Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo

1 Please give us a brief bio of yourself and your design background.

Ermanno Aparo, Liliana Soares, Jo

2 What made you become/why did you choose to become a designer/artist?

We all probably have different reasons that led us to be designers, but what we probably have in common is the desire to be able to improve people's lives.

3 Tell us more about your business/company, job profile, and what you do.

Ours is a group that brings together professors and former students with the aim of carrying out research and producing innovation in local businesses, improving the way of making design but also that of making products or services, pushing for sustainability for companies but also for the community.

4 What does “design” mean to you?

As Tomas Maldonado stated, design means "(...) coordinating, integrating and articulating all those factors which, in one way or another, participated in the constitutive process of the shape of the product".

5 What’s your favorite kind of design and why?

All types of design, bearers of cultural, ethical, social values. All designs that improve people's lives.

6 To you, what makes a “good” design?

Those who decide whether a design is good or bad are people, therefore a good design must be made by people for people, not forgetting that each of us is an individual who lives in a community and we all have the right to be happy and the duty that other people can be as well.

7 Describe your design style and its main characteristics.

We don't think that our design just has a style, not only because it is the result of the symbiosis of four different people, but also because each project has its own identity, its own typology, its own undertaking made up of its own reasons and cultures.

8 Tell us about your design process.

Ours is not a linear process but made up of advances and setbacks, with a continuing wealth of identity and added value that we find in culture, be it the more general and comprehensive one or the more specific one, such as that of the company we are collaborating with.

9 Do you think your country and its cultural heritage has an impact on your design process?

Sure! Portugal is a country rich in tradition and its production has always been linked to a great culture for the detail that qualifies and makes each product unique.

10 Congratulations! As the winner of the 2023 MUSE Design Awards, what does it mean to you and your company and team to receive this award distinction?

It is an honor and an incentive to always do better.

11 Can you explain a bit about the winning work you entered into the 2023 MUSE Design Awards, and why you chose to enter this project?

Our work is a project inspired by the muses and dryads, those divinities that inspire human beings but also protect them. So participating in an award called the Muse Design Award was inevitable.

12 What was the biggest challenge with this project?

The great challenge of this project was to create openings for areas that are not normally part of the world of the product industry. Innovate and take risks and convince our partners that this is the right strategy.

13 How has winning an Award developed your practice/career?

Winning an award is being sure that we are on the right path and that we must continue to follow it.

14 What are your top three (3) favorite things about our industry?

In this case our client, Furnor has three unique characteristics: 1) Quality in processes, 2) Quality in the people who work on the processes, 3) Quality of the final products.

15 What makes your country specifically, unique in the design industry?

As we have already said, what makes the product made in Portugal unique is the attention to detail and the quality that defines them.

16 Where do you see the evolution of design industry going over the next 5-10 years?

Maybe in the coming years design will have to learn to pay attention to aesthetic and environmental quality.

17 If you were a student entering this industry or an aspiring MUSE Design Awards submitter, what advice would you give them?

Probably the best advice is that when they design they cannot forget to be a person, like the worker who produces one of the components of the product, or like the shopkeeper who will sell the product or even like the person who will use it.

18 What resources would you recommend to someone who wants to improve their skills in the design industry?

The greatest resource that each of us has is culture, so the best thing to do is to try to know more and more about what surrounds us and, when we can, enhance it.

19 Tell us something you have never told anyone else.

...nothing

20 Who has inspired you in your life and why?

People, because design is made by people and for people.

21 What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?

We think the key to our success is that we are four different people and we complement each other using our differences as added value. We are a plural never a singular.

22 Do you have anything else you would like to add to the interview?

Yes, we want to thank the organization and jury of the Muse Design Award for recognizing our work.

WINNING ENTRY

Lighting
2023
MUSE Design Awards Winner - Deithy Floor Lamp by Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo
Deithy Floor Lamp

Entrant Company

Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo

Category

Lighting Design - Floor Lamps