Looking into design’s pace

March 2009; Tulga is on her research trip towards the exhibition "Pace of Design" at ExperimentaDesign in Lisbon this autumn, trying to get a grip on exactly this pace. After spending a couple of days with Lunar Design in San Francisco and with the Campana Brothers in Sao Paolo, things seem to confirm stereotypes, and at the same time they don't. Both places share an atmosphere of concentration, both are very organized and professional, but there is a lightness to the office of the Campana Brothers that couldn't be sensed at Lunar Design studio. It is a lightness and easiness that springs from little things like music, laughter, a silly chat here and there.

And there are certainly big differences lying between a workshop with four or five craftspeople at the Campanas and Lunar Design, where a big team of engineers, ceaselessly sitting behind computers, develops models and the latest industrial design products the studio is working on. Craft versus Engineering? A close connection between head and hand in one case versus a disconnection of the two in the other? But that’s another discussion for another moment… the next stop will be Cape Town to visit Martin Haldane and then back home.

For a more detailed travel diary visit www.experimentadesign.pt/2009/blog/

Image 1: The entrance area of Lunar Design studio, San Francisco.
Image 2: Entrance to the workshop of the Campana Brothers, Sao Paolo.
Photos: Eva Engelbert