Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 32
Occupation: Designer and design director at Craighill.
Instagram: @craighillcompany
Hometown: Washington, DC
Studio location: Brooklyn, NY
Describe what you make: Objects that ignite a sense of wonder.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: We see building the business as a long and important design project. Every product we put out is intended to grow the business in some way—expand our reach, open up new opportunities, develop new resources or internal knowledge—all of which allow us to design and release the next product. I genuinely enjoy the business-building part of this, which isn’t discussed openly enough by most designers.
Describe the problem your work solves: Long-term, we want to increase people’s understanding of how the objects in their life are made, and why they were designed the way they were—ultimately making those objects less emotionally disposable.
Describe the project you are working on now: We develop a range of products that I primarily design, though we’ve also started working with outside design talent. We currently have more products in the pipeline than we’ve had since our launch almost four years ago. I’ve got prototypes on my desk of a couple new storage items, a new mechanical puzzle, some tactile jewelry pieces, among other things.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: The new Ridge and Snap cuff designs, which will be available later in August, are exciting for us. I’ve always struggled with identifying the design problems when making jewelry, but we’ve used those projects to explore symmetry, tactility, and technical closure mechanisms.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Lots of daylight. Also, I make and drink a gallon of iced tea every day.
What you do when you’re not working: Growing peppers and making hot sauce. I’ve also been traveling a lot this past year.
Sources of creative envy: Philippe Malouin, Mies van der Rohe, the Bouroullec brothers, Industrial Facility, Konstantin Grcic
The distraction you want to eliminate: Email.
Concrete or marble? Concrete.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.
Remember or forget? Remember.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens.
Dark or light? Light.
