Interview with Sunny Jackson
Sunny Jackson is an artist and designer who is guided by a lifelong study of nature and its elements. At all times, at the core of her work, is a tribute to the raw and unadulterated beauty of the…
Design Legend Interview
26 June 2024
I received a degree in Landscape Architecture from Arizona State University in America. Before pursuing my art career full time, I worked as a landscape architect for design firms in both the States as well as several islands in the Caribbean. I eventually moved to Indonesia where I can create pieces using the vast array of beautiful unique wood as my canvas.
The alchemy of different living materials mixed together to create something completely new has been such an exploratory and illuminative process. (no pun intended). I like the fact too that I come to the art world as an outlier, which enables me to bring a fresh and out of the box approach to art and design, combining materials in non-traditional ways to create new works of art.
Is this a trick question:)? Of course, as a designer and an artist, I like to think that I chose the path of creative expression and creative problem solving, but my life experience might tell me otherwise and is always there to remind me that maybe sometimes I don't actually have a choice. I can't escape it. I don't want to escape it. I am here always. It is just a part of me. Like my breath that belongs to me and my heart that pumps my blood. I think design and art are just a part of me - it's not a choice, it's just who I am.
I design functional art pieces made of wood, quartz crystal and light. I would love to expand my designs in both directions big and small. I am inquisitive just as much about the micro as I am the macro. I would love to work on new designs that reflect this, smaller objects as well as large land art installations. It's fun to think about such ideas.
Keep going. Continue to believe in your creations, in yourself. You are valued in the world as a co-creator of the universe. Don't lose sight of your value as a creative contributor to society. We are the ones with the vision and this is very important to remember. And know too that when you feel like giving up, (because every creative i know has felt this way at least once in their life), this is often the moment when a new invigoration of good news is just on the other side. This has happened to me so many times. So now i know that when I'm feeling particularly down on myself, that something good is just around the corner. It keeps me going knowing this. Hang in there and keep doing the good work. As you expand, so does your work and this will most definitely be reflected in your body of work as you keep going.
Marketing! Haha. Joking, not joking. But honestly speaking, a good designer is able to recognize good design and usually models his/her work after other good designs. A great designer is one who can conceive something that's assembled in such an unusual and unique way that it completely separates it from other designs before it.
I check for the innovative qualities imbued within it. Is it novel in its approach? Does it solve a problem in a new and better way than the designs before it?
Value is what can be attached to something that makes it worthwhile to someone. Good design should inherently have value. And if it has value, it's worth investing in it. Simple as that.
The project I haven't yet dreamed of. Everything else is already a dream project that I have at least taken some steps towards realizing. Everything else just exists out in the ether, waiting to be realized.
Adding value to my designs. Layer upon layer of value. Creative marketing. Good photography. Good communication skills.
I am very proud of a recent artwork I completed called Womb of Lyra. I took a 350kg piece of teak wood, burnt it black to mimic the night sky and then made over 600 holes through the meter thick piece of wood, upon which I inserted a tiny quartz crystal, atop fiberoptic lights which shimmered just like a night sky when turned on. The project drew upon the inspiration of the constellation of Lyra, a nod to a metaphysical concept that our consciousness sprung from this place in the cosmos. It is well known that all things are birthed from the stars, so this artwork portrays humanity's existence as individual crystals in a sky of stars.
Never stop being inspired. it is the single most important thing you can do as a designer. Never stop looking at things in new ways and asking questions.
I don't think this is an option.
Designer Interview
28 May 2019
02.For as long as I can remember, I envisioned myself a designer. When I was 5, it was all about toys, and how to make new toys that didn't exist yet. When I got older, I liked drawing and designing clothes, and after that phase, it was all about architecture and dream homes. I eventually landed on landscape architecture in college. Even after college, I was always interested in designing better systems for the problems I faced in my work. I patented an outdoor seating furniture piece with artificial grass on top in an effort to cut down on how hot the outdoor seating would become in a place like Phoenix, Arizona where it is not uncommon for temperatures to be over 37 C. I am now interested in combining sculpture and lighting and love the junction of these two disciplines. I have always been designing. I have no idea what I'll be up to in 20 years from now, but I have no doubt I'll still be designing.
Sunny Jackson studios is a small design studio which has two main production zones, that of the wood shop and that of the lighting studio. All the heavy, dusty and manual woodwork is completed in the woodshop by a very talented team of artisans who know their trade inside and out. The electrical, lighting and delicate crystal work is all completed in another studio. Again, all by hand, and all by artisans.
At its most basic level, design is finding solutions to problems. On a more complex level, design is one of the main disciplines, alongside science and technology, for our advancement as a species. It is the result of seeking answers that have not been sought or questioned previously.
Wood sculpture, lighting, water features and outdoor gardens
A residential garden with swimming pool, garden, fireplace, and water feature. I won an award for it, which surprised me as it was my first solo project and also the first time that my design had been built in which I was able to see it move from paper to ground. I loved that aspect of design - the moment it becomes real.
When I am by myself with no distractions.
I focus a lot on the void. It's not an obvious aspect to the art that I make, but it is because of the void that the lighting is able to find its platform. The shape of the void is important in how light bounces off a concave or sloped surface to create the whole. It is something that I focused on in my water features as well - how to use light to fill the void. It makes for extremely interesting art.
I feel excited, I feel empowered, I feel perfect.
Oh it is one of the best parts of being a designer/artist. It's a powerful feeling to know that your ideas can come to life like this.
I think the part that makes a design successful is when it is enjoyed by those for whom it was designed. The moment it becomes useful and enjoyed by others is when it becomes successful.
Did the design solve a problem? If yes, then did the designer go above and beyond to consider the deeper levels at which the design could be improved? Finally, did the designer understand the psychological needs of its end user?
As designers, we have an immensely important role to society in order to shine a light on issues that need attention; And then to go beyond that step and offer thoughtful solutions.
The future of design will largely be about solving the catastrophic effects of human impact on the environment. How to live and coincide with nature. That is where designers will be putting all of their focus.
In one word. Nature. I know it sounds cliche, and perhaps a little obvious, but mother nature has always been my source of energy and my source of inspiration. She is perfect in every way and has a plethora of designs to expand upon.
I would call it Modern Organic. I take the basic elemental materials from nature and ascribe a contemporary twist with an aesthetic and functional outcome.