World design star in Prague: I just get an idea and go after it – News List

He is friends with the fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, who grew up in a bohemian Israeli family. He plays the guitar, likes designer hats. But he avoids pigeonholing and uncertainty. All fans of design, architecture, art and fashion know his name. British designer of Israeli origin Ron Arad.

Don’t worry, I won’t start by asking you about your collection of caps, berets, and hats, even though that tends to be a popular topic of conversation with you. However, I was interested in the fact that when you interviewed Brian Eno yourself thirty years ago, you were wearing a baseball cap and an Eno beret. Good connection. How did you get along?

French television gave me the option to choose anyone for an interview. So I chose Brian. Apart from being a musician and composer, he is a versatile artist. I felt a mutual affinity because both of us do not stick to one side, one discipline. And about the hats – you know, some people have good hair and some people have good hats. Unfortunately, I belong to the second group.

You often mention control, saying that you do a lot at the same time because you are comfortable. I admit I don’t quite understand it.

It’s a little weird, I know. I don’t work according to a proper pre-set method. I don’t like people telling me what I should or shouldn’t do. When someone is very disciplined, they work methodically and they want to do the same thing over and over again, like Giacometti for example. I love his work, let’s face it, but I don’t.

I just get an idea, an idea, and go after it without needing anyone’s blessing or approval.

Yes, but slightly different. When a thought comes to me, when it gets stuck in my head for a long time and won’t go away, I follow it. Maybe you know my collection dedicated to Mickey Mouse?

In fact, it is an image that received a proper response not only with the name Don’t F**k With The Mouse.

It wasn’t easy, but I don’t want to delay you with a long story.

Tell me, I’m interested.

I was approached by the London branch of Disney to do something for Mickey Mouse in the nineties. And when you work for Disney, they don’t pay you, you pay them. Meaning if you want to use the name it is expensive. The project ended up going bankrupt, so I went into it myself on my own T-shirt. I have been designing studio pieces for years, where the industry is not behind me…

Does that make you feel freer?

Freedom is everywhere! But yes, there is more freedom because you are not pressured by time or a business plan. I decided to make a limited edition Mickey. I knew I couldn’t name him Mickey Mouse, so I chose the name Topolino, which is the Italian word for mouse. I contacted my lawyer to ask if I could use the name. He tells me: Honestly? You can, but as our lawyers say, “Don’t fuck with the mouse!” And so I had the perfect name. I did twenty chairs, one every Friday morning.

Because every Thursday I decide what I’m going to do tomorrow. However, the idea for Mickey came when I was working on something completely different.

I had an idea to give a word that is visually palindromic (a symmetrical phrase -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ can be read from right to left, left to right). And so I thought that if I mirror the word LOVE, the word SONG will be created. That’s what the My Love Song collection is all about. Wait, I’ll show you (pulls out a table and starts showing pictures and videos, editor’s note). And that’s how various objects were created, album covers, even a Love Song carved ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​from

Coming back to the chairs from the Mickey Mouse collection, each one is completely different. Which one will you choose?

The one I came up with the week England left the European Union. I called it Now What. (What now.). On the way to the studio I bought all the newspapers of the day and put their front pages in the polyester cover of the chair. can you see This is the word “blessing” in twenty-seven European languages. And then there’s Margaret Thatcher and Boris Johnson.

Yes, the famous Brexit Chairman, as he is nicknamed. Is Brexit still a touchy subject for you?

The whole world is a subject. Don’t you think?

You were born in Tel Aviv, Israel, into a bohemian environment. Who in your family influenced you the most?

When I was growing up, my mother was a painter, my father was a sculptor, and I thought to myself if everyone around me was an artist, how could I -out against them when I was a teenager?! They didn’t give me many chances.

Well, all my friends had plenty of opportunities to rebel, but not me. My bohemian parents gave me away. On the other hand, I was very lucky to grow up in an interesting and good family, as well as a great brother. We still talk every day. He lives in America, he is involved in music. It was very important to our parents that we did not compete with each other artistically. I did visual art, my brother did music. As I say, we just came from a good home.

Do you have the same taste in music?

Not at all. He is a classical musician and composer. When I play guitar, I’m sure I play better than Bob Dylan. Just kidding of course! My brother is six years older, we live in parallel art universes that often intersect. We have a lot in common.

Don’t say you don’t get caught sometimes.

Sometimes yes. We play Scrabble online every day. We developed our own style, for example we play symmetric scrabble, so when I put three letters to the right, it goes to the left. We also play against each other to see who can get the most points, but we turned the rules around. The winner is the one who gets the fewest points. It’s very interesting, you have to think strategically.

When you were a boy, what did you do for fun?

We went out normally, played football and ping-pong. It is also important in my life. Do you know my ping pong tables?

I’ll show you that, wait, but first I have to tell you that I beat Rafael Nadal. Technically of course! For the Royal Academy of Arts I designed a curved ping pong table. When the sculptor Antony Caro saw it in the last year of his life, he said to me: This is an amazing statue. You should try playing ping pong on it! He saw it first as a statue, then as a ping-pong table. And then a whole series of such records were created. One is even made of ten different layers of marble.

It’s very expensive, but I can give you a discount… Back to Nadal. The company that made that marble table sent me to Madrid to play a tennis tournament against Nadal. Unfortunately, the game didn’t work for him, so he went home. I wrote in my diary at the time “technical victory over Nadal” (victory without a fight, after the opponent screams – editor’s note). But, I’m not done with ping-pong. I went to Prague from Verona, where there was a marble conference. I made her a table with “Do not Lose Your Marbles” carved into it, which means don’t lose your mind.

You don’t like stickers yourself, but at the same time you say that the brand is selling. After all, your name is associated with the most famous companies such as Moroso, Kartell, Vitra, Alessi or Magis. What is most important to you in the creative process?

Of course, ping-pong is the most important thing. In second place is Scrabble. But really, it doesn’t work to tell yourself what’s most important.

It is about satisfying one’s curiosity and making others curious enough about what one is doing. It doesn’t have to be architecture or art. When I look at my things, I tell myself that they are much better than I deserve.

Because it’s good to be surprised by the good stuff. The worst thing is when it’s the other way around. When you look at something and it’s average.

When journalists asked you what work you were most proud of, you quickly replied that there was none. Aren’t you really proud of anything you’ve created that belongs to the golden fund of global design?

This is nothing to be proud of! It’s nice to see an older piece after a long time. I know I could never do something like that again. Everything doesn’t have to be perfect, but it has to be true.