We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Albert Potgieter about their original and creative Bench design work. Albert Potgieter is an award-winning industrial designer, that makes our world a better place with their original bench works.
Albert Potgieter ("AP") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Optique Bench. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
AP : The inspiration for this design was nature. I was on the family game farm in South Africa while designing this piece and the result was a piece that portrays movement and carries the feeling of wild Africa.
AP : The initial idea was to make a design out of off cut pieces of wood. The idea was to decrease waste and re-use pieces that might have been thrown away.
AP : I would love to see this art piece in homes, museums and public spaces.
AP : About 3 months
AP : I decided to pursue an inspiration
AP : The production of this design is done by myself. All my work is handmade. The selling and marketing of this product is done by me or by galleries that represent me.
AP : I designed this piece because of an inspiration
AP : The Art lover. It is an functional art piece. Designed to be functional as a furniture piece but also on the other side be inspirational and change the atmosphere of your house.
AP : It is built up out of different small pieces of hard wood. Every piece of wood can be seen individually, but together it creates a totally different look.
AP : The name Optique is French for Optic, meaning vision. This design created the illusion of movement and I wanted to bring out that aspect of the design
AP : I only used paper and pencil for the design. I only designed a concept and then started to build and as the process went on made some changes a long the way. Designing, building, designing, building etc.
AP : The visual aspect and that it is built up by a lot of little hardwood pieces.
AP : No one. I designed and built it myself. Only running ideas through with my wife.
AP : With this particular design I didn’t use so much technology. This piece was designed with paper and pencil, put together with glue and all handmade.
AP : No this design was made purely on inspiration.
AP : The challenges was to make sure all the pieces are put together in a way that is strong, so that it is functional. Also getting the right angles on the different pieces so that there is no gaps in between when glueing.
AP : I wanted to take a chance and see what others out there think of it. Seeing how it holds up against other designs. Call it research if you will.
AP : I learnt a lot of fine woodworking skills, also a lot of patience. I also learnt that making small changes can often great effect visually and structurally.
AP : No this is great, thanks
