Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 43
Occupation: Designer and artist.
Instagram: @brian_thoreen
Hometown: Los Angeles.
Studio location: Mexico City.
Describe what you make: I make both furniture and art. I work with many different materials and processes for both functional and nonfunctional works that are mostly all linked through a thread of intent. I like mixing everything from memories, feelings, forms, history, physics, and playfulness to color and texture and seeing what comes from it and how these sometimes different intentions can coexist in dialogue.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: There is never just one. Doing this work means every piece needs to be better than the last. Building an ongoing body of work that progresses is more important than any one piece. One of the first pieces I ever showed was the Rubber Credenza. In a way, that piece has become the most important because it was the start of my exploration of not only rubber, but really trying to look at all materials differently.
Describe the problem your work solves: My own internal struggles with how to make something I see in my mind into something that is not only realized physically but that garners a reaction. Whether personal or emotional or humorous or joy or mystery, I like things that make me, or others, feel something.
Describe the project you’re working on now: Now that my first solo show in Mexico has just opened at MASA Galeria, my main project is some rest and reflection. I have some things in the works but the show has really been my main focus for a while so we’ll see what’s to come.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: A couple of things I can’t mention quite yet.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: I live and work in the same space, which is important for me. Living amongst the work forces me to always be analyzing all of it at once. Other than that, music and my cat Hannibal.
What you do when you’re not working: Traveling and spending time with my wife and friends.
Sources of creative envy: Of course, it’s quite varied but a mix of early French Art Deco and modern/contemporary art is my happy place. From Armand Ratteau, Jacques Ruhlmann, Eileen Gray, Raymond Subes, and Pierre Chareau to Robert Therrien, Richard Wilson, Mona Hautum, Takesada Matsutani, Joseph Beuys, and Ana Mendieta. The list could go on and on.
The distraction you want to eliminate: My own brain, but then where would I be?
Concrete or marble? Marble.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.
Remember or forget? Remember.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens.
Dark or light? Dark.
