Design.Function.: September 2011

Que Cherrett, Designer and Maker at Intrinseca has been a close friend of mine for many years now and I recently had the pleasure of catching up with Que, and he was nice enough to grant us an interview, which you can find below.

Could you please introduce yourself to our community?

"Hello George, I am Q. One of the designers at Intrinseca, I am also one of the makers. It is important to me to keep at the bench, both for my mental state and for creative ideas."

What's the most common challenge when creating a design?

"The most common challenge has got to be not always striving to be totally new. There is a desire to do this certainly, but there is the down side that you can over create, try too hard to be new and original. There is plenty of scope for new and interesting chairs for example, despite the thousands and thousands of different chairs out there designed and made over the centuries. However, if you lose site of the basic function of the chair you can go very wrong. The argument of form over function is one for those who never make or use a chair, in my opinion you have to get the function right. And this means for a spectrum of people as a rule. Get the function right for yourself as a designer and you can get it wrong for endless customers.

There is always the one off and special tailor made chair, for a special need or special desire. If you have become too anal in your views over what suits yourself, then you cannot embrace what suits someone else. And I find that extrapolates in any design sphere, if you are very very lucky you may create a name for yourself, and people will want what you want to make, but that takes furniture to a whole other realm...it becomes art. In the cold economic reality a few may want that, and be able to afford it, but I am not interested in the personality cult. I love designing and making good functional furniture."

What piece of advice would you give to aspiring furniture makers?

"Advice for aspiring furniture designers would be ...have a go. You may not have the skills, but there is always someone who can turn your idea into reality. With CCD and other networks there is a wealth of talent and friendly advice to help you out. Get your ergonomics right, test it with friends and families and tell them to be brutally honest. They will do you no favours patting you on the head! Remember though some people will just not share your vision so do not be too down hearted, but equally do not be big headed.

Make your self a mock up. I favour full size if possible rather than models, though models are good as well. I have as have a lot of designer makers got brilliant ideas sitting gathering dust because they were not thought through at the initial stages. Life is short, and sometimes too much can be wasted going too far down a route that could have been explored with a bit of cardboard and pine.

Also you need to explore your market. I know of a maker who has spent £40,000 marketing his idea's. It simply isn't good enough to say 'I am aiming at millionaires'. You have to see what those millionaires actually want and need, who are you competing with any importantly WHY? What is it that you have that is going to make them come to you? Telling yourself you are brilliant and not looking at your competition or what the market wants is a total non starter, and amazingly it isn't that uncommon.

When you have a clear idea of the market, and where you will want to pitch your design get that mock up and see if it is feasible. We all know of some expensive signature pieces which are doomed because that basic ergonomic reality has not been looked at. A £70k chest of drawers where you cannot see in the top drawer, a £35k dressing table that requires impossible contortion to open, a £25k dining table that is going to have essentially a drain for the wine and gravy to run inside! If these mistakes can be made at the top end of the market, they can just as easily be made at the bottom end on an entry level. The likes of Ercol don't make them, because they prototype and test. To say that a new designer maker doesn't have that luxury is so wrong, in that position it is more important than ever. A bit of pine, a bit of cardboard and a glue gun and your friends honest opinions cost nothing in the scheme of things, and could save you a fortune in the long run."