3 Questions for Khodi Fiez

Q1
What is the role of design?

For me design is a holistic act, not a specialism but rather a way of thinking. In many ways to be able to contribute creatively is a specialism in itself, whatever the realm; be it strategic—helping create future scenarios and propositions for culture and society; formal—designing relevant and beautiful products and furniture for our use; technical—helping industry innovate; communicative —making information and services understandable; or artistic—producing work which questions and inspires. These and many more elements constitute the world of design, and it has never been any different. We approach every project with a unique perspective, making sure we frame the brief in the correct light and that we have a good dose of questioning and intuition built into our process. In a way, it’s a wide-eyed naivety that is balanced by observation, research and insight.

Q2
You describe your design ethos as being inspired by clarity, concept, and context—how do these play out in your work?

As a designer I tend to need a few intuitive ‘crutches’ to give my work a certain structure. Throughout the years I have found that the search for clarity, concept and context can fulfill most of the basic paradigms I look for in my designs. I do not use this as a sort of checklist to make sure I answer, but as a sort of subconscious guiding light to drive me to where my work should be. As an example is our Cesto family for Studio TK: The ‘concept’ being a series of basket like objects that share the same base but change functionality dependent on how you fill them; the ‘clarity’ comes from its pared down formal and graphical gesture, a soft squared form split in half by a graphic separation top and base, which is inviting; and, objects defined by the social aspects of meeting and collaborating within the work domain define the ‘context.’

Q3
What are the most important things you keep in mind when designing for the workplace?

Work is changing at a mind boggling pace, this is no secret! We have learned that as technology becomes more supportive of our personal and professional needs, the spaces tend to be liberated by the old dogmas of the office and the cubicle. Both the temporal and spatial domains have morphed exponentially. Where I work and how long I need to do things are no longer relevant. But at the same time, I believe that the element of social interaction and collaborative endeavors will grow immensely, we no longer can only rely on personal productivity but rather on social productivity. This will be a large focus of our near future.