Fiona Sibley meets the Hidden Art exhibitors at 100% Design 2003
Image: Raucous Rattan by Damdesign Photo: Paul Chave.
Kal Chottai of Damdesign is currency for a popular theory doing the rounds at the moment - that for the cream of contemporary design talent, London is a more exciting place to be than Milan. Having spent three years there, studying for a Masters in Design & Management at the Politecnico di Milano and then working for clients like King & Miranda and Cinelli, he prefers the free rein enjoyed by young designers here.
“I love Milan, but as a designer there’s not enough scope there to have your own products,” he says. “You work for a big studio, and everything is released under a brand name. Here the industry is populated by individuals, so anyone can move in whatever direction they want.”
With a foot in each of the two increasingly competitive camps, Kal has the benefit of a multinational approach to his designs. His products are sleek and professional, emulating the attention to detail that oozes from every pore of life in Milan, but he knows too that he can present things in unconventional ways, thanks to the London tag.
Take the new Raucous Rattan lighting range. Whilst in Milan in 2001, Tom Dixon’s Domus Design Factory was exhibiting a specialist extrusion machine which could create natural shapes out of plastic. Invited to produce a piece, Kal wound the extruding plastic round a makeshift mould, designed to collapse inwards, to create an organic form. It became the shade of Estruso, which he subsequently exhibited in London and New York.
Yet better than artificially creating a natural effect using plastic, Kal returned to basics by designing similar shaped light shades in rattan - a highly economical, sustainable material which can be wound, stapled and dyed to produce a range of shapes.
Raucous Rattan follows previous Damdesign lighting made from natural materials including wafer thin plywood, which sets exciting precedents for lighting. Purves and Purves included these designs in the 2002 Wood for Good exhibition to promote the use of wood in interior design. As a lighting designer, Kal has received accolades as diverse as selection for Taschen’s 1000 Lights design book, and the even more humbling “most popular product in the entire show by public vote” prize at the Interior and Design fair in St Petersburg, both in 2002.
Damdesign’s new furniture range, Trio takes a prism as its starting point, being the most stable of 3D forms, and recreates it minimally, using a single piece of tubular steel. Kal gained an introduction to Cameron Engineering Services Ltd through the Hidden Art Design and Manufacture Project, which had a new CAM tube bending machine they wanted to test with new uses. Having perfected the Basso prototype stool, he has plans to develop the range, including a stool, a light and a table, and has received interest from an Italian manufacturer.
Meanwhile he cannot wait to return to the vibrant Italian city he loves, having exhibited his products at the Salone del Mobile twice now – with Hidden Art last April and designersblock in 2002. “It feels much better to go back to Milan to present as an English designer. It’s opening up and designers from England are being taken more seriously. It’s a lot better than being seen as one of their own.”
September 2003