Patronage and Reciprocity – conversations between makers and designers
21 May 19
4:30 PM
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5:30 PM
Tracks:
ICFF Talks Main Stage
The presumption that “what you see is what you get” when it comes to design is changing. With increasing frequency, there are two-way conversations happening between clients/interior designers and makers. Designers are seeking ways to give their clients something that feels special and one of a kind, and makers are responding by creating designs that are easily customizable. Like the relationship that used to exist between artists and their patrons, makers are being asked more and more to engage in a conversation with clients to create unique, made-to-order designs. Artists and makers are now seen as collaborators in their own right, and are learning how to make themselves accessible and open to these conversations. This interaction and overlap between designers and makers is leading to more higher-end site-specific commissions. Advances in technology are facilitating this access and these conversations, and are making it less cost prohibitive to make changes to existing designs. This conversation will explore how designers collaborate with manufacturers to create new products in the process of a project, how the process takes place, and what the results can be of these collaborations that honor the process and the space. Adam Kamens of Amuneal, one of the country’s most important custom fabrication and design companies, is one example of a designer/maker who is working in this vein more and more. This panel will feature Adam Kamens in conversation with designers Amy Lau of Amy Lau Designs and Adam Hunter of Adam Hunter Inc. Both have collaborated extensively with Amuneal on projects for their clients as well as on their own homes. Together these panelists can describe the creative process that ignites between a fabricator/maker and a designer and that results in elements that are completely customized and special to a given a space.