Jerome Goh is senior content manager at IDEO: thanks to Design-Apart, we’ve had the chance to meet him and work with him during the sofa4manhattan design workshop in January, along with other world-class designers.
We always enjoy exploring relationships between design and craft, so we could not resist to ask Jerome a few questions on the matter.
Here are his kind answers.
Berto Salotti: What influence did the experience of the workshop and working with other people have on you?
Jerome Goh: Usually designers are given a project and they work alone or within their teams.
However, this is truly an unusual opportunity. To be able to work with a group of different designers where we all come from different disciplines, and some even have day jobs that are competitors.
It helps to show that design is really something much larger that goes beyond just caring about profit and the bottom dollar.
Working with great designers, in a compressed time frame, really helps me really prioritize on what’s most important.
Also to be able to share ideas with people from a diverse background is also a great way to think outside the box and find inspiration in places that I would otherwise not see. For me, inspiration and the ability to create new ideas is perhaps core to being a good designer.
BS: What expertise did you bring to the project and how did you approach the workshop?
JG: Although I was trained as an Industrial Designer, I usually don’t get to do the actual design these days because I work with helping clients innovate in their business.
It has been refreshing to be able to come back to what was my passion that drove me to become a designer.
As I practice more in the field, I find that it is less about doing the same thing over and over until you’re an undisputed master.
Rather it’s about being to work across different fields of design. This change brings along freshness, and ignites the curiosity that I crave as a designer, to allow me to always perform at the optimum.
BS: Can you explain your design for the sofa4manhattan?
JG: The design Top and I created during the workshop is a melding of ideas and a representation of contrast.
New York is such a city of impressions, and at the same time, a global melting pot. Our sofa responds to the unique needs of this city.
Shapes that reference the past, but constructed with modern take on fabrication and use of materials.
Formal shapes, but informality in the way we live our lives today. It is the ultimate modern sofa for a global metropolis.
BS: Jerome, once again, we appreciate enourmously your getting involved with our project, and can’t wait to ahve the chance to work with you again!
And… stay tuned everyone!
We will soon announce the dates of the crowd-crafting sessions we will have in New York to give everybody the chance to work on a truly artisan, handmade product.
Our Italian Master Artisans will be there to join whoever will be interested in making a crafting experience.
[UPDATE: the crowd-crafting event will take place in NYC on Saturday, March 15th. See you there!]