Interview with red dot: best of the best winner Philippe Nigro

red dot: Why did you take part in the red dot award: product design, what makes this design competition special?
Philippe Nigro: I think it is a very nice idea to give all nations the opportunity to participate in the competition, not just German factories. This is a confirmation that Germany is a country where good design is part of everyday life and is very much appreciated. Also, the selections made, the range of categories and the winning projects demonstrate red dot’s open-minded spirit. It’s a welcome challenge to take part in this competition and a great reward for your work if you win a prize. It encourages you to do more and keep going because you feel that maybe your work is appreciated.

red dot: For me, the accolade red dot: best of the best is...

Philippe Nigro: A fantastic reward which illustrates good feeling between designer and factory. It also demonstrates, in a way that is very comforting, that conceptual research applied to the requirements of the actual user satisfies the industry’s need for innovation.

red dot: Considering the current difficult economic environment, what role does good design play?
Philippe Nigro: Good design is an honest answer to real needs and helps us to understand what it is really important to develop and why, so that we do not create futile and ephemeral objects. It is perhaps a small way of making a relevant contribution to the improvement of daily living.

red dot: What was the inspiration for your product and what is special about it?
Philippe Nigro: The “Confluence sofa family” for Roset was created with the French VIA grants, while observing the irregularities and asymmetries of nature and of human beings. The way in which those observations were put together was inspired by a number of artistic movements, thinking about the concept of collecting, repeating and joining simple shapes to create a new one and playing with colour harmonies. Imagining this “peacemaker-sofa” as a dynamic central piece in an interior but trying to respond to the different colours, tastes, attitudes about comfort and body shapes of users.

red dot: What project are you currently working on?
Philippe Nigro: I’m working on a few new furniture projects for the new Italian editor Skitsch, a bathroom stone collection for Piba Marmi, and there may be some new projects for Ligne Roset.

red dot: Which dream project would you like to realize?
Philippe Nigro: In a sense, being involved in design I’m realizing some of my dreams… and I hope in the future to have the chance to do more furniture and interiors projects and to have the chance to realize some industrial design products,  keeping hold of the vision provided by experimentation and a forward-thinking attitude.

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