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(new bloom light switches for droog)





droog design asked me for an interview a while ago. when the first time i saw those questions i was shocked, because i would never expect that someone is interesting in which book i am reading now that kind of questions...

but anyway, i did answer in my own way. afterwards i compare with itay's answer (he is also designer from droog, and my friend too), i only can feel : how intelligent answers he has.....T_T (i know i am dull). but thinking in more possitive way, the answer is really "mina", there is no faking no pretense no fancy. as a person who start to be a designer just for a year, doing something quite good but still knowing who she is and where she stands.



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the whole interview is on droog website: http:// www. droogdesign.nl



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Interview with Mina Wu, designer of the Bloom electric socket



date: 06 Oct 2005

location: droog@home



Mina Wu (1976) is living in Amsterdam and currently following the IM master course at the Design Academy in Eindhoven. She was born in Taiwan and studied anthropology in her homeland. Afterwards she came to the Netherlands to study jewellery design at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. In 2005 she participated in the Milan project with the ‘floral showering’ T-shirt and she features in the Droog collection with her ‘Bloom’ electric socket. We asked Mina Wu some questions about her Bloom electric socket, her work in general and what keeps her busy.



- What is the basic idea behind the Bloom Socket?



“I like those kinds of things that everyone has but no one notices. I just pick them up and make people notice them. For my graduation at the Rietveld I made hand-drawn wallpaper decorated with flowers. The flowers grow into the electric socket because the electric socket is part of a wall and I don’t want to ignore it and leave it as a plain hole. Gijs Bakker came to visit the graduation exhibit and picked out the electric socket.”



- How does your design process start?



“Normally it springs from my daily life. And sometimes being homesick helps me too. When I miss Taiwan, I want to create something which can make me feel at ease like being at home and which also makes people understand why I feel homesick.”



- Where do you get your inspiration from?



“From life. I grew up in Taiwan, but now I am living in Holland. The details of culture differences already bring enough stories to tell. I am not that much interested in the big differences people describe in books. It’s rather the difference in common sense that strikes me. For example, if you visit a Dutch people’s home, everyone thinks it’s normal you don’t take off your shoes. No one even mentions it. The first time people came into my house with their shoes on, I was shocked. Everyone thinks you will understand, but actually sometimes I don’t.”



- What is your starting point in design, your philosophy?



“Being seriously homesick . But I couldn't find an exact place to call my ‘home’, so I start to research my sense of ‘home’ and ‘identification’.”



- What is the biggest challenge in design at this moment according to you?



“I am still very new in the design field, so sometimes my work is not so stable. My brain and expression technique sometimes don’t fit with each other. One big challenge is to make people understand my personal stories and have sympathy for it. So they can identify with it and connect to their own feeling. The other challenge is to make people notice daily life objects. I am trying to express the ordinary daily life in outstanding, intensive design expression, but not too aggressive and abrupt. I want to find the recipe for that.”



- What annoys you?



“Money doesn't come easily, haha.”



- What is the most interesting project (by others) that you have noticed in the last year?



“Too many. .........it’s really too many. For example, the Martin Margiela S/S 2005 collection. He deconstructed and reconstructed garments by simply changing the way the parts were put together. The garment has simple sewing and a simple cut. It is still about garments, but in a story telling way. It looks new but somehow you recognise the old shape.”



- What is the most interesting project you have been working on in the last year?



“Value for Money by Droog. I learned a lot and it was very interesting to be part of a complete project. I am used to work alone. This was the first time I participated in such a big project, working together and creating the prototypes which will be mass produced in the future.”



- What is you advise to young designers?



“Haha - I am a young designer too right?”
xyz


- What is a good design? What requirements should it meet?



“To me, good design is something which can easily fit into your life. Something you can use. The design should only make your life feel more comfortable.”



- What are you reading at the moment?



“Japanese manga "20 century boys". Really great.”



- What is your favourite CD?



“I don't listen to CDs that much, because I like to listen to the sound of life. I like the sound of people. But my last favourite CD is music made by my friend DJ Tomoho ‘you should feel what I feel, you should take what I take’.”



- Where should we go to?



“Good question, I am always asking myself the same question. Tell me when you get the answer… Last month I went home to Taiwan. I had been gone for five years and it was a real culture shock as my past home had changed a lot. It is interesting to see it after such a long time, after you have been gone.”



- What are your plans for the future?



“To graduate and I hope I can work in Holland, telling my stories by art and design.”



- What are you working on now?



“Hmm, it's a secret due to the contract I have. I can only tell when the project is finished.”



- Do you have a Bloom Socket at home?



“I don't. But I have a whole wall decorated with my hand drawing.”