Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 36
Occupation: Artist.
Instagram: @stefanrurakstudio
Hometown: Washington, DC.
Studio location: Brooklyn
Describe what you make: Functional sculpture. Sculptural furniture. Art. Design. Furniture. Utilitarian art. At the end of the day it’s all art to me—the rest is semantics. Whether it’s a cabinet or an expressive wall panel, I approach everything with the same goal in mind: to make it the best that it can be.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: Concrete and Steel Unit for Living (2019).
Describe the problem your work solves: The problem of being surrounded by uninspired, mediocre, and mass-produced things that penetrate your being and deteriorate your self.
Describe the project you are working on now: Transforming my table lamp concepts into a hanging “chandelier.”
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: Aforementioned “chandelier” project. It should launch in time for Design Miami.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Music. Always music. Always listening to music. Work complements music and vice versa. Sabbath when welding, Don Cherry when gilding, Misfits when ripping boards, etc. Music is the purest form of art. It is a crystal-clear expression. It is what, as a visual artist, I will forever be chasing yet never attain.
What you do when you’re not working: Wrestle with Wanda, my 18-month-old daughter.
Sources of creative envy: Alberto Burri, Gonzalo Fonseca, David Bowie, Nick Cave, Richard Serra.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Social media. Maybe media in general, actually. Not like fake news, but too much information all the time leads to lack of appreciation and awe for the things that matter.
Concrete or marble? Concrete.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.
Remember or forget? Remember.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens.
Dark or light? Dark.
