Konstantin Grcic

As part of our Design and Technology course we were each given a designer who were were to explore. The designer I was given is the German designer, Konstantin Gricic. 

Konstantin… the designer who is always thinking sideways. He describes himself as "very german". in that he means he sees himself as a rational, very logical, very industrial type person. But, he still works in a very practical manner. This is something we, on my course, are encouraged to do as practical experiments give tactile and multidimensional information and insights.

A unique aspect of Konstantin compared to other designers working on similar products is that he is not scared of the commercialisation. Many designers see a piece of work going into a more mass for of manufacture as the point where the avant garde-ness of a piece is lost. Konstantin does not see it as this, he more see this process as a natural progression of design and he supports this process fully. I like that about him. it shows his lack of pretentiousness. He does not see good designs as something that should be held within the arms of the designers and a select elite.

Much of his work focusses around furniture and particularly chairs. Many well known designers and industrial seem to either start here or focus their work in this area. I am not very sure why this is the case. Maybe its just fashion. Maybe its easy. I dunno. Regardless of that Konstantins work stands out to me because each piece seems to strike a perfect balance between design that pushes whats already been done and feasibility. His work may be unique and design-y but it is usually also feasible. By feasable I mean it is feasable to manufacture it in a sensible quantity and feasable in that it can actually work well as a chair say. I really dislike chairs and such that are useless as a functional piece, especially if its in a situation that requires it to function well. Konstantin generally avoids this but he does seem to fall into this trap sometimes. 

I will post a couple of posts on some of his work, explore it in a wee bit more detail.
in the mean time… check out this short video I found on youtube. It explains alot about him…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctxNFlBmztc