Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Occupation: Small business founder and artist (Angie). Industrial designer (Alberto).
Instagram: @refractory.studio
Hometown: San Angelo, TX (Angie). Bogotá, Colombia (Alberto).
Studio location: Chicago.
Describe what you make: Functional artworks, objects of interest, and collectible, durable design.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: The orchestra of West Supply in concert with its incomparable team (Angie). I’m most proud of my designs over the years that have brought engaging work and enduring business to talented and extremely rare craftspeople and artisans (Alberto).
Describe the problem your work solves: Capacity and teaching of craft. Meaningful and sustainable employment and professional development in art fabrication (Angie). Preservation of high-quality, generational craft. Contribution to sustainability through physical durability and emotional engagement with objects. A more enduring and thoughtful ownership of homewares that counters the culture of overconsumption and replacement (Alberto).
Describe the project you are working on now: Wearable design, cast glass works of scale, and several one-of-a-kind large-scale commissions.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: An edition of monumental lighting for fall/winter 2023.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Frontier tracks from Spotify, shishitos prepared by Alberto, Coke Zero, palo santo, stacks of blank paper, and a readiness from all to self-efface (Angie). Angie’s bulldogs, dark roast coffee, and a constant search for good perspective in all of its definitions (Alberto).
What you do when you’re not working: Summer: Promontory Point. Fall: Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District meandering. Winter: Fire in the fireplace, world history documentaries. Spring: Christy Webber Farm & Garden, dirt, roots, mulch, and water. Generally: pretend to have some authority over three bulldogs (Angie). Family life with my wife and three children (Alberto).
Sources of creative envy: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Goldsworthy, Nina Simone (Angie). Zaha Hadid, Miles Davis, Eduardo Chillida (Alberto).
The distraction you want to eliminate: Nay-saying (Angie). The news (Alberto).
Concrete or marble? Concrete.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.
Remember or forget? Remember.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens.
Dark or light? Dark.
