Interview: Samuel Wilkinson, Industrial Designer

Samuel graduated from Ravensbourne College of Art & Design in 2002 with a degree in furniture and product design. He then worked for a host of major consulting firms on projects for the likes of British Airways, Audi and Samsung before ultimately opening his eponymous studio in 2008. What sets Samuel apart from the pack is his true passion for design, which shows through in the attention to detail he achieves via intensive materials research and a keen interest in manufacturing processes. We decided to chat to him and gain insight into his working practices, plus discuss his Mòltair watch for Nomad and site-specific installation at Old Street called The Ommatidium (Zetteler represents – and loves – both of these projects), as well as his overall views on design:

I think every case is quite different. Before I started my studio I worked with huge international companies doing things from mobile phones to airline seats. When you work with really large companies, you’re always serving them. It’s less of a balanced conversation. I think the best way to work with any company is if you can have really good dialogue. Even though sometimes a company will give you more carte blanche to do whatever you want to do, there always has to be an understanding of each others point of view. With a smaller company, it’s easier to get fully involved in the process. That’s how I like it to be generally. 

From, say, Nomad’s point of view, they’re starting a watch brand so it’s pretty straightforward in the sense that you know what the product is, but then trying to come up with an original idea. That’s the difficult part. Working with them, I understood it was their first product. And I hadn’t designed a watch before. Looking at the watch market, which is totally saturated with thousands of products, you kind of need to be sure that you’re creating the right thing. I don’t want to design things for the sake of designing it. I want to feel I can add something to the market, if possible. That was great because when they approached me at the start of 2014, I’d been thinking about a watch for a while and I asked them what was their vision or the types of products they liked already. There was synergy there from the start so I felt the process could work really well. 

I think it was easier, in some ways. Sometimes when you’re naïve to a market, you push things harder in a way that you’d expect it happen because you can do it in other industries. But actually within the watch market, it is quite specific. They have specific manufacturers and ways of working. The more you learn of an area, maybe you just naturally gravitate towards things that are more doable. But if you’re new to area, you ask a supplier, ‘Well, can’t we achieve this?’ And normally they respond, ‘We’ve never done this before, we can’t do this.’ And it’s like, ‘Well, I’ve done something similar on a different object, so why can’t you do it?’ You end up asking a lot more questions and I think maybe you come up with more of an original solution in the end. 

Working with Nomad, there were lots of these parts. The size of the hands were looked at as being too big, so we had to use a different material and push them a little. The texture outside the case of the watch is another example. They hadn’t really done that before. I’d done a lot of sand casting with different objects and you get this lovely, natural heavy texture on the material which really speaks of the material. They were very resistant at first but we pushed and eventually they said, ‘Yeah, we can do it.’ You need to be really involved, especially as a designer, to help the manufacturer through those times where they could potentially just go down an easier route. The creative, I suppose, is pushing through those boundaries. 

A bit of everything. For Mòltair, Nomad approached us, but with other things we’re always working on ideas on the side. For example we developed a clock a while ago and we’re hopefully going to launch later this year with a company. That’s taken a long time to find exactly the right manufacturer who would accept the challenge. If you are generating ideas in the background we can adapt them to work with a new manufacturer. I’ve worked on hundreds of products that haven’t been seen yet. It's great to have this back catalogue to inspire new ideas, so I'm always cultivating thoughts in the background.

That was quite specific. I was introduced to Beau [Lotto, the project’s co-creator] through a friend of mine who was working on a different project. He talked about replacing the original tower, where The Ommatidium is now – that’s how it started. He’s a neuroscientist with an interesting vision and with unique thoughts about how people can relate to these things. Working with somebody like that is inspiring as you can bounce ideas off each other without the complication that can arise with two artistic egos. 

Definitely. It’s a very different kind of project than normal. If you design a product or a chair or something that gets exhibited, you can control the way its viewed. A public piece is very different. At the moment there’s a lot of road works next to it. I walk past it on my way to work. I’m very protective, because there’s a fence there and it’s right up against it, so I’m always pushing it back a little bit or having a look to make sure it’s not damaged. It’s a place where there’s lots of people on the weekend, and lots of people getting drunk so we had to design it in a robust way. Having the fragile parts, the crystals, high enough so people can’t easily damage them. One of the main objectives was to open up the pavement while at the same time making an object that blended in. From the side view it’s very subtle, it hides itself in the vernacular of the street but then actually when you get underneath, you’re immersed by these crystals above you. I am looking forward to the completion of the works to give the project space. Also when the sun starts to come out next spring it will take on another aspect. 

I don’t know – the vision changes. I find after working on a big object you want to work on small objects so its been nice going from a public sculpture to a watch. Luckily, so far I've been able to do such a range of projects. It's been great continuing to develop the studio and work from one project to another on a completely different scale. That helps to inspire new projects. Currently we are doing research into a specific material approach. Hopefully that will continue and a product will come out soon. 

I trained in furniture design and feel I have a lot more to give in this area so a dream client would be somebody like Vitra, a furniture manufacturer who produces interesting pieces at a very high manufacturing standard.

It does change your priorities a bit but I don't think it has changed my design approach. I always try to design things that are sustainable, recyclable or long lasting, ensuring they will be good for the next generation. The other consideration is the types of projects you take on. I've always tried to take projects that come more from the heart rather than the head. I get approached to work on straighter commercial projects and you always have to take on a certain amount of those, but occasionally this doesn't give you enough room to explore the more projects that aren't directly financially rewarding. There are some projects that really fit both categories so when you get hold of these you really cherish them.