• Serve Surprising and Pleasing, but Don’t Overcook
• Manifest Plainness, Embrace Simplicity, Design Terrific Logos
• I’m just trying to “build an instant"
• Why Settle For Something When You Can Make It Shine? – An Interview with Hooping Fan Extraordinaire and Design-Award Winner Danielle McIntosh
• Brand Vision and Designing Corporate Uniqueness – An Interview with Bruno Schmidt of MetaDesign
• What I am doing is new and exciting - An interview with Tom Rossau
• The value of the material determines the value of the act of cleaning itself - an interview with Jurgen Bey of Studio Makkink & Bey
• The Road is Clear for Colors – an Interview with Lieke Ypma
• I feel more alive in insecurity
• Try not to repeat what already exists
• A sense of balance between pixels and pencil
• The Magic at Sun Rise
• To create means to express your inner self
• Muses of a Midwestern Maker
• We are perfectionists …
• Always start from scratch
• Don't Read This, Go Design Something!" – An Interview with Daniel Pelavi
• Design is a consequence of the process, which in turn is a consequence of the material – An Interview with Max Lamb
• Concrete: Material of the Future!
• Finding Beauty in Problem-Solving – An Interview with Illustrator Jean Tuttle
• Complaining is Silly - An Interview with Stefan Sagmeister
• My starting point is the graphic reworking of surface
• Self-sufficiency, environmental protection and cultural promotion – All in a day’s work for Ute Hübler and Sonja Nitschmann of espírito brasilis
• Designs Unseen – An Interview with "Micronaut" Martin Oeggerli
• The Passagen Interviews – Katja Gehrke
• The Passagen Interviews – Doty Horn
• Taking Security from Effects – an interview with Dieter Hermann of Printcolor
• Designers, have your say! The XYMARA.com Passagen Interviews!
• Personal magic – the art of Alison Ann Martin
• Design Trends in Asia - Nature, Harmony and the Embrace of the New
• What color is a piece of string?
• Straight Lines, Hidden Value
• I feel I gave a little something, a little beauty to the world
• We believe it’s a new industrial revolution
• How about good things? Or interesting things?
• Design also always has a function
• Wood is a Very Modern Material
• I don‘t care what color a car is, just as long as it is black.
• Every design process is inspired by something else, what the designer has seen, heard or felt.
• Aren‘t our color preferences always based on our childhood memories?
• There is a strong need for richness
• We live in an inflatable culture. It‘s hard to know which values are real.
• Colors that create value are trendy ...
• There is a corresponding emotion to each color
• We would love to live outside the city. But we stay and use countryside colors ...
• There are too many colors around. I only need black.
• Interview with Warren Neidich, Artist
• Interview with Simon Husslein, Product Designer
• Interview with Clarissa Tossin, Graphic Designer
• Interview with Uleshka Asher, PingMag Chief Editor/Artist

Meet enPieza! and Some of Their Friends – or How to Help Daily Objects Forget Their Initial Destiny for Fun and Profit

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By Ziggy Nixon

I have to be honest: I could (should) have released this interview a lot earlier. The good folks at studio enPieza! very kindly got back to me just a few short days after we began our correspondence. But since that time, it just seemed to me that our sunny friends from Spain – not just the studio but the whole darned country – had received enough publicity.

First, there was the not-entirely-unexpected victory of Rafael Nadal in Roland Garros. Carlos Sastre’s winning the Tour de France. The spectacular victory of the Spanish soccer side in the European Cup. Then, of course, Senõr Nadal went on to win Wimbledon ... So there I sat, wondering if the Spanish would continue to conquer all takers (it was about this time as well that I learned via the AP Photo section that Spanish people can in fact fly!).

But, all kidding aside, it is indeed a pleasure to bring you these enjoyable few pearls of wisdom from this talented and fun-loving team from the magnificent city of Madrid …

Welcome amigos. Can you tell us a little more about your "team", please?

For a long time after we started in 2005, it was just the two of us. Last year we started to work together with two other designers who were more focused on graphics and also web design.

"Zag"

But since then our project team has grown: we have acquired a huge space for our studio, which is about to officially open. We’ve also opened it up to new collaborators such as illustrators, industrial designers, architects, and more.

Today studio enPieza! is composed of five teams comprised of two persons each. We have three product- or industrial-design teams, one graphics- and communication-focused team and one looking primarily at web-based projects.

Do you do all your own design and "modeling", as well as production of the first actual pieces after a design is completed?

We not only do the prototyping and/or modeling of every first piece, but so far all our products are handmade by us in our workshop, from the first piece to the last. Everything we do now is also produced in a limited quantity and numbered.

Because we do have our wonderful workshop, we can afford to labor on our dreams, give them shape and see them grow solid.

"flying Spaniard"

You offer different services including graphic design, photography, and illustrations, as well as, of course, your unique products, ranging from your catalogue works, furniture and jewelry, just to name a few. What description do you think best fits your own vision of your work and your company? Our philosophy is that creativity is a free bird! It’s not healthy to limit its flight. So we try not to limit anything with descriptions or titles.

What we do is what we want to do, what we like to do and what we enjoy doing. Business comes after that.

How does your business model work, that is, how do you generate sales and your income?

We are just people trying to make our ideas come true, executing projects and letting them – and us – live. When something gets into our minds, or bites into our insides, we just have to let it out. We make our creations real and come to life by working on them in our minds and with our hands, giving them form and identity.

To be honest, some of our most interesting projects and pieces do not bring us “big money”. But we find that press exposure is assured, which helps our studio to grow.

We have produced some objects where we’ve worked with private clients to create unique pieces that fit their needs. Of course, along with these, our “common” products and contract graphic or web-design projects help generate income.

"Sillan 430"

Is there a particular balance in terms of how you go about designing for different types of projects?

Each component of the studio has its own particular balance and criteria for creating. What we try is to mix up the best of each, using the best range of abilities and talents we have to best fit each particular project.

Can you describe how your design process has evolved over time?

The design process evolves for us every day. We are still growing and learning.

We find it very positive that we are able to always re-design our company’s methods and work patterns to keep things fresh, original – and more.

Your designs are very artistic but there is still an obvious need for some know-how in engineering, metal behavior, electronics, plastics, etc. How do you bring the needed "operational" details into your design process? E.g.:

How do you make sure that a lamp doesn't "shock" the customer or burn up a plant that you want to grow? Or how do you ensure that a pair of cool sunglasses doesn't break when someone is fixing their skateboard wheels? Our professional set-up already provides us with some of the needed know-how and skills. Working with collaborators and also carrying out more research as required by a given project covers the rest. Obviously, some experimental projects, like the Lamplanta or the Volivik (which shows how common objects can lead “secret lives”!) require a period of testing to make sure they meet their designed function. Once this is completed and we are sure the product works, then it is ready for the world.

"Lamplanta"

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