We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Himanshu Shekhar Soni ("HSS").
Himanshu Shekhar Soni is an Industrial Designer from India.His inspiration is a mixture of every-day life events, feelings, emotions, music, visual arts, maths and science. His design solves problems through design processes and delivers concepts and solutions through an artistic approach,working with beautiful material and attention to detail,showcasing a craft, following one simple rule: Form Follows -Function.Broad skill base in design from conceptual thinking/ideation, user interface design, CAD development, through to manufacturing. he has been practicing design for past 10 years in the field of Industrial Design & Development and also have diverse experience in designing different product category like Consumer durable, Consumer electronics, Bathroom equipment, Toy design, Packaging health Care & beauty, Cosmetic, Writing Instrument etc.
Himanshu Shekhar Soni Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Himanshu Shekhar Soni.
Himanshu Shekhar Soni Design - TipTip Faucet
Himanshu Shekhar Soni Design - Soulmate Perfume Primary Packaging
Designer Interview of Himanshu Shekhar Soni:
DI: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
HSS : I was actually on the career path to become an engineer.“I like Drawing, sketching, junk sculpture and I loved being creative since from my childhood. The stereotype of the starving artist was all I had to go on when thinking of a future for myself—and I did not want to be starving. I had never actually heard of Industrial design until a few days after engineering graduation. In college, I excelled mechanical engineering but it was one interaction my senior colleague that changed my future. I looked at him and thought to myself ‘I will never be that excited about engineering.’ From that moment on, all I could imagine was a monotonous gray future with an adding machine stuck to my fingertips. So I began researching in the Industrial design field just to make sure it wasn’t a dying industry—haha! I visited design school, designer and quickly fell in love with the fact that a creative individual could make a living being creative.
DI: What is "design" for you?
HSS : Working with beautiful materials, attention to details, user aspect and showcasing a craft are what fuel my designs. It’s the combination of all these qualities that spark an emotion. I want someone to pick up a product and appreciate it for the touch of the material, its structure and composition and each thought out detail behind each design. I want my designs to have a personality and speak for themselves.
DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
HSS : All kinds of works from the different product category, from the smallest products to the biggest spaces. I love challenges
DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
HSS : I have designed first time a door styling for a single door Refrigerator.
DI: When do you feel the most creative?
HSS : I feel most creative when I identified any problem to solve it or have a great inspiration.
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
HSS : Working with beautiful materials, attention to details, user aspect and showcasing a craft. I want that my designs will tell a story and to give the experience the user.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
HSS : Curiosity, Fun, and Excitement to realized & build my ideas
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
HSS : I feel proud and excited when my designs are realized
DI: What makes a design successful?
HSS : successful design its like delicious food that cooked with the proper proportion of essential ingredients, This is an analogy. Its same successful design condenses a system of details into just the right thing for a particular situation be it an intuitive use, user aspects, an awe-inspiring form, a memorable experience, color combination, a flexible solution, etc. and out of all most essential ingredient to consider contextual design aspects in product design.
DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
HSS : Visual looks, User aspect and the design story behind it.
DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
HSS : the product design stage is critical from the point of view of public responsibility. Design decisions impact production processes and often the content of the industrial waste. Effective design strategies should anticipate growing environmental concerns and responsibilities, sustainable design to eliminate or minimize the negative environmental impact.
DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
HSS : The design field is constantly advancing and evolving. Designers are expected to know way more than they used to.Two emerging trend that will be evolving the design field overall in the coming years .first the societal and environmental changes our planet is experiencing will require new design solutions that must be cost-effective, localized and user-centric. And second emerging trend within the technology sector, an industry-wide shift to cloud, social and mobile services is democratizing access and lowering barriers to entry. The good news is that these two trends – seemingly intractable challenges coupled with new and innovative solutions that can come from anywhere – are converging, creating the perfect opportunity for designers to focus their considerable expertise on solutions for a better future with impact design.
DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
HSS : Nature is my main inspirations combine with a sense of intuition.Although the source of my creativity is fueled by many things such as nature, travel, personal transformation, textiles and all things colorful, I find my deepest well of inspiration simply in the process of creating something out of nothing.
DI: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
HSS : I do not have a fixed design style, the style is mainly dependent on the specific product categories or brand language, but some interesting ideas, simple design, minimalistic form, attention to details and design of the ornamental, these are I try to pursue.
DI: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
HSS : I live in New Delhi, India; A beautiful country with so much history and diverse culture with Unity in diversity. The cultural heritage of my country affects my work in many ways that make it unique. It gives my work a voice true to my background and experiences here as well as my experiences abroad. my country's old heritage and culture have inspired many lines in my work! There are no pros and cons in being in this country or that, there are just new perspectives, and that is always a healthy thing in the design world.
DI: How do you work with companies?
HSS : I try to have deep cooperation and get involved in different stages of bringing ideas to life. A bridging role between aspects particularly related to the ideation and creation of a product for example prototyping and testing, Manufacturing and subsequent product development stages, for example marketing, and product launch.
DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?
HSS : For the design process, I start with research and images and then I work on sketches, the overall design then after the use of software to achieve the final results.
DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
HSS : Chair, Toys, Puzzles, Pens, Kitchen accessories , Electronic Gadgets
DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
HSS : Get an experience, understand how the design and technical development process take place to take it from raw sketch to prototype to production and Listen to themselves and believe they capable of anything .work harder than anyone to gain the skills and always continue to raise the bar in what they do.
DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
HSS : The positive aspects include satisfaction from work, creativity, idea transform to reality with the power of thought. Designers get the honor of designing a collection of numerous designs for different clients. Designers often feel that the most wholesome part of the career is knowing the people and being able to make something precise for them.The negative aspects also concern clients. Unfortunately, not all clients realize the importance of design. Some would be easy going and giving complete freedom to the project, however, the disadvantage of the designer is facing the tough clients who are rarely satisfied with the idea, plans or budgets.Creating a design is a partnership, where the designer and the client have to work together. However, in the real world, it’s not always so.
DI: What skills are most important for a designer?
HSS : I believe that the skills that are most important for a designer are imagination and sense of detail, quality dialogue & perception, sense of material and ability to synthesize.
DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
HSS : The length of time for designing an object from beginning to end depends on the project itself.
DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
HSS : the most frequent question as a designer is "from where do you get inspiration ?"
DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
HSS : Most of the time, I work alone but working as a team in my company helps me to understand the power of ideas from other individuals, but working alone give you a clear sets of thoughts , freedom and direction without interruption, and with team members, you will have chance to evaluate the ideas and possibly adding better parts, improvised idea to it I do a piece of my work that can be collaborated with others' share of work.
DI: How can people contact you?
HSS : soni.him@gmail.com