Product design is a fickle beast. Go too far on the aesthetics of a piece, and its usability might be compromised; but focus too much on its function and you might end up with an uninspired paint-by-numbers design.

Not so for Sebastian Wrong, co-founder and Design Development Director of Established & Sons. The British product designer blends his artistic flair, cultivated by his years as a sculpture student, with the pragmatism picked up after 10 years in the manufacturing sector.

He’s the creative muscle behind products like The Spun lamp, which won the prestigious Red Dot Design Award, and the Bricks & Mortar sofas. The latter product perfectly exemplifies his studio’s unusual style—the sofas are fitted with upholstery that sports prints of brick walls for that ironic, paradoxical touch. They’re still comfortable to sit on, though.

The designer explains to us just what is the rationale behind his “design with a twist” philosophy, and how function doesn’t necessarily come before form.

TAXI Hi Sebastian, thanks for taking a ride with TAXI. You’re an established, award-winning product and furniture designer but with a background in sculpture. How did you come to choose the manufacturing and then design route instead?

Sebastian Wrong I ran a ‘bespoke’ fabrication company shortly after graduation, producing designs for the contact market like bars and restaurants. This enabled me to support myself and also engaged me in thinking about design, objects and production.

TAXI What’s the biggest difference in the process between creating a sculpture for art and designing, say, a lamp?

Sebastian Wrong Design needs to function practically and sculpture needs to express an idea, one process has a defined set of rules and the other has no rules.

TAXI Run us through your usual day as Design Development Director at Established & Sons.

Sebastian Wrong My days are variable. Essentially from day to day I am communicating with designers and our development team and design team, researching into production process and techniques and liaising with suppliers on projects.

I travel quite frequently to meet suppliers and designers and I also try to find time to focus on my own work.

TAXI Since co-founding the studio in 2005, what’s the most radical and significant change in the field of product design, or design in general, that you’ve experienced?

Sebastian Wrong The financial crises has forced a harsh ‘reality check’ for the industry. Designers are required to present ideas to the market that do not require significant investment, this situation has produced some very interesting results

TAXI In another interview, you described Established & Sons style as “modernism with a twist”. Is there a concerted effort to maintain this aesthetic or does the studio’s style keep evolving?

Sebastian Wrong The collections are always evolving and we have never set out with a ‘house style’, I think many of  our pieces have an understated identity which focuses on materials, quality and simplicity. This mixture, when successful, makes the objects into statements which separates our brand from many others.

TAXI From lights to sofas to clocks, you’ve created various types of products. What’s the next thing you’d like to work on?
 
Sebastian Wrong I always have a variety of ideas swilling around in my head. I am interested in building structures, which requires a lot of time and planning.

[To read the rest of this interview, click the 'Next' button at the top of this page.]

TAXI Products and furniture tend to have a higher ‘utility factor’ than, say, a web or graphic design. How much do usability and function determine your mode of designing?
 
Sebastian Wrong I think one can design most objects with caricature and function. Too often the focus is only function, but sometimes the best results come from the most basic fusion of form and function which in turn make an object of great caricature.

I live with what I design, and as a result I often feel compelled to design something because I have not found a suitable solution available that works. It’s the need to ‘fill the gaps’ that motivates my interest in design.

TAXI You collaborated with Richard Woods on the Bricks & Mortar sofas and WrongWoods cabinets. How does the experience of collaboration benefit or hinder the creative process?

Sebastian Wrong The collaboration with Richard works very well, he does the surface and I do the structure. There is no confusion between either of our creative inputs on the ongoing collaborations with Established & Sons.

Richard's work is about surfaces and my role as the designer on this collaboration is to provide the best 3D form to communicate the surface. His work is graphically very strong, therefore the design element needs to subtly coexist alongside the surface graphic and not compete with it.  

TAXI What’s next in the pipelines for Established & Sons?

Sebastian Wrong We are working on many new projects, Estd by Established & Sons, the Principal collections and new opportunities.

TAXI What is the word you think will reside in and reverberate through the creative industries over the next 10 years?

Sebastian Wrong That’s a very difficult questions, I’ll get back to you this one.