LAB #6(45) 2008

LAB interview _

How difficult is it to meet understanding of the public? What we usually only try to do is somewhere on the website to tell the story, as we thought, it would be. Sometimes we make things. You notice later that the reaction is not that big. So, Ok. The story was not that clear, also we are communicating with the public. By now we have a kind of network, where it goes, when we make something new, it goes to the world by itself. Yeah, sometimes we talk to somebody and we don’t understand each other, sometimes what happens to us when we make a new project. And it’s Ok. You know, some apples fall. Can you tell us about the new private yacht project? Oh, yes. That’s the project that we are doing together with Joris Laarman. That’s actually a little bit from the idea…we are in the harbor with the studio, where we work. And all the time we see these yachts coming bay, and, mainly, they are made of polyester and almost cheap materi- als, while, generally, it’s really rich people, who own it. And then we took a look at the old boats, which were made before. And it is so much craft and such beautifully made parts that we saw. While making new yachts, which combine the high-tech with the really low-tech and old craft and which really makes it valuable. That was really with the thought behind, when we started it. We are working now with the design with a team of almost 10 people, I think, and it is still going on. I think with the coming 2 years that we’ll be busy with it. How do you see further development of your crea- tive work? Yeah, right now we are trying …around us just to be able to keep it on going, what we already started. But to do a lot in the future, a place, a separate studio, and a separate house, where we can again make a little more on the shelf. And right now we see a lot of it, is almost digitally, while the best thing comes when we make them by hand and really can make model and we want to have more space for that. I think in future.

little differences that make it so valuable. And you feel and you see it with every product. Have your professional contacts with India, which is extremely rich from cultural and philosophical point of view, inspired you to create some new projects? Yeah, actually, we are doing that now. We are designing also with other materials and even with other designs for the fence. We are just by being there and knowing what they can do… Most of the people, that we hired in out team to make Lace Fence, they used to be barb benders from the metal constructions, so they can do almost anything with their hands, which is really amazing. So when we saw that we got some other ideas, maybe we can let them knot…or let them… So that is a little bit what we are now experimenting with. Another amazing thing was also was to have a kind of social thing around, for us to be experienced is also very important, that everybody knows what he is doing. We showed the finished project, so they also know what they worked on and they also had a kind of pride in what they were doing. Can you tell us about the Laces Fence production technology – is the pattern braided separately or created on the ready-made fence? Yes, they are made separately and then are put in the fence… Sometimes we have like 100% lace, so we don’t choose changing fence at all. It is ongoing thing and it’s not a separate fence. It is a whole fence, made at once. We use dif- ferent kinds of wires. We have a … coated wire, it is like with a soft, a kind of plastic around it, we have industrial galvanized version with the first, actually. What ‘story’ underlies the Minimizing Einstein project? Actually, the radio, which made a study. It was

about the way that technical appliances, built right now with so many bugs and wires, that you do not really recognize anymore as an option to put something louder or softer or how to switch buttons that have all digital backgrounds. We wanted to make something which was so clear and so almost interactive with the person itself, that was really obvious how to use it. For exam- ple, when you want to put it louder, youmake the speaker bigger or smaller. Or when you would want another channel, you do it on the antenna itself, a really logical place. It is like a search for it or how to make it most clear. Is it more interesting for you to work on the projects concerning private space or public, urban one? Equal. Light Wind is also a private project. We just had this thought like we had to make a lamp, which would work on wind, like that if you look at really old wind mills, nobody uses them anymore, they are almost decorative in the landscape. But actually the way they were. It is like a house that works totally on itself. It is like a machine. To have that we almost got an idea to make a house also. But, at first, we though we have to make a lamp like that, with the same feeling and the same kind of standing. What comments on the Light Wind project have been unexpected or surprising for you? Er…We had requests form the government, who wanted to have it in the areas with really low electricity. We totally did not expect any requests from that corner. Also people wanted to have them like private beach houses. Even requests from the resorts, ski resorts in the hills, that wanted to have it because they also had poor electricity. And, at first, we did not expect that. We really expected it more on the art side, exhibition or from the design area. So it’s been nice.

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№6 _ 45 _ 2008