Nepto

LEGENDARY INTERVIEW

Design Legends ("DL") had the distinct honour to interview legendary designer Nepto ("Nepto") 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?

Nepto : I studied engineering in Paris, at the University Pierre and Marie Curie and then I worked for a solar company in Berlin. So I'm far from any background in art and design. I wanted to make a design school after my baccalauréat but I finally choose engineering. When I was younger, I did 3 years of drawing and painting lessons after school. That’s the only background I have.

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

Nepto : One component of my life bring me to become an artist/designer/builder : my family. Indeed, my grand father open in the 70's a shop of shoes tailor-made. He created the shoes from the beginning, selected the best leather and skin, designed the shoes for a feet of anyone who wanted it. Then my father was an industrial designer but he was passionate by motorbike. He finally open his shop as well, called motobel, and prepared motorbikes for competitions. He was really good technically but he also always cared about the design and the look of his motorbike. The shape, the colors, the equilibrium in the design was always well selected. After my baccalauréat, I wanted to make a design school in Paris but I finally choose engineering for the job security. I would do a design school but I don't regret at all my formation in engineering. It was pretty useful to understand the mechanical behavior of material and how works a clock movement for example. So, yes I've always wanted to be a designer but it took time to really feel it and become one.

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

Nepto : I chose it and I thing that it is really important to choose it. Being forced in any kind of creative job is really not a good idea and you will not become a good designer. But I have to thanks my family to let me doing what I want because lots of people don’t have this luck.

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

Nepto : I’m designing watches at the moment and I’m really happy to do it because we are a super small company and I’m designing it from the beginning to the end, including the first scratch to the selection of materials and the final prototype. I like it because it is every day different and new and I need a good knowledge in plenty of area. But in the future, I would really like to design some furnitures and bikes.

DL: What should young designers do to become a design legend like you?

Nepto : I’m not a design legend at all! I am myself a young designer, not in age but in experience. Anyway, I think that the most important is to stay open. To make exhibition which can be far from them specificity. Get inspiration from all which is around them, in the street, at a place of a friend , in the nature. And then, have the capacity to transform what you see in an object or a concept. And at the end, working hard and believing in what you do but with keeping your ear open to positive critics.

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

Nepto : Talent and perseverance.

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

Nepto : I think that it is all in the detail. It is when a master piece have been thinking in every corners and every details. I use often the sentence of Charles Eames : The details are not the details, they make the design.

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

Nepto : It has an extremely high value because design, art and culture are a fundamental component of the humanity. How would look like a human world without design? Human have a cortex which have emotions and reactions trough his 5 senses. And one of the best thing to activate these emotions are design, art and culture.

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

Nepto : I would design a red jacket for my mum

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

Nepto : The dream project is to design and concept a full motorbike with my father. But it should come next winter.

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

Nepto : It’s to take inspiration in other discipline as mine. Stay extremely open about what you see around you to use it in your design. Even insignificant things.

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

Nepto : Frank O’gehry, Pininfarina, Iris Van Herpen

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

Nepto : In the watch industry, I really like Rado because they make minimal and extremely fine watches. It’s a perfect balance in the proportion of each part of the watch. In fashion design I love Iris Van Herpen and Alexander Mc Queen (The designer and not the current maison de couture) because these designs are like illusions not real in a way. In car design, I’m a big fan of Aston Martin. The design of those cars have a strong identity and you can see in them the roots of England. I like when you can see where come from the design from the first view.

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

Nepto : My greatest design is the one I present this year. The NEPTO SHIELD. I think that it’s great because of the shape of this watch. It was not done before and I really enjoy that. Also because I think that the proportion of the shape is quite good. It is easy to make a round or square shape for a watch. But going out of those two shapes is a big more difficult.

DL: How could people improve themselves to be better designers, what did you do?

Nepto : You have to stay open, make exhibition, read books, spend thousands of hours on internet to see what’s peoples are doing, and take a part of your time to travel and react with the nature and your environment.

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

Nepto : I have no idea. I’m a designer and I never thought about a plan B

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

Nepto : The design means for me "taking care of all which is around us". It's basically how to make any kind of little or big things beautiful to contemplate. Again, I like the sentence of Charles Eames : The details are not the details, they make the design. But a good designer should never forget that the design have two components : esthetic and useful.

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

Nepto : My family and couples of pretty good friends and my work partner Florian Fernandez.

DL: What helped you to become a great designer?

Nepto : I think that it is my curiosity and so on all the background I could have by being curious. And then, to be where I am now it is also a lot because of my sister who is product designer herself and give me lots of support.

DL: What were the obstacles you faced before becoming a design master?

Nepto : I’m not really a design master. I’m myself a young designer. But to become one, I had to face my doubt about my capacity to become one. Then, I’m more or less autodidact and so on, I had to learn all the tools and the process by my own. That was my biggest challenge.

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

Nepto : I think that they have to present it in the best environment. In an environment which is in accordance with them work. They have to tell about it, bringing a story about the concept and why they did that. But I’m not a big fan of telling too much. The piece of work should talk by itself. I like to have some details about the designer but if I like the design of a designer, I like it and I don’t need too much of blabla around it.

DL: What’s your next design project, what should we expect from you in future?

Nepto : We want to design in 2020 two new collection. One automatic watch based on the SHIELD but with a new shape which will bring even more fineness. The second model will be a watch with some other accessories which will be part of the watch. And then, we would like to make other design products but we have to define it.

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

Nepto : It is to have the financial capacity and the time to make as much different project as I can.

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

Nepto : They expect emotions. They expect to look in your design and to ask some questions, to make them thinking and say : Damn, I’ve never saw that before.

DL: How does design help create a better society?

Nepto : A designer have a huge responsibility for society and environment because in an architectural project for example, he is the one who will be responsible of the integration of his design in the society around it. He is the one who have to think about the relation and the integration with the nature around it. But it depends of what kind of design we are talking about. If we talk about accessories then the impact is less.

DL: What are you currently working on that you are especially excited about?

Nepto : My company is really small. So I currently make things which are not excited at all. But I should be back on design really soon to make other models of the SHIELD and the NUMERO 1.

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

Nepto : The project that I actually driving with NEPTO watch because it is my own project and because I’m doing exactly what I want to. That is the most luxury thing I could get. But between the collection NUMERO 1 and the SHIELD, I had more satisfaction with the collection SHIELD because when I start to design it, people were septic and I deeply believe in it. And here we are now with an awards and pretty good sell with it.

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

Nepto : I would like that they take more in consideration the environmental problem. Especially the big company because they have the financial ressources for it. Another point is to take a big more risk sometimes in design and not make a copy of what is the best sell of the year.

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

Nepto : I think that the future of design is what I call " the hybride design". We have recently such a development in materials, digital technology, and AI that designer will be able to mix all of that. We will be able to mix plenty of materials with an integration of digital technology. The designer will have to drive engineer, digital engineer and craftsperson in the same time to bring the design to another level.

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

Nepto : It depends of the complexity of the object. But I would say between 1 and 4 months.

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

Nepto : My design process is quite basic. I Read books and try to find inspiration on internet and some design website and then I always start with some scratch on paper to see how I feel my design. Then I make my design a bit more structured with proper dimension and eventually in 3D with different material. Then I use Illustrator to make a clear 2D design and to integrate colors. At the end I finalise my design with a CAD software and exact dimension.

DL: What is your life motto as a designer?

Nepto : The details are not the details, they make the design.

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

Nepto : I think that main of the designs are set by the trends and few of them sets the trends

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

Nepto : It have a crucial role when we are talking about the movement of the watch but also when we are talking about the material we will use for the other part of the watch. It is really important for a designer to be aware about the last technology in terms of materials.

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

Nepto : I’m using Adobe mainly. Illustrator, Lightroom, Photoshop, Indesign. And a bit FreeCAD for 3D.

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

Nepto : I think that it is very important. That’s why we say that a white room is limiting creativity. I like to have around my desk thousand of little thing and to be a bit messy. Not too much but a bit. I definitely believe that you can get creativity with all around you.

DL: What do you wish people to ask about your design?

Nepto : I wish them not to ask me something but to know how they feel.

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

Nepto : I’m impressed and I think immediately how they did it.

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

Nepto : It’s my sister because we can be true about what we are thinking. I really believe in co-designing. Better two brain than one.

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

Nepto : My sister Laura Ifrah and my work partner Florian Fernandez

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

Nepto : La conquête du temps from Dominique Fléchon

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

Nepto : I’m autodidact in design so I learn by my own everything. But I had some background with my father to learn how to create something from nothing. Then I develop my skills through tutorial.

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

Nepto : I would love to have some time with Alexandre Dumas and Claude Levi Strauss.

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

Nepto : I’m not famous and it’s my first award so I can’t answer to this question, sorry.

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

Nepto : My favorite color is blue, my favorite place is Berlin, my favorite food is a tournedos rossini, my favorite season is spring, my favorite thing is clubbing but I don’t have a favorite brand.

DL: Please tell us a little memoir, a funny thing you had experienced as a designer?

Nepto : It was last year when I got the first plastic 3D printed case of the watch. The 3D printing was really bad and when I saw the case I thought that it will be a total disaster. I was really stressed during a week. No sleep, thinking a lot about what I did because it wa my first design. Then I received the metal 3D printed case. And it worked perfectly!! I was so scared during a week but all went well after it.

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

Nepto : It’s great because I’m doing what I want to do and it is my own creativity. I wake up every day with motivation because I realize what I wanted since long time!!

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

Nepto : No, not at all. My parents never oriented me and I liked plenty of things, art, sport, music…

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

Nepto : I’m really septic. More I get old and less I believe in the capacity of the humanity to understand what are the problems our society have and how to resolve it. Even we have the answer to all of our problem, we don’t act in the right way. Our economic system is an infinite system but we are living in a limited system which is our earth and our ressources. So I think that if we are not changing radically and quickly our style of life, we don’t have future.

DL: Please tell us anything you wish your fans to know about you, your design and anything else?

Nepto : Just check out what I have done and follow us if you like it!!