Jan Ctvrtnik is a creative young designer from Europe with artistic background, hand drawing skills and ability to work hard to reach the goals. His focus is on user-centered design based on good research. Due to his multinational studies, his understanding of cultural differences and trends, he is able to bring about innovative solutions to everyday life. More coming up after a li’le jump,
1. Jan, would you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Jan: I was born in Czechoslovakia and studied design in Czech Republic and Sweden. Since 2002, I am self-employed designer although design is rather my hobby. I cooperated with lots of companies amongst which IKEA, NASA, Lunar Design, Moser, Postrin Design, MM interier, Tactoo, File-studio, Paramo etc. Now I work in Industrial Design Centre of Electrolux in Italy.
2. What motivated you to go into designing? And where do you get the ideas from?
Jan: When I was eight, I read a small article about design in some magazine, and at that moment for the first time I thought that I would like to do design. Then I forgot about this dream for some time and design came to my mind again, when I was at the university, attending the pottery classes. This turned my interest back to design and after winning the first price in design competition, it was clear that design is my destiny.
I am usually trying to study the current subject first and during this research the solution, most of the time, turns up. Most often, I find the best solution during watching people’s behavior in various situations.
3. How far have you been able to capture user-centered design based on good research?
Jan: There are very few clients who demand this user-centered method. However, now, while working at Electrolux, I do my best to subordinate the design to the final users, rather than technical needs. The best solution for any design is usually coming out of the ordinary people’s needs. The designer is like the writer, from who he gets the interest in watching people’s daily behavior, but with the difference that designer re-moulds and rewrites the reality in the future product. That means that the problematic situation, the people have every day, will change forever and never occur again due to the designer’s influence.
4. How would the pocket knife protected by spiral practically put into use?
Jan: The inspiration for this knife came out of thinking about what is the meaning of all kinds of protection. By the semantics change of the protection in some grill, I came up with the protection of blade in the shape of spiral. Spiral is screwed on the blade so it is harmless but as soon as you screw it out; it serves as the knife handle.
5. Please acquaint our readers with your Chemical watch that subtracts time?
Jan: When you buy the food, the expiry dates are usually tiny little and not very visibly printed on the cover. I have bought a few times the food which was older than I thought. Therefore I was thinking it would be great to buy the food products which are marked with the easily visible expiry dates for the first sight.
However, the chemical watch do not show the date or time. It shows the degradation of the product with regards to the storage conditions. The chemical watch has a special stripe which gradually changes the color by chemical process with dependence on the time and temperature. Time and temperature are the basic factors affecting the quality of food. The worse (warmer) storage conditions, the faster food goes wrong.
Chemical watch is the sticker produced in a way so that when the product guaranty is 7 days, the whole sticker will change in 7 days. The producer will apply the sticker on the product on the day of production and this will activate the chemical process. If the product is to be stored in a cool place and it is not, the chemical reaction is faster, and this reflects the factual aging of the food.
6. How far the ‘Rury fashion sunglasses’- made of polycarbonate tube- would be feasible to wear?
Jan: The Rury were designed for the fashion show where these were used by about 20 models in the sharp light of reflectors. There were no problems with wearing and using the glasses, only polycarbonate glass would have to be produced with regards to the optics with the perfect smooth surface and uniform thickness of the material.
7. Would the packaging design in case of ‘Glaze cardboard’ be safe from hygiene point of view?
Jan: Yes. Obviously, the preparation process of the slush would have to be done in sterile and controlled facility. Nowadays, the hot water is also used for the production of slush dilution so there would only have to be more strict hygiene standards but no major change in the production process.
8. You have worked in various genres of design, like, furniture design, jewellery design, products, concepts, packaging design, glass, illustrations, this might have given you a kind of cutting edge in designing, how far am I true in holding such an assertion?
Jan: It has never been my intention to be the ‘cutting edge’. However, I like the variability of my work and more variable is the work offer, the bigger challenge it is for me and I like doing it more! This is the reason for so wide spectra of designs, I was involved in. I tried to do all the designs the best I could and if I managed to get closer to the cutting edge, I am very pleased.
9. Do you have a signature style? If yes, what are the hallmarks of your style?
Jan: The signature style can appear only if the customer lets me design the product SOLELY in my taste. This does not happen very often because usually designer must adjust his work to the taste of the customer.
In the aesthetic appearing of design, I like when the product is assembled of the puzzles of the connected edges and areas, which are uncommonly linked up to the characteristically different, but at the same time, in the simple shape. I think that typical product of this signature style is the seating furniture Koxy. The simplicity and user comfort is however always substituted by arbitrariness of designer’s aesthetics.
10. Where do you see yourself, after, let’s say, five years down the line?
Jan: I would like to do the design in all of its sectors as so far. Yet I would like to move forward to the real cutting edge on the world design field. I also found out that there are only positive comments about design. I would like to engage in professional critics of this discipline. Nevertheless, I will pursue design critics after I finish my active career of designer.
11. Any parting words of wisdom?
Jan: I am not parting yet; I am right at the beginning!
12. Finally, we would like to have your views on Coolbuzz.org?
Jan: Very interesting! It seems like a good on-line source of inspiration, information and fun!
Rapid fire questions:
Describe yourself in one word?
Jan: Possessed.
What kind of music do you prefer?
Jan: Any, played by humans.
If you had to walk in another person’s shoes for a day, it would have to be?
Jan: Neil Armstrong when landed on the Moon.
The guy, who presented the airbag to the investors for the first time ever and see their faces, when he suggested the grenade exploding in peoples face during the car crash.
I would like to be also in the drum-shoes of Lars Ulrich in front of the sold out arena.
Website(s) you must visit per day?
Jan: Tactoo.com, Nyx.cz.
If given a chance, what would you change about the world?
Jan: The world is compact system, where the consequence of each change will have impact on something else somewhere else. I am a part of the mankind, which is changing the world by its ignorance, and we are already starting to see the changes, which are probably irreversible. If I could, I would not like to do the similar thoughtlessness, I would not change anything.
Thank you Jan for sparing out time in doing an interview with us, it is greatly appreciated. I’d also like to wish you luck for all your future endeavors.