Designer's Voice Elisa Strozyk

In your case it’s the material that serves as the starting point for the product rather than the shape: you get your inspiration from playing with the material. But it seems as if new, innovative materials are being invented almost every day. Is that like the land of milk and honey for you? And would you say we’ve entered the age of the material designers?
I find it really exciting to experiment with a new material and develop a product idea out of it. These are certainly very inspiring times for designers in that respect, but it’s not necessarily the case that every new material has potential. Some new materials are very artificial or too “finished”. It’s often more interesting to work with “classic” materials and test their limits or use them in a new context. Right now designers are strongly oriented towards elemental materials and traditional techniques.

Which materials or material developments do you think will play a greater role in the furniture and interior design sector in future?
At the moment a lot of effort is being invested in “intelligent” or “reactive” materials, from smart wallpapers that adapt to the mood all the way to intelligent carpets that can detect where you are. But I think it’s more likely that the trend towards using natural and high-quality materials will continue to gain momentum. We’ll be seeing new manifestations of wood, stone or straw.