Q&A with Aldo Bakker
What drives your form-giving as a designer? How do you make decisions about the form you give to an object?
The first question – to reach a more sensorial and independent physical statement. And the second question – every ingredient should fulfill its value due to the overall meaning.
Does it matter where and by who it is used?
Not at all.
It seems to me that you think aesthetics are underrated. Is this true?
Yes, aesthetics mean for everybody something else, they are abstract. But they’re the very reason why we create and buy things. In every approach you’ll take as a designer you can’t escape from the fact that in the end a physical result is there. That’s why I choose to embrace aesthetics and to question them until I understand their meaning and how to make use of them. Only then I believe you’ll create a situation where they have a chance to define their own existence, place and surrounding, instead of having them lost in space.
In your opinion, how does the time spent on the making of an object relate to the value for a new owner?
It would be ideal when investment and result are in balance but this is almost never the case. When the thing is complete or good, it will reflect the energy, effort and materials that are invested, after that it becomes a matter of time.
We read in one of your press releases, “…the mood of silence provokes necessary care and attention.” Fascinating words, can you tell us more about this?
Silence creates space and therefore confronts. In the ideal situation it means that the object has the quality to grab your attention and to create this moment silence.
How do you think your work relates or does not relate to Droog?
I believe my work is the opposite. In my opinion, the approach of Droog is a theoretical one, everything is explained from the story or concept that drives it. Mine starts and ends through visual matter. Concept, material, colour, weight, execution… all these elements are tools for me, when I’m finished these tools are the property of the object, when the object is ready it should shine, and not explain.
We asked Renny Ramakers why she selected Aldo’s Copper collection for Droog:
Renny: I like the Copper collection in the first place because it is very beautiful but certainly because of the new vision on the use and rituals associated with these objects. They are also made in an unusual technique, which was also a reason.
I do not see Droog as being theoretical. We are interested in creation, innovation and debate and that can be very broad. True, that our products have stories whatever they may be, but I also see stories behind Aldo’s Copper collection.
Aldo’s Copper collection is available in New York exclusively through Droog New York. See the collection here.