Interview Defne Koz

Photo: Koelnmesse, Lutz Sternstein

The new “Interior Trends 2011” are called “Emotional Austerity”, “Surprising Empathy”, “Re-Balancing” and “Transforming Perspectives”. The Trendboard sees the financial and economic crisis that was still very much the focus of last year’s debate as the catalyst for a dynamic development towards a sustainable product strategy. Whilst the guardians of good design style are slowly groping their way ahead by combining old forms with high-tech and pursuing formal severity with both passion and consummate ease, more progressive spirits are racing far ahead into a future that is better: lighter, more intuitive, full of new sensory perceptions and surprising form solutions. The snug comfort zone, which is actually meant to be a bastion of harmony, seems like an experimental counter-plan to a design culture geared towards prestige and quick consumption; it is full of self-built objects, a world where plain, functional normality is becoming a cult. And the otherwise so funky scene that sees design as a trend event is soft-pedalling and trying to convey its newly gained insights with the aid of archaic forms, simple solutions and it-products taken to cliché-like extremes.

The imm cologne’s Trendboard Workshop didn’t define styles either – instead, it described different ways of dealing with design. As well as the innovation-happy design devotees, there’s a group you could call the fun-loving anarchists as well. The interior trend attributed to them, “Transforming Perspectives”, sometimes plays irreverently with design and mixes it with other media. Isn’t that a very communicative way of reaching people through design?
Yes, but ultimately all these four categories lead to the same end, i.e. to quality. So if design is done in the right way, it doesn’t matter which design world it comes from, it will appeal to people because it improves their quality of life. Wherever you go, whether it’s the Salone del Mobile, 100% Design or the imm cologne, there are lots of good design projects. And sometimes the students’ work is even better than the real products. But you’ll always find plenty of simplistic, gimmicky exhibits as well. For me, that’s not design. There’s more to it than simply giving concrete form to an idea that happens to pop into your head. You have to do really good research to arrive at the right product.

At the Trendboard Workshop for the imm cologne, you and your fellow panellists had a very heartfelt discussion about what developments you’d like to see in design in future. What direction do you think it should go in, and what is lacking in the design world right now?
Well, I can definitely think of one very obvious thing: the lack of depth. I think many designs lack the willingness to research and ask the right questions, and I find them a little lacking in passion too. Each piece should be elaborated more to achieve the optimum result. There are plenty of nice designs out there, but most of them don’t say anything to you.

In the interview Defne Koz talks about:

Further Informations:

• Title: "I want my future back."
• Vita Defne Koz