We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Pepê Lima about their original and creative Armchair design work. Pepê Lima is an award-winning industrial designer, that makes our world a better place with their original armchair works.
Pepê Lima ("PL") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Hector Armchair. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
PL : As I often say, I have not resorted to material inspirations for my products for a long time, I always try to set goals when designing and with Hector I wanted to build an armchair where the arms seem to float around a seat that also floats, conveying an idea of levitation and continuity.
PL : I focused a lot on the public who has an elegant lifestyle, who value design, appreciate the richness of details, comfort, and an interesting mix of materials. Above all, a public with an open mind for the different.
PL : The Hector Armchair was launched in 2022 and just recently completed one year. The market acceptance was wonderful and we have many good sales with the product. Like every good product, it will continue in production and we will always try to bring new finishing options to constantly renew it.
PL : The design part was pretty quick because I had a pretty clear idea of what my goal was and how I wanted the armchair to look; I believe it took me two days to create it. The prototyping part, making it work, was more time consuming.
PL : For a while now I've had the idea of making an armchair with floating arms and seat, until I decided to sit down and take the idea further. At first it was more a matter of achieving my goal, but as soon as I finished the 3D I saw that I had made something good, I knew immediately that my factory partner would want to produce it.
PL : The Hector Armchair has been in production since 2022. It is produced and sold by Móveis James in Brazil.
PL : I am always pursuing new goals and trying to develop products with new features. I believe that we must constantly push ourselves beyond our limits to keep our creativity constantly growing.
PL : I am a great lover of Eames. There are many good professionals that helped form my way of seeing and creating shapes, to the point that my professional maturity developed and took on characteristics of its own.
PL : With this product I prioritized a more sophisticated and elegant public, who see their home as a temple and are always very well connected to the world of art and design. This public normally values details, form, comfort, and the use of noble materials.
PL : I think mainly the aesthetics, I don't remember having seen anything similar. We also used many techniques that we had not explored to put everything in place, besides mixing six different materials in a harmonic way. It is a differentiated product in several aspects.
PL : It is part of a collection of three armchairs called "The Three", where each product has an identity focused on a different lifestyle and audience. Each armchair has a masculine name, and as the idea was that it should be the most elegant and sophisticated, I thought the name Hector would suit me well; I think it's a strong name. An interesting fact is that after the launch of the collection, I started naming all my armchairs with masculine names.
PL : Paper and pen to draw by hand and form the main idea. With the idea ready I go to the computer to model, render and produce the technical drawings.
PL : I see the Hector Armchair as a very unusual product and as I mentioned before I don't recall ever seeing anything similar. That said, it would be quite difficult for me to point out a unique aspect, I could as always talk about the floating seat and arms, the vast mix of materials, the shape itself.
PL : In my studio I do everything on my own, from the first sketch to the technical design and follow-up on prototyping. I have production knowledge but I can always count on the help of experienced professionals in the factory when it comes to bringing the project to life.
PL : It is a product whose details require precision. All the elements need to end in such a way that is perfect for its assembly; thus, more artisanal manufacturing wouldn’t be adequate for this product. We resorted to cutting-edge machinery to make all the cuts, holes, and bevels in the piece. Because it is an armchair that uses all its upholstery as a single structure, the wooden boxing had to be very well planned, which meant that a high level of precision would be necessary for the structure not to compromise comfort.
PL : I had to do a lot of research on new fastening solutions, metal casting, and evolve my thinking about tapestry a lot. The design part itself was pretty automatic, because from the moment I decided what I wanted to do, the shape of the product and how it should look appeared almost immediately in my head from the very first sketch.
PL : Certainly keeping the Armchair solid and well-structured since the arms are floating relative to the seat. It was a difficult task, we tried several solutions and the Armchair always swayed a lot when sitting. In the end I was able to think of something that solved the problem in a harmonic way.
PL : It was last minute. I didn't really intend to participate this year, but I thought that the unusual charm of the Armchair might win some prize and be shown to the world.
PL : I had the opportunity to expand my knowledge with tapestry. When we set a goal we have never attempted before, we step out of our comfort zone and force ourselves to investigate and study new solutions, we push our own limits and create new ones.
