DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
: The main principle behind the design of the núno chair is for a more ergonomic comfort to facilitate the connection between movements and changes in body position. This is achieved by the flexible and directional back rest made of felt.
DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
: My ambition is to design things that fit into a place without disturbing the atmosphere and can be combined with many different colors and forms. The color of the felt can be chosen by the customer.
DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
: Let´s see what happens. I am looking forward to share my work, in which I am so passionate for, with a broader audience.
DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
: I have been perfecting the current design for almost two years. I am always looking for ways to improve it, to increase the usability.
DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
: I was always fascinated by the complexity of a “simple chair”. The idea came up as a project of my studies at the Muthesius University of Fine Arts, where I was given the opportunity to follow my inspirations and to experiment with felt.
DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
: It is not currently in production. I would love to work with an interested company on a collaborative basis, but it would be difficult to completely part with the design. I would be happy to produce the design myself, however my passion is with the design process and I would like to focus my resources in that area.
DI: What made you design this particular type of work?
: A chair has many affordances on design, which made me curious designing one. I always had a passion for furniture and interior. Based on my work as a carpenter I am able to create handcrafted furniture, while adding quality of design using new technologies.
DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
: As a student I am surrounded by a lot different people with many different skills. The feedback was particularly useful during the design process.
DI: Who is the target customer for his design?
: núno is a fully sustainable chair created for an audience equally interested in design as well as ecological aspects.
DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
: For me the process is the most important part. I was not trying to create something entirely different. Instead this work was discovered during the process of experimentation.
DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
: “Nuno” is a particularly interesting name that fascinated me for quite a while. It turned out to be the Japanese word for fabric or cotton, where as it is also used to describe the production of felt in Japanese.
DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
: We are living in a time of computerizing tools to manifest the innovations we create in our minds. Therefore I used them to visualize my preliminary ideas.
DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
: Flexibility while retaining simplicity .
DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
: The new technologies together with handcrafting give the opportunity to produce wooden chairs affordable for the public.
DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
: The first experiment failed completely. I tried to make a chair with noodles as a material and that ended up in a big mess. I think it is important to face failure in order to find something productive in it.
DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
: Actually I was in my Erasmus year in Lisbon. I had some friends for dinner and they asked me to show them some of my works. One of my friends, a soul singer and a lady with a lot of power, was kind of kicking me; during a long monolog she described how I will end up as a homeless artist if I don´t make something out of this wonderful idea. So I did and submitted my work to a competition to give her some freedom. Surprisingly I won and I am still grateful.
DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
: Design is a process, this means to me to learn.