Interview Stefan Diez
Photo: Andreas Körner
Stefan Diez is one of Germany’s most internationally acclaimed designers. His often very successful designs are a combination of classic elegance, perfect craftsmanship and an ambitious will to find the right form derived from the material – as he recently proved with his CH Houdini chair for the e15 label. Born in Freising near Munich in 1971, he completed an apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker before studying industrial design at Stuttgart Art Academy. He worked briefly for Richard Sapper (USA) and, after graduating, spent two years with Konstantin Grcic (Munich) before ...
In view of accelerating innovation cycles, isn’t a bit risky to take such a leisurely approach?
Maybe, but the time will come when nobody earns enough on the really new stuff any more, and then I think the intervals will automatically get longer. First of all, short development cycles mean entrepreneurs and designers earn less because the product simply doesn’t sell as often in such a short period. Secondly, for the manufacturer, more products mean more investments. Last but not least, the product quality deteriorates as well. At the end of the day, it’s just a case of distributing your resources differently. In the end, the equation has to work out somehow.
Did the ideal house project change anything for you?
It led to huge changes. A lot of people got an insight into our work and there was a lot of interest afterwards – Koelnmesse went to great expense and effort to promote the project. Although we were already in contact with Wilkhahn beforehand, the project led to other clients like Thonet. At the end of the day, even with the ideal house, the communication after the event was all about pictures. But the people who were actually there got a great deal more out of it. That was important to me. You just have to come to terms with it and develop new perspectives for dealing with it.
Author: Claudia Wanninger
19,143 characters
Free offprint
Stefan Diez in an interview about:
- The risks of mediocrity
- The unprofitability of ever-shorter development cycles
- The talent forum D3 Design Talents
- His ideal house project
Further Information:
- Title: “In the end, the equation has to work out somehow.”
- Detailed vita Stefan Diez