Pillow Talk is the latest concept from COLLECTIBLE In-Depth. This new series of articles  instigates  design encounters in a playful setting. The idea is simple: we pair designers from the Curated Section and each duo then freely chooses three questions to ask to each other. They can tackle any subject, within the realm of design - or not! Today’s duo is anima ona and Studio Eidola.

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anima ona: As a Designer you have the opportunity to steer humans future. Maybe to  escape the future we are going to, what is your motivation or ideals which  make you belief in your work? In other words do you have a vision  on a future? If yes, could you describe it? 

Studio Eidola: Ideally, we tend to not dwell on the future as a parameter of time which may  restrict  our process, but rather focus on identifying existing and emerging human-related problems and questioning how to best use our particular approach to provide novel narratives.  

Therefore, we are in a long-term investigation into how we can define new relationships to reorient ourselves on this planet as harmonious co-inhabitants.  Our approach is material-oriented, and in our practice, there is a strong emphasis on learning and experimenting with the craft of manufacturing.

Generally speaking, authenticity attracts more than repetition and standardisation.

AO: Design is a discipline bounded to the industrialization and mass  production. The last decades emerged new modalities which goes away from  industrial production, putting the focus more on handcraft, materiality and  small production series. Why do you think this is happening and what makes  you work on this direction? 

SE: Generally speaking, authenticity attracts more than repetition and standardisation. When purchasing a product, you also purchase what it represents. There are more noteworthy layers than can be communicated for a hand-crafted product.

In our work, we aim to communicate the origin, life cycle, and disposal of the materials we are using, as well as experimental processes focusing on the qualities of raw materials. Furthermore, we try to provoke what "perfect" means; for us, it is beautiful when an object is in constant transformation, for example, when it erodes and eventually dissolves. 

AO: As a creative it is important to get new perspectives and to escape out of  the standard wheels which rolls our society. Do you have some methods to  achieve such an escape?

SE:Regarding  material-oriented investigations, one of our favoured methods to push beyond the ordinary is to forget the existing references and focus on hands-on experimentation. Engaging with the material is a continuous unlearning relearning process that requires openness and great sensitivity. 

Moreover, approaching something as if it hadn’t been questioned before could lay a whole load of new possibilities that can lead to unexpected results.  It also provides a stable ground for the project, that the failures don’t lead to frustration, but sometimes could lead to fascination. We trust the law of chance.

Studio Eidola: How do you use fantasy as an element in your work? Is it a way to escape reality to generate new ideas? Is it a tool or the destination? 

Anima Ona: Fantasy always has to do with imagination. It is not so much a way to avoid reality as it is to perceive the fantastic moments and build on them a purposeful path. Seen in this way, it is both a tool and a guide to the destination.

A critical eye and a questioning attitude are the starting point for our thought processes.

SE: One of the common approaches as a design studio that works within the realm of crafts, is to do self-initiated projects, especially in the beginning of their practice. We have seen that some of your projects started as your own endeavors. What is your motivation to do self-initiated projects, and how do you start one? 

AO: Self-initiated projects allow us to act according to our free will and to implement it freely. Our motivation comes from the desire to make new visions come true, be it the search for beauty or a more harmonious relationship with each other and our environment.

SE: One of our roles as designers is to be disruptive and shake up the conventional ways of doing things, bringing a refreshed view. What are your methods of being disruptive, how do you shake it up? 

AO: A critical eye and a questioning attitude are the starting point for our thought processes. It is not a method we apply but rather an attitude towards the world around us. This attitude potentiates functioning situations and seeks new approaches to solutions for incomplete systems.

anima ona (Stuttgart)

anima ona is a collabortation between the product designers Freia Achenbach, June Fàbregas and Carlo Kurth. Their projects move on the border between product design, research and art. They understand their role as designers as a bridge between craft, art, industry, object and user and are interested in creating connections between a research-based practice and the wider design industry. In their work, they combine rich narratives with an awareness of materiality, forms and space. For each project, they choose a distinct approach characterised by experimental material investigations and explorations of the relationship between tradition and culture.

Studio Eidola (Zürich)

Studio Eidola is a Zürich based interdisciplinary research and design studio exploring the narratives of material transformation. Their hands-on approach aims to rediscover the ways of doing from the perspective of ecocentrism.‍ In their practice there is a strong emphasis on learning and experimenting with the craft of manufacturing, this entails an engagement with the material and defining a relationship with its transformation. Manipulation of material properties and process-oriented form finding are their methods to reach new aesthetic expressions. Their work starts with investigations into cycles and properties of raw materials, geomorphic processes that shape the landscape and longstanding making cultures; from there it transfers into objects, spaces and statements.