Let us introduce you to our first poundshopper selling at our special W+K window installation Sebastian Bergne! 1. Tell us about you and what you do? Sebastian Bergne is an industrial designer who leads a small studio creating products and furniture for a broad variety of industrial, medium and private clients. Bergne set up his London design studio after graduating from The Royal College of Art in 1990. He has since established an impressive body of work, ranging from corkscrews to kettles, Frying pans to pencil dice. Bergne has collaborated with manufacturers including Authentics, Tefal, MUJI, Habitat, De Beers, Moulinex, Gaia & Gino and Vitra. Bergne’s work shows less of a signature style, more a quest for appropriate new solutions to diverse design problems, whether working on bespoke projects or anonymous consumer products. His achievements have been widely recognised with international design awards, frequent publication, exhibitions and inclusion in permanent collections such as The Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Design Museum (London). Bergne shares his knowledge and experience through guest speaking, lecturing and jury participation. 2. Tell us about Back to Front Playing cards? “I have wanted to design a pack of cards as a personal project for some years. My first attempt was for Muji a few years ago but they ended up not producing them. A few years later, I stumbled on a printers that produce cards so I decided to create my own small edition. This pack was inspired by the patterns found on the back of the cards. It is an attempt to redesign a back pattern in a way that also shows the different card characters. The result is a pack of cards with blank fronts… They are back to front..” 4. What are you working on at the moment? “In the studio we are currently working on a lighting project for Luceplan and a few ranges of cookware for Tefal, one of our regular clients. We have also just launched our first textile design. Measuring Square is a silk scarf with a functional edge. Designed and produced in an edition of 100 for The Conran Shop RED exhibition. See more about the project here. 5. Last but not least, what are your thoughts on affordable design? It is of course wonderful to make interesting, carefully designed and though out products available at an affordable price. However, this is often a great deal harder to achieve than one might think as low prices can often only be achieved when either producing in very large quantities or by not paying the designer correctly for their input. I think the key to a successful affordable product is to first find a large scale manufacturing process with a minimum order quantity and pricing that is realistic and then design for that process. See more of Sebastian Bergne’s work here

POSTED BY: THE POUNDSHOP