DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
MLD : In this catalogue, the wooden box was inspired by the trays generally used by jewelers to display jewelry, as well as by the different phases involved in bringing jewelry to life: creation (designing of the sketches) and production itself.
Comprised of two divisions, the box represents these phases: the first tray displays the sketches of ten pieces of jewelry, and the second tray brings the sixty-eight-page book narrating the visual trajectory of the pieces designed in the past ten years. The background of the pages in jewelry books is generally white. All of the pages in our book are colored, in tones inspired by tropicalia. Brazil – a Tropical Country.
DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
MLD : The idea behind this job is to present a contemporary view on gems, design and Brazilian jewelry, including the designer’s understanding of the perennial nature of artwork. In fifty year or so, this book will be an evidence of what was created in terms of art and design in the first quarter of the of the twenty-first century.
Both the book and its wooden case will be in perfect conditions.
Much like live witnesses of our time. The exploration of textures, contrasts and materials will provide readers with a true sensorial expression of a timeless feeling that has been materialized – resources that digital production cannot explore.
DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
MLD : I don’t have future plans for this project because the main focus was to developed the catalog just for the client.
The future plans are only to include the project in my portfolio as one more award-winning project and maybe to get new clients. (smiles).
DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
MLD : IThis project took almost 4 months. 2 months for the creation and 2 months for the production (printed catalog and wood box)
DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
MLD : This project was a commissioned design.
DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
MLD : This project was created exclusively to commemoration of 10 years of design – emar batalha jewelry
DI: What made you design this particular type of work?
MLD : The desire to elaborate pieces that touch the emotion and have a positive effect in people’s everyday life has always been the essence of my work.
DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
MLD : No, I was not influenced by other designs. I just created based on the briefing of the client.
DI: Who is the target customer for his design?
MLD : The target for this project is the customer and potential customers of emar batalha jewelry store.
DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
MLD : The fusion of esthetics and technology that give life to a style that sells design through emotions.
DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
MLD : The name of the catalogue “Narrativa Visual” came because the catalog is not a written history of emar batalha jewelry store. The story is told only using images of the jewelry with their descriptions.
DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
MLD : My work is based on playful, sensorial and interactive concept and in this project in special was possible to include this concept.
DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
MLD : The sensorial, ludic design and the materials.
Sensorial cover using special paper and hot-stamping print and some pages with a special dry cut.
DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
MLD : I used some partners to produce this catalogue. The printer, a company to make the wood box and others.
DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
MLD : I believe that a good creation is when the design project balances technology and design concept. it is difficult create a good design when we don’t have good a background in material and technology. For example the logo in relief was made by laser cut out in wood.
DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
MLD : No, we made this project respecting the briefing of the client. For us, for this project it was enough.
DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
MLD : The most challenging aspect of the project was producing the wooden box. We were looking for something with a handmade touch, though with a high-quality finish and also made from reforestation wood. Because the boxes were handmade, we had to take into account the possibility of size variations with respect to the boxes, which could not be significant or the books would not fit, or there would be leftover space inside the boxes. However, we managed to overcome this challenge during the production process.
DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
MLD : I decided to submit to A´Design awards because I very much liked the proposal of this international design competition and I believe in my creations, with this kind of competition, will be well promoted.
DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
MLD : I learned with this project that with good material research we can find a perfect solution to design. With all new projects there is always something new to learn. We never know everything and to grow I believe that we need to always create new challenges!
DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
MLD : The main research developed in this project was the selection and organization of the pieces of jewelry to be included in the catalogue.
Research was then transferred to paper: we studied several methods to produce the box.
We began with the creation of a box with a small crib; after realizing this box would not be innovative at all, we started developing a new way to store the project, which led to the production of the wooden box.
