New Designers 2020 • Meet the Winning Designer
In the search of a design that demonstrates both growth potential within the design industry and reflects Sir Terence Conran’s design ethos, our judges headed over to the virtual New Designers 2020 and awarded Frank Winter the Conran Shop Design Award for his inspired Workshop System collection.
We sat down with Frank to find out more about the ever-evolving world of design, his creative process and the magnitude of the late Sir Terence Conran.
4. As to your work, who inspires it and do you have a particular process that drives your craft?
Jean Prouvé has always had an impact on my thought process. His approach to material use is so simple yet very structural and practical. Much the same, my work tends to evolve through experimenting with materials, finding practical connections and processes.
5. How important do you think something like New Designers is for emerging designers?
I think New Designers is very beneficial for emerging designers as it gives us the opportunity to have our work noticed by lots of industry professionals.
6. Looking around, did you see any emerging trends/shared concerns/materials with your fellow designers?
Something that is and always should be more prominent each year is sustainability, whether this be extremely blatant or hidden in the materials and construction of a product.
7. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing emerging designers? Did the lockdown impact your work in any way, and how was it working through New Designers virtually?
I think one of the biggest challenges for emerging designers is finding your way into the industry, it can also be quite daunting. Lockdown massively affected how I work, meaning I moved from spending most of my time in the workshop to developing my projects solely on a computer. This resulted in the outcome consisting of renders rather than physical prototypes.
8. What, in your opinion, makes a design timeless?
Primarily a design must be practical and durable so that it can last the test of time. In my opinion, a timeless design needs to be stripped back to its necessities.
9. What are your ambitions for the next ten years?
I plan on working in the industry to build my knowledge, whilst at the same time creating my own designs so when it's feasible I can start up my own practice.
10. Lastly, which is your favourite piece of design history and who is your favourite designer?
I don’t think that I have a favourite piece of design nor designer, though carrying on from an earlier question I think that Jean Prouve's ‘Standard’ is certainly up there and holds a perfect depiction of what I love about his work!
