INTERVIEW WITH ALBERTO VILLARREAL. Tarjetas Inteligentes :: Token USB

INTERVIEW WITH ALBERTO VILLARREAL


Fecha Martes, agosto 10 @ 14:37:58
Tema Tarjetas Inteligentes :: Token USB


One size fits All
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175200 hours ago, only one word was appropriate enough to describe the "One-size-fits-all" product -- NO. Now, two decades later, the word is beginning to rescramble itself to slowly realize the ambition once deemed impossible. Thanks to the new breed of eco-friendly designers like Alberto Villarreal who endorses the ideal consumer behavior where “you don’t have to own something that you want to use.”

Living in the 21st century when design is dominant in anything that takes up space, a “YES” by a designer is almost as good as a wish fulfilled. In fact, if innovation was to be erased from the face of earth, you may still have to hunt for your own food. Jumping out of the passive shadows of the yesteryears thus saw the evolution of humanity from the discovery of new hunting methods to the invention of devices of getting them digested in the shortest time.

So you get our point -- Design is important. And thus, designers too.

But like everything else, designers come in all sizes and shapes. Many of us design for money; some of us for personal desires; the rest of us for everything else. Villarreal had his priorities placed on “creating visionary stories that integrate the use of technology and cultural aspects to satisfy the person that interacts with the design solution.”

Designing for the noble purpose a product is meant to be created for has always been rare truths. Sharing it is a myth. Manufacturers have never really created something enduring enough to last many users or a long time. Products were scheduled to be built, exploited, destroyed, then replaced; and the cycle repeats indefinitely. It’s not even hard to imagine the key thoughts on corporate masterminds are expiry-date tags and single-user licenses. Apparently, Tortillas (read on…) are blasphemous in the commercial worlds.

Call us optimistic pizza lovers, because we believe once a designer ignites a hope, it mutates into a possibility. The future Villarreal envisions will eventually materialize. Even if it’s 175200 hours later.
TAXI >> Greetings! Alberto Villarreal the designer. Alberto Villarreal the lecturer. Or even Alberto Villarreal the runner. Who do you prefer to be known as?

Alberto Villarreal >> I love playing tennis, running and cycling, the world of sports is very rewarding and that is why I enjoyed very much doing some projects for Nike (they literally live the sports). But I really have to get back in shape concerning running, this year I have been full of work and lately sport has been only a design subject to me. Last time I participated in a 5km race, I got the same score as the female winner of the 52 year-old category. So, I guess 'the designer' suits me better than 'the runner', ha ha...


TAXI >> You penned an article on Ljubljana for our premiere (thank you!) calling it the world's most artistically-independent city. Is it still your favorite?

AV>> Mmm... yes, somehow Ljubljana is in my heart, but if I would write the article again I would take Amsterdam; simply because I don’t know any other city on earth with such and overwhelming amount of design in every little detail. Amsterdam looks like the whole thing was created as one big project, from the urban planning to the door-handles, the place is full of style: architecture, furniture, graphics, fashion, landscape, everything!

Before writing the article I also thought of San Francisco, Barcelona or Mexico City. I love traveling and I have found those cities very avant-garde in terms of art and culture, but I still want to visit so many places in the world, I am sure when I come to Tokyo I will fall in love with it.


TAXI >> As a industrial/product designer, what's your take on designs
that don't sell? Will you ever create something that don't?

AV>> Absolutely! I have worked many times in projects that are only future visualizations of products that will not necessarily be produced, just as scenario-explorations (personally I enjoy a lot that kind of work, but only a few companies have understood the importance of it). I definitely think that designers should focus more in making a shorter path between concept and production, to avoid having a finished product that looks completely different than the original concept (as it happens many times in the automotive industry). I think the best products are those ones that have been well conceived from the beginning and have kept its essence through the manufacturing processes and then through the user’s experience. Very few designers are able to do that, it is all about combining a top-down way of thinking with a bottom-up approach: vision and action. You have to ideate a strong concept and then implement a nearly obsessive attention to detail.

In the other hand I would love to live in a world where you don’t have to buy the objects in order to use them. Some people have investigated the trend of selling-a-service and sharing products, and I think it is an interesting arena, but we have to do a big effort to make it happen, starting from changing some social values such as possession. It will be cool if you don’t have to own something that you want to use, we should get to the next level!

Obviously a good way of measuring the success of a product is by looking at the revenues it generates, but not necessarily the products that sell the most are the best ones. Many products sell because of their advertising campaigns and good looks, but when people start using them lots of problems come out. There is still a lot to do in terms of understanding people’s needs and product feedback, that is why I am a full devote of Interaction Design, I see a great potential in it because it integrates the 'experience' factor in the relation product-user.


TAXI >> In your opinion, do you think we will ever come to an age where everything we create will be mere duplicates of history and 'original' is no longer a valid word in the dictionary?

AV>> Not at all. I truly believe that humanity is more positive than negative (even after reading the newspapers nowadays), and I am very confident in the fact that creation is an essential ingredient of evolution. If I can think of a word that represents the designer’s work, it is 'improvement' (always changing for good, always better).

If you remember, Gaudí (the great Architect) said that 'originality means getting back to the origin'. We will always improve our objects more and more, but we will keep reducing them to the essential components: back to basics. This means that all the technological development we are going through, will allow us to literally merge with products as we already do with nature, creating a balanced world. Getting there will take a lot of time, but then we will know how to integrate nanotechnology, biotech and electronics in order to optimize the use of energy (in this planet and beyond).


TAXI >> Is a good academic education a one-way route to success in the creative industry? How will you advise emerging artists with a vision?

AV>> I think academy gives you a good introduction to the universe of design, but when you really learn is working in the real world. To me professional experience has been very demanding in terms of learning new things everyday, and of course school has been a key aspect in my career, but for sure you learn more after you graduate (just because if you stop learning you get out of the business).

It is all about the opportunities you have in life, some people take them and some others let them go. I know excellent designers from unknown schools as well as mediocre designers from famous colleges.

I think it doesn’t depend on the school or company you are in, but in what you have inside. In a way Nietzsche was right, self motivation and ambition (in the good use of the word) are more important that any good teacher or client. I believe that the context gives you the tools, but decide how to use them.


TAXI >> Katsura Moshino was so emotional when he saw his creation 'AIBO' in the electronic store that he went ahead and gave names to every one of them. How did/will you react the first time you see your transportation design traveling on the road?

AV>> I worked in public transport projects in Mexico five years ago and some of the buses are already in the roads. It feels great when you touch it and see it moving (yes, like your son!). Although the best thing is not seeing your product but getting people’s feedback, because it means that a connection human-object-human has occurred.

I still have to walk a long path in my career and for sure there is a bunch of projects that I would like to have taken to the market, so I am putting all my energy in making tangible stories out of my current and up-coming projects.

I admire the work Scott Wilson, Karim Rashid or Yves Béhar. They have been able to transform cool concepts into reality dozens of times, and the way they have done it is quite inspiring!


TAXI >> The biggest invention in the world to date is...

AV>> Tortillas, no doubts! It represents the state-of-the art in design: it involves full sensory experience, no material waste in production, perfectly consistent life cycle (re-use of energy after its function). It was invented long time ago and still no redesign has been required. Some people have tried to create table-top products that you can eat in order to avoid waste, but tortilla has been there for ages, and today it is a very strong icon of a culture! I would say the bicycle is the second one.


TAXI >> What is the one keyword you will like people to find you via search engines without keying in your name?

AV>> Well, I guess anyone can find me when typing 'Zanicdesign'. Some people already identifies me with that word and it has generated more influence that what I ever imagined. It has become some kind of branding of me.

Maybe I would like to keep Zanicdesign as my brand/name, because if my work is now starting to get known around, is thanks to that word.


TAXI >> Taxi are huge global phenomenon, something representing
international identities like they are in NYC. If you own a city, how will you design your taxis?

AV>> Ha ha... My answer to this question is my FUMU project! It is definitely a statement on how I think urban mobility should work in the next decade. Half automated, half driver-controlled, plus some combination of public and private; there is no other way of managing such an enormous amount of cars and people in large cities. As I said above, we have to start by making people share more -and believe me, I did some hardcore research on the subject! :)


TAXI >> Before you go, if there's a TAXI in front of you right now, where will you be heading to?

AV>> To Ljubljana... where I left my heart.


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