Interview with Stefan Diez

Would you describe the Houdini family and its new items?
The Houdini family looks little bit like as if someone had mixed a common model making technique with serial production technology: We were using thin ply instead of cardboard to build fluidly shaped chairs and sofas right away as if we were doing furniture models. This approach allowed us to play with rather three-dimensional and comfortable shapes, usually not found in wooden seating furniture. The result is a family ranging from chairs and armchairs to upholstered sofas. They are specially designed to fit the requirements of domestic and semi public seating and resting.

Thin plywood bending: a technique for a new design approach?
In a way – yes, because it describes the space for my work with e15. I thought about a family of products that is able to develop within time and within that work space. I believe in proprietary design and knowledge, in the need of collecting experience of craftsmen to get a result more and more perfect. How things look and the way things are done are inseparably bonded with my work.

How important is craftsmanship in your design process?
Obviously I am fascinated by the possibility of mass production and its consequences for applied technologies. But I am more and more convinced, that not only in the field of furniture design, this makes sense only for a few really big companies and only in combination with radically new technologies. We have passed times were in mass production lies the promise of relatively cheep but good quality products for everybody. But in our world, we have everything we need. Every new item we produce replaces sooner ore later an existing product which is thrown away. In my eyes, there is no need for cheap products, but for outstanding and long-lasting ones. In front of such a backdrop, it makes a lot of sense to me to involve craftsmanship into the design and manufacturing process.

Wood and plywood seem to be charming to you. What is your favorite material?
What I like about wood is that it gives certain restrictions that one can play with. A material, that follows a natural logic and has little tendency to get arbitrary. But besides all the other advantages of wood I would not say it is my favorite material.

How do you describe the collaboration with Philipp Mainzer and Peter Wesner?
Not to forget Farah, Philipps wife. She is not only the reason why we got really good friends quite some years ago. But she was doing a great job in searching the colors and fabrics for the new collection.

Interview with Stefan Diez, edited by Maria Cristina Tommasini, 08. March 2010