Three Layer Cake

Interview with... 

 

 

Who:  Thorsten van Elten (with periodic interjection by Alexander Taylor)

When:  About 1630, 19 January 2007.
Where:  2nd Floor, Stylepark in residence, Hahnenstraße 6, Cologne, Germany

About TVE:  Born in Germany about an hour north of Cologne, studied in Milan for two years but didn’t like it very much.  Moved to England in 1990.  Before starting his own label, spent several years as a buyer (and did just about everything else at some point in time) for SCP.  Wanted to give the smaller+independent designers a chance to see their own products realized, so he started Thorsten van Elten.  His shop is at 22 Warren Street in London, if you’re passing by.  Look for him in Milan at the next edition of Salone del Mobile.  Don’t be afraid to approach him, even if you don’t watch Big Brother, he’s quite down to earth and very fun to talk to. (intro and below:  Thorsten van Elten, by Jefferson Smith)

 

 

 

What would you like your contribution to the design field to be?  What would the introduction to the Thorsten van Elten chapter in the Big Book of Design say?  I’ve not really thought about it.  What I produce comes from a gut reaction, it’s an immediate kind of thing.  I had to come up with a slogan a few years ago and I think this applies here quite well —“working with people I like on products I love.”  If you have good relationships with the people you work with, it reflects in the collection.  Friendly people make friendly products.
 
You spot promising talent and have them work on small collections for the TVE brand.  How do you know it when you see it?  It’s very instant. There’s no formula.  I’m struggling even if designers ask me for a brief.  I don’t look at my collection and say “There’s something missing here” or “Maybe you should have done this”. I don’t see any holes.  I don’t care if I have three of the same object in my collection.  If I love it, I want to do it.  It’s probably not the wisest business decision, but who cares?

 

TVE was founded because of personal frustrations you had with a plethora of talent but a dearth of opportunity to produce these talents.  Where do you see the market moving (if at all) in regard to this situation?  There are more small companies again producing independently, so this is a good thing.  I want to see a trend away from big names and big money. I would like people to buy the products because they are good, not just because they’ve been designed by a certain someone. I’d like people to see good design regardless of the designers name.  [Left:  Still Life by Barnaby Bradford and Andre Klauser]
 
Design is often classified by national or regional design identities (“Dutch design”, “Nordic Design”, “European Design”, etc).  What relationship do you think there is between a country’s investment in its design sector and the strength of its design identity?  (Do the countries who invest the most have the most clearly defined identity and the best designers?)  With countries who subsidize their designers too much, we get flooded with a lot of mediocre design.  If the design is good, a designer will find a way through.  It’ll get noticed.  Of course, the Dutch have always been good with contemporary design, so I think their investment is appropriate and has produced good work.  But I also think that some great creativity can come out of a lack of funding.  I’m sure there is funding in London/UK that I could qualify for, but to be honest, I don’t have enough time to fill in all the paperwork. It just discourages me from even thinking about it. I just have to get on with it.

 

If you were going to advise a country on creating its own design identity, which aspects would you advise are the most important to invest in?  Where would you advise the country to start?  Liken it to an aspect of the nation’s history so that there are elements of the country coming through in design.  A really good/bad example of this is that I see quite a few Turkish companies out there which are so focused on the West that you can’t even tell it’s from Turkey.  There should be a way that they could incorporate their national identity.  I’m not saying do something traditional, but bring traditional elements into the design.  Create a niche of something that’s different and unique.
 
Which interior accessory piece (furniture or otherwise) is it difficult to design well…or in other words, the test of a good designer can be seen in her ability to design…what? I don’t think there’s a particular piece.  A good designer should be able to do anything.  Take for example the Miura bar stools we’re sitting on by Konstantin Grcic.  It’s such a simple concept, but he completely turned it around.  That’s the sign of a good designer.  Or that chair up there [Chair_One].  Occasionally a genius piece comes through in design, it could be subtle or really obvious.  For me it’s all in the aesthetics.  Of course hats off if in so doing, a designer also makes some technological innovation, but aesthetics are more important to me than technology.  [Right:  Antlers by Alexander Taylor]
 
How important is color to your product portfolio? How important is it in life?  It’s essential! Would you want to live in a beige environment?  Contrast is good.
 
How do you choose what you put in your own home and how long does it stay there? Easy.  If I love it, I put it there.  I very rarely get rid of things.  I used to buy loads, but now I have slowed down.  I do like packaging though.  If I see some packaging I like, I’ll put it on my kitchen shelf.  One of my favourite things to do is to go into supermarkets abroad to see how things that don’t exist in one culture are translated, how they package it.  I have coffee tin from Italy with a large black guy on it with really big red lips. That’s so wrong but great at the same time. So what is it about that that’s interesting?  That it’s racist? Well, it’s racist when put into a different context.  Like right now in the UK there’s a really big discussion about racism over CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER Big Brother still exists? And you watch it?? Of course I do!  I love it.  It’s great.  And you should watch it, too.  We just bought one hour of internet so we could check on what’s going on in the house.  [Alexander interjects: " www.channel4.com/bigbrother check it out "]  So now there’s this Bollywood star who is really unpopular with some of the other people in the house so they bully her. A lot of people say it is racism but I think to be honest it’s just ignorance and stupidity but also that she’s really quite an irritating person. She’s just too happy all the time.
 
Kind of like that coffee can…
 
[note from editor:  Shilpa, the Bollywood actress mentioned above was announced winner of Celebrity Big Brother on 28 January. Sorry TVE!]

 

Time Capsule:  Which three design pieces would you put in a time capsule today that say the most about you/Thorsten van Elten and the times we live in? 

 

From my collection, the Pigeon Light [below, by Ed Carpenter], a great packaging item, and my website/catalogue (all on recycled paper!).  They both say a lot about me.  I’m really proud of my catalogue.

 

 

What food/dessert best describes Thorsten van Elten?  What was it four years ago?  What would you like for it to be in six years?  OK, this is a weird question.  I think I’ll skip this one.

 

Everybody answers this one. 

 

OK, then.  Good, honest food!  Four years ago it would have been the same.  And in six years it will be the same.  I don’t like pretentious food.  Good, honest food is something that you really shouldn’t have, but you have it anyway ‘cause it makes you feel good.  Like something your mother made that reminds you of childhood.  The other night I had some curly-edged kale, potatoes and a boiled sausage.  That was really nice.  [below:Bird Box by FredriksonStallard]

 

 
The first thing you notice in a restaurant.  Oh God!  Everything!  I do look around a lot, my eyes are always scanning the room.  I can’t pin point any one thing.  People can get really annoyed that I’m always looking around. I’m doing it now.  But ok, atmosphere.  I notice that.
 
Eating what food brings back the best memories?  Kind of what I said in that last answer.  Sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, boiled sausage, curly-edged kale…
 
Your favorite flea market/the best deal you’ve ever made on a piece of furniture/home accessory/art.  When I worked at SCP, I used to get good deals on lots of things.  Not free stuff, but good deals.  Maybe on something that was slightly damaged, but I didn’t care.  It was going to get used anyway.  I could never have anything high-gloss in my house, it would last two minutes, then it’d be scratched.

 

 
The first piece of furniture you bought for your home?  Where is it now?  My sofa.  It’s still there.  It’s the Cuba System by Cappellini.  It’s brown, a little worn out with a couple of cigarette burns from some really good parties.  It’s a modular sofa.  The staircase to my flat is quite narrow and I knew the only way to get a large sofa in was if I bought it in pieces, so I just got two end pieces and added the middle bit over time. [Above:  Good china Bad china by Peter Mac Cann]
 
No home is complete without….
Something personal.  Not a “showroom” type of interior.  Not expensive art.  I think people tend to get art because they think they should.  But just something personal you chose because you really loved it.
 
Celebrity you’re intrigued by.
Justin Timberlake.  He seems like a talented, interesting, and nice guy. And he can dance and sing. I wish I could sing and dance. I try karaoke but it’s more like clearing the room kind of karaoke when I sing.
 
You’ll always pick up the magazine if __________________ is on the cover.
Alexander, Kristina is asking me some really weird questions... 

I pick up the magazine if the cover is nice, but it doesn’t matter what’s on it.  Heat magazine is great for plane rides. Or the Sun, to follow Big Brother.

 

You’re most proud of your collection of….
Gifts you get free in cereal boxes and Kinder Surprise gifts. It always amazes me what they manage to get into those little eggs.

__________________.  Never leave home without it. Clothes. On. [Alexander interjects:  house keys] Yeah, house keys, too.