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| Young designer sticks to his eco-principles |
| December 14 2008 at 02:15PM |
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By Peter Bills For Frank, who grew up in Gauteng and studied in Cape Town, these are not necessarily the most propitious of circumstances in which to unearth the inspiration for his work. No matter, Frank, a product of Randpark High School in Johannesburg, remains fiercely committed to the concept of an ecosensitive collection. Wherever possible, he uses sustainable materials sourced from the natural environment and brought to fruition as a product by his own innovative design skills and lively, enquiring mind. It's easy to be cynical about young designers like Frank. The big multinationals would doubtless like to dismiss them as merely playing at the field; but then, the multinationals would like nothing better than to dismiss the entire subject of environmentally friendly materials. Thankfully, Frank and others like him are not willing to let them. "These big chains are not actively promoting or pursuing this subject, but I think in 2009 we might see more action and less talk," he tells me. "These world issues now mean that there is enough pressure and demand from the public and the industry. But it needs to get to the point where you won't sell your product unless it is ecofriendly. Every product on the market needs to have some responsible credentials. "At the moment, it is still a money-driven market. That remains the guiding factor. Unfortunately, sustainable products are still classed as being in the luxury market. And it's true, I pay double the price for some materials I use so you have to retail some things at double the price of the mass-produced stuff." It's a strange tale how Frank found himself in Hackney. Now 34, he was born in Krugersdorp and studied product design in Cape Town at the Cape Technicon. He did a three-year diploma course and a fourth year brought a BTech. degree. The first six months of the latter year he spent in Cape Town but then, on a student exchange, he spent the last six months in Holland. He found it an "excellent" experience. "I was a happy student in Cape Town; I had a nice flat, good friends and it's a great place to be a student. I admit I asked myself if I wanted to go to a cold European country. When I'd talked myself into it and reached Holland, I found I was in the middle of one of the coldest European winters for years." But Frank learned a lot about surviving, making a meagre budget stretch and also about himself. He did an internship at Arnhem for a small product design company, then did some work with 3D graphics, but it was simply the different materials that he found available that really inspired him. He started making products out of small things, such as coat hangers and reclaimed newspapers. He decided to make his base in London for two reasons: it was about the furthest he could fly on the tiny budget he had available and because he felt the place he found in Hackney "just feels like a little melting pot of creative energy". He talks of the whole mix of nationalities coming together with a lot of experimental work going on. Frank finds the environment captivating and challenging. But, of course, when you are in a business that is still at the embryonic stage, it is hard. He sells from specific commissions and licensing agreements but, like a lot of other creative people, finds himself spending too much time on the basics of the whole process, even aspects such as packaging and manufacturing, rather than focusing 100 percent on actual design. "It's pretty hard making a go of it. When you are starting on your own, you need to be able to fund yourself with no guarantee you will recoup your outlay. You spend time coming up with ideas and experimenting and then you make a piece, which involves materials cost. Then you need to promote yourself and get the product out there. "So it is a full-time job and, unfortunately, you're not making any money, not until you are established, anyway. Besides, there are only so many chairs you can make. I suppose I have a mini-production line of one chair and that is not enough." The alternative is to collaborate with a larger firm, which then pays a royalty on actual sales. Frank is going down both paths at the moment, for practical reasons more than anything else. "You can make a good living but there are just a few select people the public accept as elite designers. Then, it's big money, big business. But you need to be one of those select few." And in the case of young designers like Frank, who are at the cutting edge of a new way, maybe eventually a new world order, there are other hurdles to negotiate. "I feel that because I have been labelled a sustainable ecodesigner, it's more difficult for the bigger furniture manufacturers to collaborate with me because they are not yet 100 percent sure of the eco thing." But he's sure he's working in the right environment. He insists Europe and the United Kingdom are way ahead of the United States in this field and he is looking at the possibility of establishing a base in southern Europe, perhaps somewhere like Valencia, in Spain. "London is one of the global hot spots and there is no doubt the finger on the pulse is here. Many of the top Spanish and Italian designers have studied here and that's one reason I am still here. This is one of the best places in the world for me to be for what I am doing. "But somewhere like Valencia would be good too and, of course, the weather is so much better there. The English winters are long and hard." And his thoughts for the future? "I would like to just have an interesting portfolio of products that actually mean something," he tells me. "Good, responsible, sustainable products that hopefully set a standard for furniture design. "Everybody now should be considering what product they are using, where it has come from and how it has been transported. If I could work towards that, I would feel satisfied." You can't but admire young designers like Frank, people who are bold enough to get out there in the real world, suffer some hardships but keep right on in their pursuit of a dream. The world needs people like them.
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