Ask the Designer: 5 Answers by Karoline Fesser

What does good design mean to you?

For me, good design has a lot to do with emotions. It has to be touching. At the
same time it can be super functional. As simple as a metal pencil sharpener: I
know exactly what it is good for and very likely it’s going to be with me all my
life, because it's made properly, and there is not much on it that could break. If I
like a thing, then I take care of it and if it breaks, I fix it. I do not like how
countless things are thoughtlessly bought, used for a short time and then to be
thrown away carelessly. I like the slow, deliberate design, that appreciates
humans and the environment. Design is good when it really makes sense.

How do you start your design process/where do you find inspiration or ideas?

My ideas arise in everyday life. I study my surrounding, I see how things work or
feel and if I find a topic particularly exciting, I start thinking about it more.
Eventually I start to sketch, both in pictures and in words. Take the All Wood
Stool as an example: It pays homage to the typical anonymous workshop stool.
Originally, I was interested in making it entirely out of aluminum. In the
implementation, however, wood seemed to be much more suitable because its
volume allows the product to have solid curves. Without the material detour, the
All Wood Stool Rocket Variant probably would never been realised.

What was your initial thought or idea when you started sketching for the Hide Table Family?

Hide’s design is about the open/close and the space in between. From one side,
the object acts as a solid voluminous body., but if you turn it around, its flatness
opens up and reveals space. At the very beginning I thought of bent wood as
material, but later in the process I felt that this was not simple enough and I
wanted a product which was super logical. My boyfriend is a metalworker, so we
made a prototype of sheet steel, powder-coated in rust-red, just as it is now
produced by Hem. The higher variant came later. It's a logical continuation and
makes the product even more versatile and adaptable to many types of rooms.

What makes the collaboration with Hem special to you?

As a brand, Hem is still young and tackles the design world in a new way. I love
how Hem goes its own way and do not compete with all the companies out
there. The products are independent, I can identify with that very well. It makes
me proud to be a part of it.

If you could pick one favourite product from the Hem collection,
which one would it be and why?

I'm a big fan of the Last Stool by Max Lamb. It is super functional and at the
same time poetic. It’s fantastic how you can understand the manufacturing
process in the object.