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Q1 Please tell us your brief profile and working career. Why did you become designer?
As a child I drew pictures and built things obsessively, but I never considered becoming a designer because I didn't grow up in a creative environment and didn't think it was achievable. I got an undergraduate degree in Geology but never worked in the field. |
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I did a lot of odd jobs in my early 20's (park ranger, substitute teacher, database programmer), but design was always in the back of my mind. It was only when I was in graduate school in urban planning at UC Berkeley that I started thinking about becoming a designer. I switched to the architecture program and have been happy ever since.
Q2 What is the concept of your products?
My design process is driven by exploration of abstract material and spatial qualities rather than by the idea of a making a specific product. I don't start by deciding to design a handbag, coming up with a pattern, and then choosing a fabric. I start by experimenting with a material, with how it bends, how it can be cut, how it can be fastened. During this sculptural process, I might notice a certain usability coming out of the form. An exploration might hit a dead end, only later to be combined with another exploration in such a way as to find a way of being expressed as a useful object. |
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Q7 What do you think about design industry in your country?
It's very difficult to make it as a designer here if you do unusual work. Everything revolves around money and the mass market. It's very hard to get paid for creative thinking. I think there are a lot of people with good ideas who aren't able to develop them because they are too busy working to make a living. |
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Q8 Currently which stores carry your pieces in the world? Price range?
Most of my stores are in the US, Canada, and Australia, and on the web. You can look at the stores section on my website to see specifics. I’ve started working with an agents and/or distributors in Japan and the EU so my products should be more available there very soon. My least expensive product will be a coaster set for about 16 USD which I will introduce this summer. My current bags range from 29 USD for the winepocket to 115 USD for the UM tote. I will also be introducing a line of coffee and side tables that will sell for about 250-300 USD.
Q9 Are there any people who inspired you? Who do you respect?
In architecture school, I had one professor and a handful of students with whom I worked very closely. We learned a lot over a period of 3 years through constant discussion and analysis of our work. |
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Q15 What do you want to achieve in your career? What is your goal?
My goal is simple: I want to be in a position where I can continue being creative. This is not so easy: being creative is very hard work and if you're also struggling to run a new business and pay the bills it's tough to have the time for everything. If I can keep doing what I do best, then lots of good things will follow. |
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Josh is a California - baced product designer dedicated to making experiential connections between form and function. When a person uses one of Josh's products, they naturally encounter the way it was conceived and developed. Achieving such connections requires a strict material sensibility - using materials in their simplest form so intrinsic qualities show through - and a rigorous design efficiency that strives to get the most impact out of the fewest moves.
Josh founded his practice in 2005 as a way of continuing his lifelong interest in the nature of structure, space, and materials. Though his design practice is driven more by intellectual curiosity than pragmatism, Josh is still happiest making thing that are meant to be used. An architect by training with an M.Arch from UC Berkeley, Josh uses his understanding of the built environment and how it is inhabited to inform his designs, and he hopes his products will help foster a more intuitive understanding of all objects in the people who use them. |
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Q3 Could you tell us about your latest trade shows or projects that you are working on right now?
Right now most of our time at the office is spent preparing for the summer trade shows and updating the company information and website. But in terms of products, I'm working on some neoprene laptop bags, some more felt bags, a chair, and a partnership to create some sustainable household goods for the mass market.
Q4 What is your greatest inspiration?
I would say my greatest inspirations are the intrinsic qualities of materials, and also the capabilities of different manufacturing techniques. For example, you can do certain things with felt that you can't do with woven fabric, and vice versa. And I enjoy exploring the capabilities of a sewing machine or a CNC router. That's where I get most of my ideas. |
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Q5 Which one is your favorite?
Of course my UM bags because that's the design that launched my company.
Q6 What would you be if you weren't a designer?
I would be a musician. I've always played a few instruments as a hobby. I've played in bands, sung in a choir, etc. and would love to do it more if I had the time. |
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Q10 Who is your dream collaborator?
To be honest, I'd most like to collaborate with somebody from a different field such as business, engineering, painting, etc. I prefer collaborating with people who know things that I don't know.
Q11 Are there any places or countries you would like to visit?
I haven't traveled very much so I would love to go to Japan and to Scandinavia to see all the great design.
Q12 When is the most important time of your day?
Well, I'm a night person and am most creative at night. But for the business, if I can get a lot done before lunch then it's very good.
Q13 Could you tell us anything what you think it's cool at the moment ?
I think the softwall by Molo Design is really good. It's a product that can ship in a box, yet it expands to a huge thing that actually creates space. |
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Q14 Do you have any advice for the young people?
If you have the financial resources, try an interesting career path first and then worry about the consequences later. Doing something creative takes a lot of energy and you don't have as much of it when you're older. |
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