We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Luisa and Lilian Parrado ("LALP").
Sisters and architects graduated at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, they began their contact in the furniture design field through the development of interior design projects and training courses in London, Barcelona and São Paulo. With work experience in architecture and design offices, they aim to create a line of multidisciplinary thinking, exploring and incorporating different visions to their work.
Luisa and Lilian Parrado Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Luisa and Lilian Parrado.
Designer Interview of Luisa and Lilian Parrado:
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?
LALP : Since we were little, me and my sister always had a particular interest about how things were made, about creating and building any kind of object. We have always been attracted to creative world. As a natural consequence, we went together to architecture school and there we started our contact with architecture and design field. Having worked in different offices and companies we ended up learning a lot from many subjects such as landscaping, interior design, even graphic design and branding, what helped us to open our minds to a multidisciplinary thinking. Starting in the architecture field made us learn to look first at the macro context to understand better the necessities and what creates a good composition with architecture and interior spaces, not just focusing on a single object, but having all these aspects in consideration.
DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
LALP : After working in several offices and also with some independent interior design projects we felt a lack of different and remarkable products that could make a difference in spaces. Adding this to fact that we had a taste and curiosity for production and constructive systems we decided to put everything together and create our own company, where we could work project and production together - from the beginning, the conception and creative part, passing through material selection, constructive system, and production methods, until packaging and having the final product ready for distribution. Managing the whole process gives us the possibility to have a better understanding of each stage, also giving us more freedom to work and testing limits for innovative processes.
DI: What is "design" for you?
LALP : We like to think design as an intelligent, smart and delightful version of something ordinary. It is a infinity of possibilities of rethinking objects and making better and beautiful things in smarter ways, doing more with less. It is a tool that can transform our routine by the simple act of thinking creatively.
DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
LALP : We rather work with ordinary materials, as it gives more weight to design itself, challenging us to explore to the most its potential. We like to use technology in our favour so we always tend to explore digital techniques. In addition our products are designed to have clean production processes, so we make each piece ready to assemble. It enables us to have better results on aesthetic and logistic aspects.
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
LALP : We really enjoy designing objects that interact with people in many ways, giving the users the possibility to establish a connection with the product. In addition, with our architectural background, we like to think our design not individually, but considering how its presence will look in the interior space and how it will integrate to it, what made us especially like fluid and adaptable objects that brings to people not just an specific functional solution but a whole design experience. Having this in mind, modularity became a very strong characteristic of the studio’s projects.
DI: What makes a design successful?
LALP : When something goes beyond an object and becomes an experience. If it makes a difference in people’s lives, such as transforming a place or a moment.
DI: What skills are most important for a designer?
LALP : Not just for designers but for every professional field, we consider creativity the key to every job's improvement. It’s decisive to think different to get to innovative and better results, give a break on our commonplace activities and challenge ourselves to rethink traditional concepts.