at "The Auction Room" exhibition, where we bid on and win his "Louis XVI Medallion Chair". The chair is part of the "Solid Shadows" series and it plays with the possibilities of transforming an iconic piece of furniture into something entirely new.
Like in a friendship, if there’s no life inside the object, no amount of technology can maintain our tie with it. Mike has no doubts about this: "To feed that flame, the object has to have multiple facets, be able to communicate them, and, with time, teach us something new".
Solid Shadows @ The Auction Room/Designersblock - Photo © Ed Kulakowski
What are your favorite emerging technologies in design and why?
What I find interesting at the moment is not necessarily just Arduino, programmable boards and sensors, but especially smart materials. They allow you to create interaction without necessarily having to implement all the technology of it. It's a massive development issue to have to design the technology if you don't have the engineering know-how of someone like Moritz Waldemeyer.
I'm also interested in memory wire which I will work with at some point, once I can afford to buy enough of it to make a piece of furniture.
Solid Shadows @ The Auction Room/Designersblock - Photo © Ed Kulakowski
Another important aspect is the use of emerging technology in the manufacturing process, using 3D printing or laser cutting or CNC milling, which allows people to make crazy pieces of furniture that were just impossible 10-15 years ago, like Verhoeven's "Cinderella Table".
Solid Shadows @ The Auction Room/Designersblock - Photo © Ed Kulakowski
I think my approach to technology and technological materials is to use them as a tool to give an object more internal life. This goes back to emotionally durable design, where instead of having a fixed mental model of something, you have to keep learning about the piece as it changes. In my opinion, the most important thing about technology isn't how it is implemented, but why it is implemented.
Solid Shadows @ The Auction Room/Designersblock - Photo © Ed Kulakowski
In the future I'm really interested in using some smart materials and emergent technologies in time-based reactions. It would be interesting to have a desk that can sense how long you have been using it and then opens up hidden compartments as a reward of sorts. Or if you don't use it for a certain amount of time it won’t allow itself to be used and gets into a sulk.
What do you think about the emerging "Maker Movement" that Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson celebrates as the next big thing in the design industry?
The maker movement seems to me to be about using existing technologies and products, ripping them apart and hacking them together in ways that manufacturers and companies don't expect. A lot of the time these people are more imaginative than the large electronic companies in their use of these products and components. It's so important because this approach is completely different from that of the big companies who do research and experiments into emergent technology which rarely make it into marketable products – it seems as if their work is mainly so that they can develop their patents and IP.
Muybridge Chairs - Photo © Jo Russell
The maker movement reflects that people want to play, have fun, create stories or create things that are more interesting than anything on the market. People want to play with culture rather than pure commercial objects.
The life cycle of electronic products is so brief and here in the UK it’s 18 months for mobile phones, while in India it’s 7 years. I think this ridiculously fast progression is playing a massive role in allowing people to play with technologies and allowing them to produce rather than just consume things. The experimentation that is taking place is really exciting. Nonetheless it's odd being involved in part of the maker movement: it's very technical and a lot of people have a tunnel vision on technology.
Muybridge Chairs - Photo © Jo Russell
Where are you producing your pieces?
Either at my home workshop, or I'll outsource manufacturing to specialist companies.
Muybridge Chairs - Photo © Jo Russell
How do you like the format of The Auction Room?
I think The Auction Room is a kind of reflection of the present times. There's not a lot of money circulating at the moment, and many people trade skills and expertise with each other. It’s a really nice way of doing things especially in artistic fields or in design, where some people have a set of skills that other people need and you get to build a network.
Muybridge Chairs - Photo © Jo Russell
Future projects?
I have some commissions - I'm developing a wardrobe and a bedside table for private clients, something for a synagogue and I have just débuted a new product of a concrete coaster with patterns of heat sensitive material inlayed into it. They were on show and in use at the bar section of InteriorsUK 2012 curated by Designersblock in Birmingham, alongside some of the best up and coming designers in the country.
Tuft Stools - Photo © Jo Russell
Tuft Stools - Photo © Jo Russell
Tuft Stools - Photo © Jo Russell
Lexham Bedside Tables - Photo © Jo Russell
Lexham Bedside Tables - Photo © Jo Russell
Lexham Bedside Tables - Photo © Jo Russell
Lexham Bedside Tables - Photo © Jo Russell
Designs via studio801.co.uk - Photos © Ed Kulakowski & Jo Russell
24 February 2012
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