Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 31
Occupation: Furniture/product designer and art dealer.
Instagram: @MaxIDNY
Hometown: Dusseldorf, Germany.
Studio location: Bridgehampton, New York.
Describe what you make: Minimal statement pieces with a passion and respect to feature the materials used.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: Having grown up in a seaside community, I’ve always had a special fascination for outdoor furniture design. I’m passionate about bringing the quality and style of indoor furniture to the exterior, so I’m especially proud when I launched an outdoor range of furniture that works just as well indoors as well, and these have become some of my most recognizable designs for this exact reason.
Describe the problem your work solves: The whole idea when you’re young that you learn by taking something apart to put it back together again. I wanted to do the same for the aesthetic of my furniture, so I took a deconstructed view on everyday products, removing the organic fluid shapes we see in nature and replacing the world around us with strong geometric shapes.
Describe the project you are working on now: I’m finally able to revisit my most successful design from the start of my career. I finally found a new manufacturer who fit all of our requirements. We’re excited to be working on a range of accessible outdoor furniture for the beach and backyard that we plan to launch Spring 2022. In between all this, we’ll be expanding the range of our glassware collections, adding new designs from vases to champagne glasses and will slowly start leaking the first sneak peeks of a lighting collection.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: We just launched a very exciting collaboration with an incredible single malt whiskey brand The Sexton for our Ghost tumblers glassware. We partnered to create a custom color set matching the brand’s style and bottle. This is our first major collaboration with our tabletop accessories. Since we just launched this product a few months ago, we’re excited about all the opportunities this market opens up for our brand.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Space is paramount. I need more than one project to work on at a time. I get distracted too easily and bored of the same thing, so I constantly need to be able to jump around.
What you do when you’re not working: Travel as an excuse for work. So basically work again. I’m always looking for and obsessing over finding new manufacturers who are willing to work with my designs.
Sources of creative envy: I feel split seconds of envy toward many of my peers when I see their incredible achievements, myself wanting the same. But then I snap out of it seconds later as it’s a good tool for me as it forces me to challenge my career and designs to create more innovative and unique works. I need to feel the competition, even if it’s self-made in order to feel driven.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Deadlines, although they’re necessary for us as we complete work for our clients. Without the urgency, I’m sure anything that we already thought out as much as possible could just be made that much better, more efficient, more perfect.
Concrete or marble? Marble. It has been around long before us in one shape or another. We get to work with it and reshape it. The same material in its new form will be around long after us.
High-rise or townhouse? High-rise. For the same novel fact that they show us different perspectives of the way we conventionally see the world.
Remember or forget? Remember.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens. I might regret this if they’re real.
Dark or light? Shadows, the dark created by light!
