This week we continue our series of designer profiles with Andrew Sack. Andrew studied Product Design at Parsons, where he now teaches, and has been working with KWAMBIO to produce some of his first 3D printed designs. We’re very excited to have Andrew with us, so let’s get started!
How did you first learn your craft?
I studied Product Design here in New York at Parsons School of Design and graduated in 2011. In high school, I knew I wanted to do something creative. I grew up riding BMX, and when I wasn’t out riding I was at home on the computer or drawing. I liked drawing new bike frames and parts, trying to imagine new possibilities for what a bike could be. One idea was, “maybe it’d be cool to get out of high school and build bikes.” I thought that meant welding and machining, because I was looking at the making aspect of it. I didn’t realize there was a whole field of industrial design. When I realized that it was something I could study, I knew that was what I wanted to do.
The making aspect of design is really important to me. At Parsons, they placed a great emphasis on being able to not only design something, but fabricate it as well.
To that end, with the Loop Vase I designed for KWAMBIO, I didn’t just want to design something on a 3D modeling program. I made several paper models and started thinking about how and where this product might fit into a home.
We have so many tools available to us today, I think it’s important that we don’t become limited to using just one. We should be utilizing physical tools as well as digital to get a deeper perspective on our work. These principles have a lot to do with the course I am teaching this semester at Parsons.
What’s the name of the class?
Models, Mockups, and Prototypes!
Who are some of your favorite designers and why?
Konstantin Grcic. He has the ability to consider a project from a variety of perspectives, while maintaining a similar personality throughout his work. His projects vary, which is part of the appeal for me. I like his approach and his openness to different outcomes.
Frank Lloyd Wright is also an influence on the way I approach my projects. He’s better known as an architect, but he also designed some great furniture. I appreciate the way he developed furniture in relation to the spaces he created. I think that’s a really important consideration.
Archille Castiglioni’s designs are often very simple and straightforward, but have an added charm which I believe is an important quality to have in a product. Products should have a personality that people can connect with. As a designer, I often cut concepts down to their essence, simplifying form and function. But at the end of the day, it’s important that products have a personality. Castiglione was great at doing this.
Is there a style or historical movement that you’re particularly fond of?
Definitely Modernism and what came out of the Bauhaus. Not that I loved everything that came out of this period, but I really appreciate the experimentation and the simplification of what was going on.
What made you want to work with KWAMBIO? Did you have prior experience designing for 3D printing?
Up to this point, I have used 3D printing as a tool in my design process. After a series of sketch models, I sometimes have a 3D print made to get a final assessment of the form and its details.
Working with KWAMBIO, where the 3D print is the final product, is something new to me. It’s also very exciting because there seems to be a future in 3D printing as a final product. And it’s fun to have the opportunity to poke at that.
This is the first time that I’ve developed a product where the final result is designed to be 3D printed. My approach with the Loop Vase Series was not necessarily to design something that was crazy and impossible to manufacture by any other means, but rather utilized the 3D printing process to create an object that would be difficult to make by traditional means. In the end, it is not a product that is meant to look alien or strange.
In your opinion, what’s the most important aspect of making a product? What’s the essential element of a good piece of work?
I feel that it’s important to consider the user as well as the manufacturer when developing a new product. When you can do this successfully, I believe that the outcome is a great piece of design. To make a great piece of work, you really have to have a sense of who’s making it and who’s using it.
What projects are you currently working on? Anything you’d like to tell us about?
I’m currently working on a few lighting projects, with some furniture projects in the pipeline. I’m also working on some smaller housewares products. You can check out some of my work on my website, www.studioandrewsack.com
The project I did that probably has the biggest reputation was called Forage. It was a very craft-esque project that explored raw materials. It was a lot of fun, equal parts design project and exploration.
But now I’m more focused on creating more industrial objects that explore traditional materials and processes.
We are happy to have Andrew Sack’s products and we’re looking forward to future collaborations!
