Creating atmospheres
Interview by Marco Velardi
In light of an upcoming collaboration with Iittala, we sat down to chat with British designer Jasper Morrison to discuss why creating the right atmosphere is essential to his work.
An exhibition, Jasper Morrison —Objects and Atmosphere, opens in Iittala & Arabia Design Centre, Helsinki, on 8 September 2018 until 11 November 2018. The exhibition is curated by Jasper Morrison himself and displays objects that he has created throughout his illustrious career, as well as his film of iconic design objects, A World Without Words.
Morrison’s thinking and designs have influenced the development of products used by millions of people. He believes that the role of the designer is not to invent form, but rather to be open to the surrounding world, adapting objects for new purposes “through hard analysis, or, more satisfyingly, intuition and chance”. He is especially interested in those everyday objects that continue to serve their purpose well in a form that has often been created by an anonymous designer. He admires “the mysterious quality and naturalness which anonymous objects, free of their author’s ego, so often have”. He sees such anonymous objects as a reminder for designers that “In the real world an object depends on its long-term usefulness for survival.”