We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Lattoog ("Lattoog").
Lattoog is a carioca company specialized in design founded by architect and urban planner Leonardo Lattavo and self-taught designer Pedro Moog. The name Lattoog is a fusion of the surnames of the two partners - Lattavo and Moog - and synthesizes the creative process of the duo: The conjunction of ideas from two minds, two different backgrounds, two distinct creative processes that share the desire to express Rio and Brazilian culture through the practice of design.
Lattoog Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Lattoog.
Lattoog Design - Luar Armchair
Designer Interview of Lattoog:
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?
Lattoog : Leonardo Lattavo, one of the partners, graduated in architecture in Rio de Janeiro and did his master's degree in England, and Pedro Moog is self-taught. At that time, they didn't see any possibility in Rio de Janeiro of doing a good job as an architect. So, being very detail-oriented and passionate about art, they got together to design what would become Lattoog's first piece, the Knot Armchair, 25 years ago. They started out as a hobby, but as it was very successful among friends, it was a stimulus for them to start making other pieces.
DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
Lattoog : A Lattoog existe há 20 anos e temos feito parte do desenvolvimento do design contemporâneo no país, na linguagem, e principalmente usando a madeira. Somos do Rio de Janeiro, prestamos serviços de design para fabricantes do Brasil, principalmente na área de móveis, objetos, luminárias; e temos ajudado muitas empresas do ramo dos móveis a se reposicionar no mercado e a conquistar seu público, através da contratação de um bom design para os seus produtos. Lattoog has existed for 20 years, and we have been part of the development of contemporary design in the country, in language, and especially using wood. We're from Rio de Janeiro, and we provide design services for manufacturers throughout Brazil, mainly in the area of furniture, objects and lighting; and we've helped many companies in the furniture industry to reposition themselves in the market and win over their public by hiring good design for their products.
DI: What is "design" for you?
Lattoog : Design is thinking. It's all the thinking that goes into conceiving, designing and inventing objects and artifacts that we use on a daily basis. So that's design. Design for us is the process of thinking about these projects.
DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
Lattoog : We generally like to design wooden furniture and armchairs.
DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
Lattoog : The Pantosh armchair was the first piece we designed for a factory - we already had some pieces designed that we manufactured ourselves. We designed the Pantosh in 2008, at the time when two-axis CNCs were being introduced in Brazil, so it was a great response at the time to the use of this technology. And it made this factory very well known in Brazil, gaining a good share of the market. To this day, it's a piece that sells well and has a lot of recognition, even more than 15 years after its launch. From Pantosh, a very solid partnership was created with this company, Schuster Móveis, which is also the manufacturer of the Luar Armchair, which won this year's A' Design Awards.
DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
Lattoog : You can't fail to mention wood. It is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and a privileged medium for creative expression, a living symbol that embraces Brazilian history and culture, and the principles of sustainability.
DI: When do you feel the most creative?
Lattoog : Creativity comes when you're with your team, drawing, designing and solving something. Another moment is when you're alone, without any tasks, usually at night when you can think calmly, but it can also be in the morning when you're alone. There's also when you're in the factory, seeing the machines working, the materials and ideas popping up. So there are a number of situations that are conducive to this.
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
Lattoog : Creativity comes when you're with your team, drawing, designing and solving something. Another moment is when you're alone, without any tasks, usually at night when you can think calmly, but it can also be in the morning when you're alone. There's also when you're in the factory, seeing the machines working, the materials and ideas popping up. So there are a number of situations that are conducive to this.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
Lattoog : When designing, when we have a very different idea, the feeling is one of happiness.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
Lattoog : When the project is finished, it's like a child being born, a relief, a sense of accomplishment.
DI: What makes a design successful?
Lattoog : It's hard to say, because there are projects that are highly praised, win awards, and other projects sell more, but don't get as much media attention. So each project proves successful in different ways. Now, the most successful project is when it really manages to arouse an enchantment: it has a well-founded cultural narrative, it has a very rational production, it looks very beautiful. And it sells well. When it encompasses all these issues in the same project, it really is successful.
DI: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
Lattoog : We see many designers investigating new raw materials, young people, with this research linked to making and materiality. Always looking for solutions that are more sustainable and fairer to the planet. So we think that the future of design is much more linked to rethinking materiality and raw materials, rather than a purely formal aspect.
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?
Lattoog : We prefer to think of Lattoog's design not as a formal, visual style based on visual characteristics. We believe that our style lies in the way we think. So, it's a way of thinking that always seeks to express some Brazilianness, being a statement that our country needs to characterize itself in this environment. Translated into form, it's a design style that, inevitably, people end up identifying as having a lot of curves, self-made challenges that we set ourselves, especially with wood.
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?
Lattoog : Brazil is a very inspiring country, with a culture that is easy to inspire and translate into design. And it's a country that is, at the moment, in great need of thinking about its products, about its industry, with an industry that has become a little outdated in this sense. So, we saw a huge manufacturing capacity, with one of the largest industrial volumes on the planet, but which is in great need of a design culture in industry.
DI: How do you work with companies?
Lattoog : We work with only a few companies, almost all of them Brazilian and made of furniture. And we work not by project, but by relationship. So we are always thinking about projects for these partner companies over time. There are partnerships that have existed for 15 years. So there are only a few of them, but we work with them constantly and always on a royalty-sharing basis on product sales.
DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?
Lattoog : Traditionally, we always start drawing by hand, doodling some idea that is then discussed with the team, who will make a 3D model, refine it and turn it into a product. And then this process of refinement is long, it's extensive, it goes through many options, many variants, which can be very close to what I wanted to design or very different from it. But we're also always open to another type of approach, which can be experimentation done directly in the factory, more craft. Or, from a collection we've put together of projects left half-finished, we can revise, mix and create other designs. So there are various processes, but traditionally it's a hand-drawn doodle on a sheet of paper that starts to provide the first stimulus.
DI: Can you describe a day in your life?
Lattoog : Leonardo Lattavo divides his time between Lattoog and the university where he teaches. In the studio, much of his time is spent with the team developing projects, usually furniture, which can be on client demand or future projects. Moog and Lattavo also dedicate themselves to running the studio, giving lectures and visiting factories. In addition, Moog focuses on managing our stores.
DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
Lattoog : Always look for something that makes the project very specific, that isn't a repetition of patterns and uses that have already been made. And that something specific could be in the use, it could be in the materiality, it could be in the shapes, you name it. It's hard to say what that something specific would be, but without having that particularity, it's harder to stand out in the market.
DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?
Lattoog : We think it's to be your own biggest critic. You have to have more periods of dissatisfaction than satisfaction when you're designing. If you're too satisfied, too easily, or if you ignore small dissatisfaction in the design, you could be missing an opportunity. So we're really always trying to remove any discomfort that the product might have, until we get to the result. So you can go through many stages of study, dozens, or even hundreds.
DI: What skills are most important for a designer?
Lattoog : The designer needs, among all the skills, not to draw, nor to have technical skills with a computer or any specific skill, but to know how to observe. When you observe, that's when the questions are raised, and the hypotheses to come up with something new.
DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
Lattoog : The shortest time projects last is one year. Many are revisited many times over the years, they need to mature to reach a final form. But even a project that has been launched and becomes a product is not exempt from being reworked; the constant search for improvement is part of the design project.
DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
Lattoog : We want to continue on the path we're on, but we want to work more and more on more socio-environmental projects and go beyond furniture, which is the majority of our projects. So we want to work more with electronics and other products that go outside our comfort zone.
DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
Lattoog : As a team.
DI: How can people contact you?
Lattoog : On Instagram @lattoog and by e-mail projetos@lattoog.com