23
June 2015
Three successful Greek designers talk about their creations, their careers and stainless steel
(From left)
Skouloudi Christina (Product designer)
www.skouloudi.com
Spiridonos Kaliroy (Interior decorator, Designer, Painter, Applied Arts professor)
Tel. (+30)2103223064,
Kaliroy3@otenet.gr ,
www.hellenicartanddesign.gr
Morali Christina (Ceramic artist)
Tel. (+30)2108143386,
xmorali@otenet.gr ,
www.christina-morali.gr
SKOULOUDI CHRISTINA
I.I. Where do you get your inspiration from?
C.S. Literally from everywhere!
I.I. Which is your most beautiful creation in stainless steel and why does it stand out?
C.S. An illuminant made with laser-cut stainless steel sheet. It stands out because of the experimentation with bending process. I really liked the transformation of the stainless steel sheet, a 2D material, into a 3D useful object.
I.I. What are your criteria for choosing stainless steel on your projects?
C.S. Clearly functional!
I.I. When was your first contact with stainless steel in your projects?
C.S. While I was studying in London, many years ago, in the university labs’.
I.I. Do you believe that stainless steel will still exist in future projects?
C.S. Of course it will exist! As long as there is humidity, there will be stainless steel!
I.I. What would you advise a new professional that would use stainless steel in his projects?
C.S. To address themselves to you, “Ieronimakis Inox”, if they’re looking for high quality products and deep knowledge on this particular material.
I.I. Tell us a few words on your cooperation with Ieronimakis Inox S.A.
C.S. Working with Ieronimakis Inox is very nice. Despite the fact that the applications I asked for were not big-scale, the team was always polite, professional and cooperative towards me.
SPIRIDONOS KALIROY
I.I. Where do you get your creativity from?
K.S. Inspiration for a creator, no matter of what kind (art, design etc), comes from an impulse feeling. A small observation over the ordinary life. It can be a sound, music, an image from the nature, a situation we are living in or a need, especially when it comes to functionality and ergonomics.
Many times ideas come from silly things that we laugh about with our collaborators while working…
I doubt pretty often on how to match materials, on what sizes and what’s the aesthetics coming from the creations (it’s been 20 years, this year, that I became a freelancer).
I.I. Which is your most beautiful creation in stainless steel and why does it stand out?
K.S. The best object I have ever fabricated in stainless steel is the “dantella” table.
The first concept came from a guitar pick, for the top view, the rounded triangle (Helexpo 2005). Later on, the same design was included in my collection, “retro-nouveau” (2010-11 s/m/l/xl Hellenic Design, the exhibition I organized for all of us, 21 creators).
“Retro-nouveau” is about objects with design redefinition… with a tasty of nostalgia.
For the table, it’s about an object in modern material (stainless steel), in modern production procedure and handcrafted finishing, whilst inspiration comes from the old, “mama” style table-cloth in lace (I refer to the stainless steel sheet laser-cut in 6mm thickness, of its top view and its slots in patterns). A tripod, for practical and ergonomic purposes, that moves on wheels, for easy use. We take full advantage of the product’s resistance and quality.
(I’d love it if a sponsor for the research was found, so that I’d keep up the design till its last detail, I’d add the accessories and the whole in the middle, I’d set the height leveling and the packaging).
The original has a functional shape, in dinning-table height and accommodates up to 12 persons. As for aesthetics, the “game” of shades in the pattern slots (that apart from beautiful is very practical when used as outdoor furniture) is enough.
I.I. What are your criteria for choosing stainless steel on your projects?
K.S. I was identified to stainless steel for years, when it came to metal objects. It doesn’t rust; it can be polished in various brushes and ways. Apart from its natural lustrous shine, it offers many different shades and styles that I personally find very interesting and fascinating.
Us, designers, should look up to craftsmen for the way they work with stainless steel, as if they were sculptors.
It’s unbelievable resistance and flexibility (depending on its molecular mass density) allows you to use it indoors and outdoors.
It’s very interesting not only to create an object with welding, but also to assembly its parts with joints and bolts, so that the final products can be entirely assembled and dissembled.
I.I. When was your first contact with stainless steel in your projects?
K.S. In Dion (1996-97), not many great things. Later (in 2002) in “Arlequin” hair-salon in Kolonaki Athens, where we set the equipment in inox and we “married” it with the salon’s Phillip Stark chairs. Door handles with the monogram, mirror frames, salon trays, chairs and patent registered inox polls for mirror rotating were designed and manufactured in cooperation with DK inox and Ieronimakis Inox.
I.I. Do you believe that stainless steel will still exist in future projects?
K.S. Of course, there always have to be applications in stainless steel, according to its properties, and since there’s the economic crisis in Greece we should try saving some materials in our constructions.
Stainless steel is a metal that saves money as it lasts in time with minimum preservation. Now and more maturely, I’d treat it with mastery; I’d work its aesthetic mix with other materials like porcelain, wood, cloth. Stainless steel wire mesh can also give incredible creations as well.
I.I. What would you advise a new professional that would use stainless steel in his projects?
K.S. I’d advise him to think carefully what he draws and not to just send an e-mail and wait for the result. Group work is collective and that has always been the beauty of this profession’s daily routine; a creator-designer must communicate well with the manufacturer on every piece they try to create.
I.I. Tell us a few words on your cooperation with Ieronimakis Inox S.A.
K.S. I get on with Ieronimakis Inox team very well. The people we adjusted the designs in Autocad, the craftsmen’s advice on what can be realized and what cannot… What else can I say? Ieronimakis Inox is one of my permanent partners, since way back.
MORALI CHRISTINA
I.I. What is the source of your creativity?
C.M. Everyday life. The energy that’s hidden in a walk in Athens’ market is always a source of creativity to me..
I.I. Which is your most beautiful creation in stainless steel and why does it stand out?
C.M. The lunch table with the ceramic plates. It has “light” look and it differs from the usual table designs in ceramic plates, we all created in the past. The “heavy” sensation of the ceramic made me choose stainless steel. My intention was to create a ceramic table that takes less space and by consequence that is lighter. That’s why I chose stainless steel wedge wire screens.
I.I. When was your first contact with stainless steel in your projects?
C.M. My stainless steel table in ceramic plates.
I.I. Do you believe that stainless steel will still exist in future projects?
C.M. Yes
I.I. What would you advise a new professional that would use stainless steel in his projects?
C.M. To find the right manufacturer.
I.I. Tell us a few words on your cooperation with Ieronimakis Inox S.A.:
C.M. What struck me and I often say it, is that when some friends of mine that are architects suggested Ieronimakis Inox and I went over for our first contact, I thought “What am I doing here, in this big firm, just for a table?” I was very impressed that I was treated like a large scale company. When I set the question on whether they’d undertake an artist like me, they answered in a natural and friendly way: “Sure, why not?”. Everything I created with Ieronimakis Inox was quiet fuzzy, but the craftsmen have invested many hours in my creations.