We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Gaby el Ashkar ("GEA").
Based in Ottawa, Gaby el Ashkar, Visual Artist, interior Architect and Concept Designer, is a multidisciplinary, unconventional, ever-learning, pertinacious, unsatisfiable, sleep deprived creator, galvanized by strenuous challenges, bored by the lack of them, and incessantly provoked by Time.
Gaby el Ashkar Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Gaby el Ashkar.
Designer Interview of Gaby el Ashkar:
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?
GEA : I’ve been on two parallel paths for most of my life, Art & Design, and I will be answering on both facets throughout the questions where relevant. “Art” has been a sanctuary since childhood. It was the means to question and comprehend the chaos around me (and still is), especially as a child in Lebanon’s 80s “Design” has followed as a natural evolution of my artistic & creative nature and the incessant curiosity and need to solve what needs solving.
DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
GEA : After a long journey as head of Design & associate at an Architectural & Design bureau, I co-founded “Inkrypted” in 2018, as an alternative, offbeat, art-inclined multidisciplinary design studio, with a more selective approach to projects and an ambition to create less generic, less restrained, art-infused designs.
DI: What is "design" for you?
GEA : It is the art of imagining an alternative reality and inviting others to believe it as it becomes part of their own perception, thus turning “real”.
DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
GEA : Spaces and interactive objects for their relevance in people's everyday life and their sense of "being" and "becoming".
DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
GEA : It’s hard to choose one since every design has a story, but if I have to list one I’d say “X” (aka “Change”). A hybrid design/ interactive Art piece, in which the audience is invited to remove the blade-like vertical iron support from the concrete base and slide it horizontally in that same base—an analogy for change made by the people in turning a throne into a people’s bench.
DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
GEA : It was an architectural design for a multi-use unit for a complex in Lagos, Nigeria, back in 2001
DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
GEA : In Art: It will always be clay, as working it feels more like a dance or a dialogue between the creator and the creation disguised within. In Design: it would be 3D visualization as a means of communication as it deciphers a designer’s idea into realities for people to believe.
DI: When do you feel the most creative?
GEA : Every time I open my sketchbook.
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
GEA : The aspect that highlights innovation.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
GEA : It’s a wonderful feeling of detachment from time and place. It’s addictively freeing.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
GEA : A sense of pride, and an urgency to start again.
DI: What makes a design successful?
GEA : Personally, I find that the criteria for success of a design differs from that of an artwork. For a design, success is adoption. It’s when an audience believes the designer’s reality and makes it their own. For art, it’s when the artist fully adopts his own creation and identifies with it, as the audience rejects it, accepts it, or questions it or the reality of things.
DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
GEA : The alignment between the intention and the outcome.
DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
GEA : Designers are involved in every building block of society, and every element it interacts with. They create trends, influence habits, and solidify systems. As designers, we have the responsibility to be, well, responsible.
DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
GEA : The design field is continuously evolving as it mirrors the tendencies and needs of an ever-changing society. The future of the field will closely follow the pragmatism and extravaganza of the society it interacts with. As long as designers are the ones designing, both the field and its society will bloom organically.
DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
GEA : My last exhibition was during Beirut Design Week in 2018. Other scheduled exhibitions were canceled due to Covid and the unrest in Lebanon during the years that followed. And further to Beirut’s 2020 Port explosion that reset many journeys and plans, mine included, I moved permanently to Ottawa in 2022. As I rebuild my body of work on the opposite side of the planet, I’m currently planning the next exhibition.
DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
GEA : In Art: It has always been about making sense of all that surrounds me. They become vessels that hold these reflections, the time to process them. In Design: What fuels my creativity is designing balance, in a space, in an object, in a state of mind. A balance Inspired by challenges and constraints.
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?
GEA : I would say it is a style that mirrors my evolution as a person and as a designer along the years. It has become more streamlined and more minimal while balancing function and aesthetics.
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?
GEA : I was based in Beirut till 2022 when I moved to Ottawa. Growing up and practicing in Beirut was a double-edged sword. It was limiting as a stage in comparison to major design centers, due to scale, resources, and unrest. That said, Lebanon is a multicultural hub with a convergence of influences, a cradle of civilizations, and a continuously lived-in Mediterranean core for over 7 thousand years, which made my journey more enriching than nowhere else could be. Now I approach the new chapter and bigger stage with that knowledge and cultural wealth.
DI: How do you work with companies?
GEA : I approach every collaboration with a sense of excitement as it opens new horizons and creates new encounters and experiences. There’s always a phase of studying and understanding, the project and the team, that precedes the actual collaboration.
DI: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
GEA : My advice would be not to address the selection of designers as they would other trades or disciplines, since qualifications and experience aside, designers have signatures and methodologies that should align with the companies’ philosophy alongside the project requirements as an essential catalyst for compatibility.
DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?
GEA : Everything starts with a cup of coffee and extensive research, followed by an untold number of sketches and pages, till that seed of an idea becomes clear and refined. Since clarity in graphite can be deceiving it requires CAD sessions to verify dimensions and proportions making way for 3d visualization so that idea is communicated.
DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
GEA : If it’s about items around me in my immediate surroundings I could list my minimal modern turntable, a minimalistic acoustic guitar, a life-long trusted comfy lounge chair, my dependable coffee machine, and my sculpted lead holder.
DI: Can you describe a day in your life?
GEA : 24. Can you describe a day in your life? A mid-week day usually starts with caffeine, emails, messages, and updates, before tackling the design project at hand (or meeting if scheduled), lunch parentheses then resuming design development. In the afternoon, I move from my office, graphic tablet, and workstation to my art atelier, where re-caffeinated I take on my sculptures till evening, usually isolated by music.
DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
GEA : Rebel and break codes, standards, and rules, but only do so after you fully learn and understand what came before.
DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
GEA : A positive would be uninterruptedly seeing the world from a different point of view. The negative would be uninterruptedly seeing the world from a different point of view.
DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?
GEA : Don’t hold back.
DI: What skills are most important for a designer?
GEA : Observation & patience.
DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
GEA : It all starts with a sketchbook and a 2B pencil. Sealed with an ink pen, it makes its way to AutoCAD for drafting before being extruded following the Z axis in 3DS Max as textures are prepped in Photoshop. Renders see the light in V-ray, get edited in Photoshop, and are laid out in InDesign, while animations come to life in Premiere Pro. Elaborate details and drawings revisit AutoCAD, as documents, presentations, and specs get developed in MS Office.
DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
GEA : I usually do it till I can’t do it no more.
DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
GEA : Somewhere between the time it needs and the time it takes.
DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
GEA : "Can I ask you for a favor?"
DI: What was your most important job experience?
GEA : In my 17 years as Head of Design at M.Architects, I had the chance to take on diverse projects of different scales and genres, on different continents, and collaborate with major companies, suppliers, and engineers.
DI: Who are some of your clients?
GEA : Whether in arts or Design, my clients vary as projects do, and all value their privacy.
DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
GEA : Design I do out of my own interest and curiosity over commissioned designs.
DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
GEA : Resuming both Art and Design careers in full scale and full potential on this side of the planet.
DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
GEA : It depends on the project and its circumstances. I mostly work alone, and it is my preference, but I have successfully worked, coordinated, and managed teams of different scales, forms, and disciplines.
DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
GEA : Art Wise: a series of life-size sculptures is in progress addressing the different states of defense mechanisms against adversity. Design wise: a series of lighting elements should see the light soon (no pun).
DI: How can people contact you?
GEA : Through my socials @gabyelashkar , as well as contacts listed on gabyelashkar.com & inkrypted.com
DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
GEA : I think it was well varied and extensive as interview, and I thank you for it.