Interview with Onur Ozkaya

I have started to develop my own work late 2009, after leaving my position at Foster+Partners in London. Since then, I have been dividing my time between teaching, competitions and collaborations with artists and architects. My work has been studying advanced techniques and technologies that being used by industrial design and somehow bringing an architectural scale to the proposed projects. Furniture and body scale installations have been main focus for the last few years, where I had a chance to implement and test some interesting ideas.

For me design is actually most of the time, creating new problems rather than solving existing problems. It is perhaps usually generating new ideas and ideally bringing them to the mainstream to enhance our living conditions.

Everything. I had a chance to work on furniture, architecture and several consumer products so far but I have been also looking at vehicle and transport design recently for a research project.

Each project had so many different challenges so far. I think due to their exclusivity to the briefs and conditions, most of them are quite unique in different aspects whether its technology, location or type.

My first official design commission was a pet furniture for a small company (PetDreamHouse) in U.K. It was quite unique since it is not for people but had a very positive response from both consumers and the client so far.

On my earlier studies, I have been experimenting with plywood but recently combining multiple materials was quite interesting. With Cellular coffee table, I have started experimenting with both nylon and metal by using 3d printing and metal-forming. Each material and technology give completely different responses in terms of both material performance and user feedback. With this client (Janusta) we have previously worked with metal and marble and the challenge of creating perforated metal surfaces brought us to the using 3D printing for actual product while controlling some parts with metal again.

Evenings.

Proportions. On every project, geometry and proportions are quite essential. This includes again consideration of user, material and finally the context whether it's a furniture or architectural project.

Skeptical.

Critical.

I think a design project can be success or failure on different areas. A project can be a commercial success while failing to response or predict a new way of using a certain living condition. Or a project can be a complete commercial failure in the beginning but then it can create very interesting and critical conversations for its brief and existence in the first place.

I'm always very critical and skeptical about my work, especially during early stages. Proportions and its relation to the user and context is very important so I try to produce many options (mostly on my budget!) to re-evaluate several conditions before final realization.

Particularly, for my own work, probably the biggest responsibility is being highly critical about the work on every stage to raise interesting questions. This could fall into any condition whether it's environmental, technical, or social.

I believe globalization and economy has affected design industry massively in the last few years. Manufacturers and fabricators are open to new collaborations and ideas to test or challenge some new techniques. We might start seeing the emergence of combining both technological and traditional production techniques and technologies on different geographies.

I have recently exhibited a competition winning entry at Tokyo Design Week on october 2014. Previously involved in several collective exhibitions in London and Tokyo again.

Due to my work and background I travel a lot. This might have been giving me quite objective attitude for each project. I particularly enjoy Japanese culture and find their both radical and holistic approach to everyday items since my early days of studying.

Probably due to my architectural education, I do approach every project quite analytically. The form, context, materials, users and almost every aspect have to be carefully analyzed and finally given restrictions create very interesting ideas to explore new conditions. The approach is usually challenging the brief, asking or bringing new questions rather than problem-solving attitude.

I live in London. I was born in Turkey and moved to London about 10 years ago. I carry 2 different passports and my family has always been also scattered around Europe so I believe nationality would be getting more irrelevant in the near future but obviously my previous background and current living conditions, due its geography and culture, have been probably affecting my projects.

Mostly they contact me. 1/3 of my work is still coming from quite challenging competition entries so I have been very lucky to be approached by people who had been willing to push their comfort zone!

I think open competition system is still very useful. With a fair and professional judging system, both designers and commercial entities can collaborate on very exciting and fruitful projects.

I have been developing my own work since 2009 so I might say I'm still evolving my process. There is not any singular or particular top-down system to approach any brief or project so far. However, the deep analysis of the user, material and context have been very important. I try to analyze the given situation quite carefully and each design move usually comes from very specific restrictions.

Fridge, Oven, dishwasher, washing machine and finally my espresso pot!

Every day has been quite random so far. Loads of travelling has been the only static aspect I guess due to my teaching activities.

Both architecture and design are very difficult disciplines. Being a designer needs a very personal commitment, continuous research and curiosity. Finally not taking yourself too seriously!

I think dealing with both culture and technology is quite positive in addition to other creative aspects of being in the design field. However, the financial circumstances can be considered negative for some as both design and architecture needs several years of investigation and maturity to finally sustain an affordable life standards.

No golden rule or specific "dogma" for me so far.

Drawing is still quite an essential skill. Even though, we work with computers quite early stages, drawing gives designers a very specific "thinking" approach both for representation and analysis of conditions.

I have been using both very traditional and technological tools since the earlier days. Due to my studio's location (Hackney, London) I have been very lucky to collaborate with quite highly skilled fabricators and manufacturers. I also use rapid prototyping tools a lot (laser cutting and 3D Printing) at earlier stages to analyze loads of different options. Finally, drawing is still an important aspect for my projects for both communication and exploring ideas.

I think all designers are very bad with time management. With every project or competition, new knowledge or experience comes in so I'm probably getting maybe more efficient at some stages but I'm still trying to make sure that time or budget constraints do not affect the qualities that we have been looking for.

Depends on every project. For cellular table, from the first discussion to final prototype took almost 7 months.

How much is it ?!

I have previously worked at Foster+Partners for 2 years. I had a chance to work on quite exciting projects on different scale so I think this gave me a very fast knowledge about architecture and design after my education.

Janusta (Turkey), PetDreamHouse(UK) and several private individuals in Spain.

Furniture has been very interesting for me. The fact that it has a strong connection to its users and architectural nature, brings up very interesting conditions and conversations for each project.

I have been working on several public competitions. A public furniture commission in U.K., private competition in Italy for a sanitary brand and an architectural commission in Barcelona for a refurbishment of an existed cafe-park.

I'm mostly involved from every stage by myself, mainly in design. For challenging issues like engineering or fabrication, I tend to collaborate with consultants here in London.

I have been working on a new limited edition furniture commission for a private client in Spain. We have been developing a dining and working table for a live-work space, that can accommodate six people in total. We have started to experiment with perforated leather and working on a very experimental way of using upholstery on this furniture in order to create a quite lightweight result.

E-mail: info@onurozkaya.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8983 9671
Web: www.onurozkaya.co.uk

Thank you so much!