It’s not often that the artistic masterpieces on display at the MoMa come from scrap yards. But Ron Arad, whose pieces were on display in a sweeping retrospective at the New York art institution in 2009, isn’t the type of artist or designer that arrives often either.
His unorthodox creations know no limits when it comes to their materials and shapes, and their eye-catching physiques have now graced leading design and art institutions worldwide from the Centre Pompidou to London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. Arad is renowned for his ability to reimagine materials and functional concepts, creating chairs from metal or lights from printed circuit boards. His unique vision and hands-on process has led to innovative partnerships with brands including KENZO, Swarovski, and now LODES.
From the Rover Chair that catapulted his artistic career into the design and furniture realm to the newly released Cono di Luce for Lodes, Ron Arad just does things differently. Born and raised in Israel, Arad studied architecture in Tel Aviv and London before co-founding the design firm One Off in 1981. That same year, he developed the Rover Chair with a P6 Rover car seat and tubular metal, drawing inspiration from Picasso’s Bull Head which used metal bicycle parts to create the shape of a bull’s horn.
“Boredom is the mother of Creativity,” Arad told us, though it doesn’t seem he’s had much time to be bored in the past few decades. We spoke with Arad to understand the concept between his glowing new Cono di Luce collection and his singular approach.
What inspired you to design a lighting collection with Lodes?
I confess that I can’t help it, but when I’m approached by a company to do something, I can’t block ideas that come to my head. This was the case with Lodes too–I could not block ideas from coming into my head.
Can you share the story behind the Cono di Luce?
When I talked to Lodes, and we were discussing suspended elements and having different combinations of the same element repeating, the cone jumped the queue of all the other ideas. We talked about the printed circuit, and how it would be very pleasing to see it rolled into the cone. I was happy with the first sketches and the way they developed into the product, and I’m very happy with the name we gave it. I think it’s only a beginning because many other ideas can follow this.
You’re known for your creative work with alternative materials, what made you choose Pyrex for Cono di Luce?
We had many options for making a transparent cone. We had to consider the qualities of the materials we chose, such as fragility, manufacturing ease, and appearance. We considered a lot of them, but the Pyrex won the audition, but it’s not the only material that could be used.
How does Cono di Luce present light in a new way?
There is a lot of development in the source of lights like LEDs, LCDs— many different light sources. We all witnessed how lights started incorporating LEDs, which have nothing to do with the development of the light bulb but still keep the look of the light bulb. We should enjoy the new possibilities that new technologies offer us. We’re talking about printed circuits, so let’s use their flexibility, and let’s use the fact that we can roll them and have effects like the Moire effect of overlapping grids.
What do you hope people will think about when using the Cono di Luce? Is it designed to inspire anything particular in the spaces it occupies?
No. Every suspended light does two things: it illuminates the space and provides aesthetic focal point to the room. This light does both very well. Additionally, a group of them can hang at different heights and distances. There are many options when arranging them in a group.
What makes for good lighting—is there more to it than simply illuminating a space?
Lights create the atmosphere of a room. They are objects themselves, what objects look like in a space and what the light does to the space.
You’re renowned for creating functional items that double as works of art. How do you approach keeping that creative spirit alive in items designed for function?
Form and function are not enemies; they are very good friends. It’s not one or the other. The best designs are where they join hands to create delight. If a chair looks amazing but you can’t sit on it, it’s not a chair. Do something else. If you do something functional it can be judged and assessed by how it performs the function, but that doesn’t mean the aesthetics of it should be compromised. Form and function are very good friends.
What does your design process look like? How do you shepherd pieces from sketches into form?
As long as I can remember, the most important tool I’ve had is the pencil: you think, you sketch. Another important tool is talking.
I’m very lucky that I’ve collected nice people around me that I can talk to and discuss ideas with and develop them. Some of them are better than me at developing the ideas for technical or other reasons. It is about being curious about things, doing things that not only satisfy my curiosity but the curiosity of others, whether these are the people around me or the people who end up using or consuming the things, or buying them, because it’s not only my curiosity that matters, it’s everyone’s.
What is your design philosophy?
Design philosophy: to design is to impose the will of the designer over a material using some processes to make something that performs a function. That’s what we do. And it’s not only technology. Sometimes it’s artisans. It is a symbiosis between the will of a creator or an artist or a designer, the will of the process and the material, and all the knowledge and capacity of the artisans. They all have a part in it. The work is always a result of all of them joining hands.
Does your philosophy change depending on the project, taking different shape for example with architectural installations vs. consumer goods or furniture?
No. But everything you do has a different destination, and requires different assessments. Sometimes you have an idea that you know is not going to end in a furniture shop. It’s going to end in a gallery and there are different considerations; it’s not mass production or the cost of production. Sometimes it’s the other way around. Sometimes it is about mass production, it is about the process of making something, it also includes the economy of the whole process. It is never one or the other. I have the freedom to choose where to take it and which considerations to let win, and which considerations are more important.
In the same way, sometimes you have an idea of something, and you think what the best material would be, the best process, who would be the best to do it? Sometimes it’s the other way around. You come across a very exciting new process or new material, and you ask yourself, what can I do with it? It’s not one or the other.
