Frank la Rivière

LEGENDARY INTERVIEW

Design Legends ("DL") had the distinct honour to interview legendary designer Frank la Rivière ("FLR") for their original perspective and innovative approach to design as well as their creative lifestyle, we are very pleased to share our interview with our distinguished readers.

DL: Could you please tell us a bit about your design background and education?

FLR : After high school I went to study Architecture and Interior Design at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and received my Master’s degree (cum laude) in 1988.

DL: What motivates you to design in general, why did you become a designer?

FLR : It is the joy to express, through design and art, that motivated me than and still does even now. It was my interest in old buildings like churches and houses in historic inner cities that formed one of the bases for wanting to become an architect. But also the experience of the refurbishment of our house is a factor that rose my interest at a young age. I also liked to go to my grandfather’s atelier to do oil paintings under his guidance. Working concentrated on a painting and after several hours stepping back to see the three dimensional appearance on the canvas was sort of experiencing a wonder. In all I knew I wanted to become an architect from the age of 12.

DL: Did you choose to become a designer, or you were forced to become one?

FLR : No, it was by my own deliberate choice, based on my interests and abilities.

DL: What do you design, what type of designs do you wish to design more of?

FLR : Except for architecture and interiors, I endeavour in photography and Japanese brush calligraphy.

DL: What distinguishes between a good designer and a great designer?

FLR : Great designs will stand the test of time. These stand the test of time because they have been created with much depth and determination. Great designs can’t be explained fully they also leave some mysteries unsolved. What type of person would able to become a good or a great designer, honestly I wouldn’t be able to say. God may know.

DL: What makes a good design a really good design, how do you evaluate good design?

FLR : It is the effectiveness and the how affective the design is as a solution to the design problem. In other words, it is emotive and an eye-opener.

DL: What is the value of good design? Why should everyone invest in good design?

FLR : Good design is added value in the first place seen as a cultural asset.

DL: What would you design and who would you design for if you had the time?

FLR : I would like to design public buildings if I had the opportunity. That is to say the client could very well be private but the building would have a receptive function for a larger public.

DL: What is the dream project you haven’t yet had time to realize?

FLR : A museum and concert hall.

DL: What is your secret recipe of success in design, what is your secret ingredient?

FLR : I don’t think I have a secret recipe at all. I suppose I do what others do as well, but in my own way.

DL: Who are some other design masters and legends you get inspired from?

FLR : Aldo van Eyck, Carlo Scarpa, Renzo Piano, Louis Khan.

DL: What are your favorite designs by other designers, why do you like them?

FLR : The Mother House by Aldo van Eyck is a great favourite of mine, as is the Brion Cemetery, the Castelvecchio, Banco Populare in Verona and the Olivetti showroom in Venice all by Carlo Scarpa. Scarpa was an architect who merged Italian and Japanese design idioms to create his own design language. A language that can still be read not as prose but as poetics. Aldo van Eyck’s work is also like materialise poetics with a strong social denomination and a beautiful spatial depth.

DL: What is your greatest design, which aspects of that design makes you think it is great?

FLR : I find it dangerous to make a selection as this would mean I have reached my peak. I look at my executed work as starting points for new design endeavours so the next project will be as good or even better.

DL: If you hadn’t become a designer, what would you have done?

FLR : Looking back, it is obvious that I had to become an architect in spite of the fact that I have considered at the time to study a medical subject. So the answer would be I would have become a designer. The other question could be what I would do if I would stop working as an architect. The answer would be, I would become a photographer, graphic designer or artist. Still something creative.

DL: How do you define design, what is design for you?

FLR : For me design is the solving of design problems through design thinking. It is inventing with an aesthetic sense

DL: Who helped you to reach these heights, who was your biggest supporter?

FLR : In the first place it is determination and some luck. Luck will bring you in contact with the people to help and stimulate.

DL: What helped you to become a great designer?

FLR : Motivation and resilience.

DL: How do you think designers should present their work?

FLR : I think it is very personal. Therefore, as they think it is the most appropriate. I prefer to have a level of clarity while showing at the same time a high degree of detail implying how things will actually be. Other designers may go for more abstraction.

DL: What’s your ultimate goal as a designer?

FLR : To be relevant through both my design work and teaching.

DL: What people expect from an esteemed designer such as yourself?

FLR : Design quality.

DL: How does design help create a better society?

FLR : Design and in particular design thinking is a great way to develop out-off-box solutions. This is not restricted to making objects and spaces but can be applied to any situation where inventiveness is an asset. This can be in any field and would work for the betterment of society.

DL: Which design projects gave you the most satisfaction, why?

FLR : Those projects that were to complete satisfaction of not only the client but also myself.

DL: What would you like to see changed in design industry in the coming years?

FLR : I hope that the prevalent design direction in architecture and interiors will be to move away from overly shaped designs as well as the use of a style as a starting point for projects. I hope design will be more seen as a problem solving way of thinking with an aesthetic and socio-historical core.

DL: Where do you think the design field is headed next?

FLR : It could well be that social issues in combination with environmental ones will once again become important drivers for design.

DL: How long does it take you to finalize a design project?

FLR : This truly depends on the type of commission. If we take on the design of a house for example it might be a year, if it is a large building at least 2 years. But we also do smaller work and that might take from a couple of month to half a year.

DL: When you have a new design project, where do you start?

FLR : Listen to the client. Furthermore, collect relevant information and trust my intuition.

DL: What is your life motto as a designer?

FLR : To strife for design I have never seen before myself and be good for humanity through design.

DL: Do you think design sets the trends or trends set the designs?

FLR : I think good designs set the trend. If design follows the trend it will be less innovative.

DL: What is the role of technology when you design?

FLR : High-tech is not better tech than low-tech. For me the role of technique is the enabler to make, to construct. But it is also a source of inspiration and a way of overcoming restrictions imposed by conventions, because, if you don’t have a technique to do what you want to do, the design solution is less convincing.

DL: What kind of design software and equipment do you use in your work?

FLR : We use mostly AutoCad for 2D and 3D drafting, Photoshop and Illustrator for presentation and graphic design work. Modelling techniques are simply working with foam board and other readily available materials.

DL: What is the role of the color, materials and ambient in design?

FLR : Natural ambient light is by far the most important aspect of architecture. It is the impact of light that enlivens the colours, textures, materiality of the space enclosure and animates the spaces.

DL: When you see a new great design or product what comes into your mind?

FLR : Good and great design give me a sense of pleasure. A sense that I would like to explore it, whether it is an object or a building.

DL: Who is your ideal design partner? Do you believe in co-design?

FLR : Yes, I do belief in co-design. It is difficult to describe the ideal partner, but anyone with talent an open receptive mind and anyone who is able to respect others input and opinion, would be pleasant to work with I would think.

DL: Which people you interacted had the most influence on your design?

FLR : In university my interior design tutor was an amazing educator. I have never seen what he designed himself, but that didn’t matter. He made these very small analytic sketches of the different options for design solutions; a technique I still practice.

DL: Which books you read had the most effect on your design?

FLR : I very much like reading texts written by Aldo van Eyck for their erudite poetics, humility and human insight in architecture.

DL: How did you develop your skills as a master designer?

FLR : In university we were told to sketch a lot. I have always done that as the ideas boil up they need to find an initial place in the realm of reality. The best is to trust them to a sheet of transparent paper. From there new ideas emerge and the process goes on. Even now in the computer aided design era I still sketch a lot.

DL: Irrelative of time and space, who you would want to meet, talk and discuss with?

FLR : I would love to meet and talk with Carlo Scarpa, Aldo van Eyck, Alvar Aalto, Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers.

DL: How do you feel about all the awards and recognition you had, is it hard to be famous?

FLR : An award is something like a token of appreciation decided by others and measures one’s standing in the professional field. They are something of a bench mark and a reference. To be well sought after is to me a more preferred status rather than being famous. Fame can work as an inhibition on one’s creativity.

DL: What is your favorite color, place, food, season, thing and brand?

FLR : My favourite food is the food that fits the country and the place where I am. As for season I would say spring and autumn, in other words the in-between seasons, the transition between colder and warmer weather and vice versa.

DL: What makes your day great as a designer, how do you motivate yourself?

FLR : One of the best rewards one could receive as a designer is a satisfied client and end user. A compliment from a client would make my day.

DL: When you were a little child, was it obvious that you would become a great designer?

FLR : Not in particular until I was 12 and had set sights on becoming an architect. Also I had no idea of what kind of work I would be doing or what designing would be, just the image that I would be an architect.

DL: What do you think about future; what do you see will happen in thousand years from now?

FLR : I think the world will have changed dramatically. If we are lucky maybe some traces of our present will have been preserved as relics from the past. However, I am not too hopeful that any digital work will be that long lasting. It will most probably be the type of objects that are discovered at historic sites nowadays as well, objects made of material that last.