Trent Jansen Interview
September 12th, 2008 § 4 Comments
Trent Jansen is a Sydney based multi-disciplinary designer and finalist in this years Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery award (and we think he’s a strong contender for the main prize). He’s currently enjoying some time in Europe, but we managed to catch him for an interview and he kindly sent us some photos from his travels.
(above) A self portrait snapped during a recent visit to Marcel Wanders studio in Amsterdam.
How did you come to be doing what you do? (eg. study, work experience…)
I studied Design at COFA in Sydney, which gave me a really solid conceptual grounding and then I studied at the University of Alberta in Canada in their Industrial Design School, which gave me experience in making and manufacture.
After I finished study in 2004 I went to work for Marcel Wanders in Amsterdam. This introduced me to a new world of professional design and my focus changed, for the first time I wanted to work for myself and do my own thing. So I came back to Australia and started my own studio in an old run-down warehouse in Chippendale, Sydney.
(above) Trent’s current studio in Chippendale, Sydney
Can you give us a brief rundown of your creative process?
My work is almost always interested in developing sustainable alternatives in design. I have been working for some time on projects that explore the use of sustainable materials and production techniques, as these are the corner stones of any piece of ecological design, but I wanted to push these ideas further. As a conceptual designer, I wanted to explore the idea of making an object conceptually sustainable.
One of the biggest obstacles for sustainable design is consumption. As designers we design objects to be bought, but if we don’t consider the longevity of those objects our objects will be disposed of too soon. I am interested in designing objects that can become truly important in the life of their owner, becoming sustainable instead of disposable.
I am continually on the look out for aspects of our lives that are universally important to everyone, currently I am working with the human relationships that we forge as something of universal importance. Most of us have at least one personal relationship that we would preserve above all other things in our lives, I have many. It is my thought that if I can adopt some of the characteristics of these relationships and inject them into the objects that I design, these objects will remind their owner of that relationship and take on some of the importance that this relationship holds for them. Objects that remind us of ourselves.
(above) Sign Stool. Made from re-used road signs, the sign stool was Trent’s final year project at COFA.
(above) Sign Stool 450. This version of the sign stool was developed from the original for manufacture on a larger scale.
(above) Topple Lamp explores relationship we have have with objects and how carelessly they are often discarded. Topple’s form was inspired by an old fashioned lamp your Grandma may have owned, but to turn it on you topple it over.
Where do you look for inspiration? (books, websites, magazines, movies, exhibitions, places, people, history…)
Unfortunately I am not a reader, so my inspiration does not come from books. My conceptual inspiration comes from people and the things that are important to all of us, but my formal and proportional inspiration often comes from history. I have an amazing book of Shaker furniture that has educated me on proportion in a way that no teacher ever could. So I guess some inspiration comes from books, but only the ones with pictures…
(above) A couple of Trent’s photos from a recent visit to the Moooi headquarters in Amsterdam.
Which designers/ artists/ creative people do you admire?
At the moment I am obsessed with Theo Jansen. I am not sure if we are related, I hope so. Theo makes ‘kinetic sculpture’ (in his words) and they are incredible. He has been working on the same project for twenty odd years and his dedication to innovation is second to none. www.strandbeest.com
What has been a career highight?
Seeing the Pregnant Chair on the Moooi stand in Milan this year. (See our previous post about this here – ed)
(above) Pregnant Chair was designed as an expression of the beautiful physical relationship a mother has with her child. The little chair is stowed away into the larger one.
(above) Pregnant Chair at the Moooi stand in Milan 2008.
Can you share a goal with us for the future?
My most pressing goal is to become involved in humanitarian design development. I am doing my best to make some headway with the United Nations Livelihood Projects. These are projects that take creative people into underprivileged communities in under-developed nations. These creative people help members of the local community develop design pieces made from local resources, using local techniques. These objects are sold on the international market and the profits go directly to the local people involved in the initiative. This provides needing people with a livelihood and in particular provides many woman with a means of survival that does not involve prostitution or reliance on men in their community.
It is my ultimate goal to spend six months of the year working on these types of projects and the other six months working on my own projects.
(above) Trent and his gorgeous girl Amy, who’s currently doing her own post-graduate internship with the UN in Geneva.
What’s your favourite piece of furniture?
The Knotted Chair (by Marcel Wanders)
Check out Trent’s website for more info and to see more of his work. www.trentjansen.com
Love your work and always have.
if you don’t win bombay this year, then…. i dunno…