Nika Zupanc is a Slovenian communicative product designer with a special touch for emotional extravaganza. As an independent designer she’s a regular member of various product design projects throughout Europe. She works and dreams in Ljubljana.

MP: You’ve just returned from Milan’s celebrated Salone Satellite, incubator of young designers, the starting point of many now successful designs. You were there showing your latest design project, the Maid Chair. What did Milan do for you?
NZ: At Salone I introduced the Maid chair, the feather dusters and a beauty table, all as part of my new collection. This year my primary focus was getting exposure for the Maid chair, because the concept for it was actually first introduced at a Pecha Kucha night in Udine (Italy), and it was there it first caught the attention of Italian producers. Finally they saw a prototype of the chair in Milan, where it was well receive. I also made some important contacts which I hope will develop into something more serious. But there was huge interest in the entire collection, both from the press and – interestingly – the fashion industry.

MP: Other than Milan’s Fiera del mobile you have a lot of exhibitions behind you; which have proved of real value in your work?
NZ: Showing and sharing ideas and experiences, media coverage, new contacts and a deeper understanding of the workings of the design world are some of the things you can get out of the exhibitions. For me the most important exhibitions were 100%design London, Designersblock Ljubljana and Young Design Talent Show Hong Kong. Milan is the biggest centre for product design: I exhibited there at Salone Satellite last year and decided to do it again. It’s important to get positive confirmation of your work.

MP: In some way your designs have a very artistic quality; on the other hand, you’re a product designer who wants to bring design to consumers? Is it this that makes your designs somehow special; different?
NZ: There’s always a story in my designs. You could say my designs are very personal objects; then again they’re also very personal for a wider audience. But I working to go beyond the “form follows function” formula. I’ve extended the concept of “function” into “emotional ergonomics”. It’s about the reaction of a man to an object. It’s much more than pre-determined function – it’s about seduction. I’m convinced that good products from successful companies are the result of two things: emotional ergonomics and technology. And that’s where I see a place, a niche, for my design.

MP: What are some of the stories behind your objects?
NZ: I always offer objects packaged with intriguing stories. I work closely with Igor Medjugorac –he’s guilty for the excellent texts which usually accompany my work. My design journey began with the simple idea of reinterpreting a doll that belonged to my grandmother. That’s how I ended up with a collection of identical plastic dolls which are both high-tech and high-touch in terms of what they have to say and what they express. I tried to put the statement “meaning determines use” into three dimensions. This work, however, was not just about reinterpretation; my work began as a critique on the current state of furniture design. With the collection of dolls, I felt I was questioning the emotive ergonomics behind all functional objects and furniture.
I was asking myself if we buy something because it’s functional, or simply because we like it on some emotional level? By changing the material (the cradles and footstools are made of laser-cut acrylic plates) and adding the various statements and expressions that come from the works themselves, I transformed a traditional, conservative object – which functions as an icon with its encoded interpretation – into something that exists in the contemporary sphere.
The doll, the cradle and the footstool now embody symbolic properties that are quite contrary to the established ones. The name for the whole collection – including this year’s Maid chair, Unfaithful table and Feather Duster – is in French, as I was aiming to bring some sex and intrigue to ordinary and marginal objects. Since French is the cliché language of love and seduction I see it as a kind of frivolous, tender background, against which I can provocatively juxtapose metaphors and meanings, and introduce another dimension to the collection.

MP: Plastic is hardly a new material on the design/manufacturing market, yet industry in Slovenia is not particularly developed in this area. How do you manage to realize your ideas?
NZ: Plastic is my favourite material. All of my designs are fashioned out of this fascinating material. I’m both intrigued with and inspired by the different technologies and uses this special material offers. At this point, acrylic is the only material I can work with to create the prototypes, due to certain technological obstacles and costs. It can be cut with laser and glued together. The dolls and feather dusters, however, are made from polycarbonate, and could not have been realized without the generous support of the Gorenje company, where it was necessary to make a mould and which is always difficult and expensive.

MP: So where are you now, this moment, in terms of the production and distribution of your designs? Where and when can people get hold your designs?
NZ: Some of the objects from my collection can be bought directly through me, as part of a limited edition collection; the others exist only as a prototypes, looking for a producer. It takes a lot of investment to give birth to a new object. And designs need tests, publicity, sales networks. But what I really want to do is design – I don’t want to pour too much energy into doing my own production and distribution. Right now I’m in the process of making an agreement with a top-end Italian furniture company for production of the Maid chair. The Maid Chair requires very expensive technology, so the producer wants to be sure it will sell. But good companies usually work with names, and it’s very hard to get close. It’s a game of power in which they decide whether to invite you in. But it’s not enough to be good, I think a bit of luck can help tip the scales.
Good press helps too. It’s easier now that industry has heard about me, maybe met me, and seen my designs – that way they start to get a picture of me. As in all fields, this world has its own rules. And my designs lend themselves well to media, where they like to give them tags like “punk elegance” and “techno chic”. Which works for me.

Author: Mattea Panterr, with designer Nika Zupanc
Photo portrait: Tomaž Gregorič
Stroller image: Desdemona Varon
Maid Chair, Beauty Table, Feather Duster: Jernej Prelac
Maid chair in the garden: Tomaz Gregorič
Other photos: courtesy Nika Zupanc
more: www.nika-zupanc.net