Interview with Cameron
CALILA is a product design studio in Los Angeles. Cameron and Lindsey started CALILA to fill lifestyle needs in their own lives and gaps in the market gathered from Lindsey's six years as a museum…
Design Legend Interview
4 May 2018
Lindsey Vaniman studied at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchendising, as well as having been sewing since she was seven years old. She has designed everything from handbags and purses to historical costumes, to wardrobe in the film industry. Cameron has a background in creative project management in animation and visual effects before going into design.
Design is motivated by necessity. We think all great design should have a backbone of functionality, driven by a desire to solve a problem. We become designers to solve those very problems in our own lives and share our solutions with the world.
We design small to medium sized travel goods and personal accessories. We just launched a series of coasters, which marks our entry into the homeware sector, an area we've always been passionate about.
Jump right in and mess around. Once you have an idea, get that working prototype up as quickly and as lean as you can. Then test, test, test.
A good designer focuses on aesthetics over performance. A great designer can incorporate both.
We would love to break into larger scale products like backpacks and duffle bags. We think there are some designs in these areas that are incredibly dated or not very functional and we'd like to try our hand at updating them.
The secret ingredient is being open to change. One clutch that we designed was beautiful, but it did not meat our functionality requirements. It got put on the shelf until we had the idea to transform it into a travel jewelry case. From there, the Duchess was born and has been a great seller for us.
The Wanderer is our flagship design. As a leather travel dopp kit, we believe it is currently the most functional design in this area on the market. It solves a very specific need: keeping items contained while still being easily accessible.
Design truly drives the backbone of society. The more that design can create ease and reduce friction in people's lives, the more people can open themselves to the thing that they were meant to do or create, adding to society as a whole.
I'd love to see busyness in design reduced. People seem to be adding more more more to everything. I'd love to see more targeted, cleaner design be perpetuated.
We want people to travel and see the world and be able to focus on that experience, and therefore, surround themselves with accessories that aid that quest instead of get in the way.
Designer Interview
2 May 2018
I learned to sew when I was 7 years old and have been hooked ever since. I wanted to bring new design to handmade goods that I wasn't finding on the market currently.
CALILA is a design studio that creates functional personal and travel accessories with a simple, minimal aesthetic.
Design should function and add value to one's life.
I love chairs. I particularly love the Eames molded chair. I love how beautifully it incorporates a single piece of geometry.
The first design we ever did was a tote bag that way a daily carry haul-all. It had very specific functions for each of its pockets and a Japanese modern inspired aesthetic.
I feel liberated. It feels like breaking through the wall of old ideas that hold people back and touching a new space of possibilities.
Does it work? It's really that simple. It should fulfill it's function in a very targeted and specific way.
We alway start with a problem we are encountering in our life or someone else's. We dial into the specifics of that problem and try to solve it in a way that hasn't been done before. Finally, we focus on very clean, minimal, geometric shapes in the final design silhouette.
Sometimes it is as quick as a few days. Other times it can take six months to a year. It is all about how well the design prototypes perform in the real world.
We primarily specialize in high design boutiques and museum stores, places that appreciate a focus on design.
It has always been a back and forth design process between the two co-founders, Cameron Stephens and Lindsey Vaniman.
All of our information is on our website at www.shopcalila.com or email us at caliladesignsla@gmail.com