Three Layer Cake

Kiki van Eijk 

Where:  Venice Art Biennale, design-e-space gallery

When:   9 July 2007

Why:  Kiki is a Woman to Watch

About:  I was lucky to have had the opportunity to meet with Kiki van Eijk and Joost van Bleiswijk during the Venice Biennale and on the day of the public opening of their exhibit, together with Shan-Shan Sheng at the Design-e-Space Gallery in Cannaregio.  It wasn’t easy to find the place.  In fact, I wouldn’t have found it without extensive coaching via cell phone by Gallery owner, Francis M. Lefebvre.  The small but impeccably restored Gallery links the building’s courtyard to the waterfront.  It’s quite breathtaking. 

Kiki and Joost walked me through the pieces of the exhibition before sitting down to the interview.  Everything Kiki's bio says about her is true—she does have a ‘narrative and poetic quality that projects tradition upon our living environments with an eye which is at the same time playful, loving and very original,’ and her work is attracting quite a bit of well-deserved attention.  The ‘Soft’ line of furniture which appears pillow-soft and quilted, but is in fact made of ceramics, the Knick Knack collection of ceramics which pay homage to knick knacks, the carpets all subtly expose the layers of Kiki’s vision.  Her vision spans generations on many levels: workmanship, detail, subject, material.  The pieces aren’t timeless, yet could be as appealing to grandma as to grandson, even great grandson.  Of course all of this reflects a fiercely intelligent, decisive, creative woman with a unique design signature who is taking the design world by storm. (Below:  VIP opening of gallery and exhibit)

 
Everyone says that the Dutch Designers are the yesterday, today, and tomorrow of design.  Why do you think that is?  What do you think is the strength of Dutch design?  I think the strength in Dutch design is that it is personal, autonomous, refreshing, self-producing.  I only have an idea as to the why—I don’t think there’s any other country where art and design is so supported by the state.  So when you don’t have to worry about money you have the freedom to experiment.  I had this same discussion with some Italians the other day, and for them it was the exact opposite.  Having such support allows you to really be free minded.  About four weeks ago we were at a guest workshop in Denmark, and the discussion came up.  What you end up getting are self-initiated, free pieces just like an artist works.  You put out the piece regardless of demand and you end up creating a demand for it.  In this school in Denmark, they mostly work just the opposite, from a brief.  I don’t think you can ever get a truly creative piece working from a brief because the idea is already in your mind somewhere, and if you always do it that way, you’ll never have anything new.  (Below:  detail of the large Soft Cabinet)

Design Academy Eindhoven seems to be the place for cultivating design talent.  Describe your experience there.  How does it differ from other schools—or is the talent all innate?  It’s special and quite popular.  They really emphasize concept, vision, non-traditional concepts, the meaning of design—that products go much further that what is considered ‘design’.  DAE is the only specialized design school in the Netherlands. 

I’ve often heard people say that a certain object looks as if it were designed by a woman.  You exhibited as part of the RARITY exhibit in Milan, which was a collective of women designers.  What’s the difference between how a woman designs and how a man designs?  Is it clear in the final product?  I don’t think it’s the same for everyone, making the comparison, but take me for example.  I work with organic forms and am very interested in the feel and emotion that the final product gives.  Structure is important for me but its not first and foremost in my mind. 

Joost:  For men I think it’s about construction and form. 

Kiki:  Well, Maarten [Baas] is also organic, but at the same time rough, so I think you can’t say. 

Joost:  Maybe it’s about detail.  Men look at the big picture… 

Kiki:  And women tend to focus on detail, so they work in a medium that can accentuate that detail, like textiles, or ceramics, or rugs.  Also, probably for technical reasons, women may not feel that comfortable focusing on the very technical physical tasks that go into say furniture design. (Below:  Soft Cabinet, small)

A lot of your work is trendsetting—  how do you manage your design process?  Where do the ideas come from and how do you carry them forward?  In general I’m thinking about things all the time, and suddenly there’s an idea that fascinates me.  If an idea grabs me in that way, I just go with it.  I keep lots of sketches in a big drawer, and maybe in a year’s time, I come back to it and it becomes something, like the buttons.  They’ve been in the drawer for so long, and then all of a sudden MINT Gallery in London contacted me to do something on the theme of BRIC-A-BRAC.  I started doing research and the buttons came up and finally I could use them.  I also make lots of pictures when I travel.  I print them, and keep the inspiration.  At some point, I do something. (Below:  Button Plates)

What’s your biggest complaint about the design industry?  Is there anything you’d like to see more of?  Less of?

I don’t really have any complaints because I think that everyone who does well these days deserves it on some level or another.  But I could do with less fast, trendy, throw away design. 

Joost:  Yeah, if stuff is too cheap, then people won’t keep it. 

Kiki:  Ah, it doesn’t matter if it’s cheap but it should have quality.  A constant keeping quality.  If people fall in love with an object, they’ll keep it.  The trendy stuff, it’s like it’s bought just to buy, like they have to have a table at any cost, not because the person likes it. 

Everyone’s watching the Dutch.  Who are the Dutch watching?  Well, Netherlands is really small so everybody knows each other and we’re always curious to see what each other is doing.  But we’re not really watching any particular person or groups so to speak.  Maybe though, I have the feeling now, I don’t know, that the Spanish will be big. 

Like who?

Joost:  Jaime Hayon.

Kiki:  Yeah, I guess he’s the only Spanish one we know!!  (Laughter) But there’s also Studio Job.  We like him because of what he’s accomplished over the years.  He was really the first designer to do limited edition stuff, and now everyone does it.  (Below:  Knick Knacks ceramics vase)

What about events like Salone Satellite?  Have you visited that?  Did you see anything you like?  You know, the thing about Salone Satellite is that a lot of times these places are for placing a product, which is much much different than what Joost and I do.  To make it in those fairs a product has to be commercial, and the key to success then is to produce something that will sell.  Is the cost of production right, how easy is it to make, what materials are cost efficient…  Our work isn’t like that.  We do something personal.  It’s quite different.

You’ve done a lot of work centered around food and design.  What connections do you find between the two?  Actually, I’m an art director for a restaurant that’s a collaboration with the Design Academy and a culinary/catering school.  In doing the concept for the restaurant, I decided to only work with seasons.  So everything from the interior to the food.  I used the color circle to assign the color groups, so the pastels are for spring, the full colors for summer, and so forth.  In this job, I brainstorm about events and ensure the quality both for food and the interior.  I think the similarities between food and design lie in the vision, and I look at it like this--  If you’re a good cook, you should have a vision, like art.  A good cook will present his food like art down to the individual cut pieces.  In food, like design, you have textures, colors. It’s all about the senses:  warm and cold, hard and soft…But now food is really changing. (Below:  Light Box)

Which three items would you put in a time capsule today that say the most about you and the times we live in. 

YouTube.  I think it’s already a generation behind us (me and Joost).  We don’t really get into it, but I was listening to a story the other day about a girl who went on one of these shows like some sort of singing reality, and she was eliminated in the first week.  So she went home and recorded herself singing a song.  Then she and her sister put it onto YouTube, they just tried to upload it, they didn’t even know if it would work, and it got a lot of views and now she’s a hit, her life is completely changed, and it happened because of YouTube. 

Next I would say Food.  Good food, design food, inspiration for a restaurant…a menu from a restaurant which I really like.  It just started six years ago, but it’s really innovative and amazing.  The chef has no formal training, but he’s very comfortable experimenting with food, he does a lot of sculpting and designing the food, but not in a pretentious way.  The restaurant is Brouwerskolkje and the chef’s name is Moshik Roth. 

Last I would say Crafts.  Glassblowers, like they have here in Venice, ceramics, woodworking.  These have all started to disappear.  One of the companies I work with in the Netherlands who does my ceramics is an example.  If we don’t keep these artisans working, they will disappear in five years’ time.  (Below:  Glass Knick Knacks vase - needlework)

What motivates you?

Joost:  I do.  (Laughter) 

Kiki:  Mainly the reaction and emotions that people see or feel when they see or experience my work.  I would much rather prefer extraordinary reactions than indifference.  In general, I admit I don’t like unsolicited complaints (laughter).  Like if I’m standing there and someone says something ugly, I think they could have kept it to themselves…!!   (Below:  Kiki explains her work to Gallery visitors)

What food/dessert best describes your design style?  What was it five years ago?  What would you like for it to be in five years?  A specialty food with different textures.  Five years ago it wasn’t that defined.  In five years, I’d like for it to be highly exclusive, personal like what Moshik Roth prepares at Brouwerskolkje. 

The first thing you notice in a restaurant?
Whether it has an identity or not.  It doesn’t have to be nice, just unique.

One food you can never say no to?
Sashimi 

Most important room in the home?
The kitchen! 

The best color for a front door?  Green, sparkling green like the color of my earrings.  They are made from regular clay.  An intern in my studio made them.  (Photo:  Kiki’s earrings, by Marly Gommans) 

Favorite flea market find.
Tableware.  I was in Berlin a week ago and there were so many nice things.  There was a teapot set I wanted to pack in my suitcase and bring back. 

Your latest obsession?
Stamps and seals, like the glassware in the past.  You know, for embossing initials and letters. 

Biggest celebrity crush?
Sean Connery. 

You’ll always pick up a magazine if _____________________ is on the cover?
I’ve never experienced the need to buy a magazine! 

Favorite place to people watch.
Any city square. 

Which aspect of a foreign culture intrigues you most?
In general, the reason a certain culture creates objects or art—is it a primary need, luxury, culture?  In India for example there are many things that have very basic forms that are done out of need, very different than what we have in Europe and the west where we do things out of luxury.  Also, in Guatemala, for example, every city and village has its own pattern of textile.  I saw one that has roses just like my Kiki Carpet!!  (Below:  Pocket Size carpet)

One thing you always bring with you when you travel…
A sketchbook and a camera.  Especially a sketchbook.