Recently, I had the pleasure and honor to speak with Antonio Larosa, the Chair (no pun intended) of the Furniture Design Department at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Antonio has a clear and expressive passion for design and, after a distinguished career working on projects as diverse as automobile design and church architecture, he now feels rewarded by mentoring and guiding future American designers. During our conversation, I was able to witness firsthand Antonio’s sparks of genius. Having “launched” his design career with a compact car design at the ripe old age of 12 (!), Antonio has been trying to reignite American creativity for the past 20 years. And if he has his way, the future will be very bright!
R&F: Was there are a lot of support for your goals when you first started out?
AL: I was interested in creating some new concept cars, like the little ones that you see now. We needed more space and we needed more of those cars. I was doing those kinds of things for a long time. There was no push from family. There, they just let go and value individuality. That’s why people are more successful there in design
R&F: Do you like to emphasize pragmatism and functionality in your students’ work? Are you concerned with practicality and sell-ability?
AL: Pragmatism is important but it’s not the main goal for designers. It’s not my main goal when I teach students. I’m more concerned with giving back emotions and ideals. If you take care only of pragmatism or functionality, you can never be successful. Just go learn some kind of law and go work for Citibank! Functionality is all about common sense. Design is all about emotions and passion, so this is what you have to teach first. Functionality is important but it’s not essential. Most of the US schools are very cold; they forget about emotions and passions.
R&F: In the Contract article written by Jennifer Thiele Busch, I absolutely LOVE the fact that you address the increasing isolation of society. Besides encouraging your students to create spaces and products that bring people together, how do you encourage your young furniture designers to interact themselves? Obviously there is competition in such an accomplished group of people, but how do you provide opportunities for them to work together as well?
AL: Today, everyone is trying to make this perfect world. Stop for a minute and think of what you’re doing! We’re thinking about all the bad things but what are we going to do with a perfect world if people don’t even talk to each other? Everything will be so beautiful and perfect but there will be no more communication. In airports, people barely talk to each other. That’s something that some people…they don’t want to do that. As designers we have the responsibility to think, “What can we do in an airport, a doctor’s office, any public space to encourage communication?” We have to make people think about things. We can’t solve all the problems of the world but at least we can start. Artists used to change things a long time ago.
I don’t believe in group projects like they do here. I believe in the European way of things that encourages individuality. I try to see who’s really special. Teachers need to have the ability to see when a student is really special and push that. I do classes that incorporate real companies because projects can be very expensive. Let the company make it for you. Start a relationship between the designer and the maker, like in Europe. The company knows that it has to give credit to the designer.
(Editor’s note: At this point, Antonio brought up a very good example of how it is difficult to distinguish the designer from the manufacturer these days: Think of who designed the iPhone. Everyone knows that Apple makes the iPhone but it isn’t clear which individuals actually designed the shape, the layout, etc. In Europe, there is a definite distinction made between the designer and the craftsman and the relationship between the two is highly valued.)
R&F: It’s hard not to notice that the younger generations are growing up with less and less face-to-face interaction because of the wonders of social media. Do you do any outreach from SCAD to tell people (especially young people) in your community about reaching out to and communicating with people through design?
AL: First, in order to spread the word about our new artists, I had the idea to present their pieces at the NeoCon Furniture Revolution Gallery.
We do have opportunities to do projects with the community here. Unfortunately the community still thinks we are makers instead of designers. They usually want something for free and think the students should do it for us. But our students are trying to be professional and be true designers. They’re trying to figure out how to design a better desk, a better meeting room; those are the real solutions. People ask us to make things for them because that’s mainly what other design schools do.
R&F: What is your mentoring style? Are you very hands-on or do you prefer to let your students go and occasionally offer advice/critiques? Do you wait for your students to come to you or do you reach out proactively?
AL: Mentoring is one of the most important things you can have in a school. It’s what is missing sometimes. Mentors push you and they encourage you. That’s what people need out there, in every school. That’s why I like mentoring more than designing. Seeing those students and seeing them succeed in their projects, there’s nothing better than that. I take them to Italy and show them what’s happening there. It’s priceless.
R&F: You have often mentioned past furniture designers like Charles and Ray Eames as major influences on past American design. Where do you see their influences on today’s design?
AL: I don’t see any more influences. When I mention Eames or Knoll or Nelson, they were doing great design a long time ago. But I think it’s about time to come up with new people. This country was really a gold mine for design years ago. I always studied those guys. When I came here, it was gone. Everything is so ugly now. The starting point has to be the schools, the educational part. Many people think to start with the manufacturing but if they don’t have designers with passion, with feeling, with emotions, they can’t come out with the right products. They need to get inspired, both companies and designers. There was recently an article in Newsweek about the decline of creativity in America. We need to reignite that creativity!
R&F: From the Futures Furniture blog: “Since recycling is near and dear to our hearts at Futures Furniture, his presentation on the reuse of old furniture designs into newer and more contemporary designs was terrific. Mr. Larosa teaches his students to reuse materials and waste to create and invent designs that will continue to give back.” This sentiment reminded me of your efforts to reduce Gucci’s waste by forming your own designs out of their leather scraps. What else have you done or seen your students do to reduce/reuse/recycle?
AL: Sustainable design is often thought of as ‘making ugly stuff’. Who says that something has to look ugly just to be sustainable? It’s like eating granola that tastes like cardboard. There’s plenty of healthy stuff that tastes good out there! You can actually design something from scrap materials. A long time ago I was walking through a factory with all these scraps…wood, leather, etc. I talked to the company and said, “Hey why don’t you take the leather and make something out of it?” There are those flower things in Venice made out of Murano glass, called millefiori. I can make those little shapes using the smallest pieces of scrap leather. Flowers come in different colors, so you have an idea that comes from saving that kind of material, but at the end doesn’t look like it’s been done with scrap; it’s more of a fancy design. But you don’t know that it was done to save a scrap of leather.
I did a class last year in which a large hotel company asked us to design their furniture for a new hotel. They were planning on throwing away all of the old pieces and designing new ones. We asked if we could redesign something they had already. They were upset because they wanted something new and cool. But we thought it would be challenging to take something that existed already and make it look brand new. So we redesigned all of the new furniture using the old pieces and used the same material to come out with a brand new collection. They were really surprised and had no idea! We used the same wood and same materials; we just used different kinds of hardware and stained the color of the wood. That’s the proof that you actually can do things like that.
(Editor’s note: At this point in the conversation, I was completely blown away by Antonio’s ability to take a “micro” idea and blow it up to “macro” proportions! He told me that he was thinking of the possibility of having a warehouse for recycling and reselling used furniture, building materials, fabric, etc as a way to reduce waste and destruction of natural resources. The warehouses could be run by the government, allowing for the creation of jobs, the generation of revenue, and the regulation of all used materials. The entire idea sprang from an analogy of using leftovers in the fridge to make/cook something else that tastes delicious!)
R&F: What elements of design, if any, have you found shocking or truly unique in your time as the SCAD Furniture director?
AL: More than shocking, I have found the way students respond to trips and working with real companies truly unique. After these experiences, these people visibly grow from students to professional designers. When they leave the classroom and go on trips—especially to Europe and workshops in Milan—and work with real-life professionals, they evolve in their own design process.
R&F: Are you inspired by the past or do you prefer to look forward? Or do you use a combination of both?
AL: Definitely a combination of both.
R&F: Is there anyone you would like to collaborate with in furniture design? Or are there any projects that you would like to complete for certain clients (hotels, celebrities, public spaces, etc)?
AL: I have no wish list!
R&F: What does the word “trend” mean from your point of view? What role does it take in design in general, and in your designs in particular?
AL: From my point of view, the word trend doesn’t mean anything. Designers who design for trends are not considered designers but stylists, at least for me. I try not to respond directly to trends and encourage students and young designers not to be influenced by them. When I mentor students, I try to get the message across that product design should not be tied with fashion (when you have new collections every season) but should be something with staying power in the market. You want something permanent and not just something to be thrown away.
R&F: How do you think the process of creation will evolve in 20 years? What meaning do you envision for the word “design”?
AL: The process of creation will stay the same in the next billion years…hopefully!
Design—creating something unique and original that serves a purpose and improves someone else’s life—will also be the same. Design will always be design, but I would like to see more meanings in the words “American design”—such as emotions, ideals, passion, love—rather than just pragmatism and functionality.
RetroandFuture is very excited to see how Antonio can help reawaken American creativity and design in the coming years. We will continue to follow his progress at SCAD, including reporting on the upcoming convention that he is planning for May. The convention will bring together designers, teachers, design schools, manufacturers, and craftsmen to open the dialogue on how the design process can improve and become reenergized. Watch this space!
Thank you, Antonio for your passion and creative genius. If anyone can help push American designers back into the spotlight, it will be you!
www.larosadesign.com
Carolyn Breit
