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Today's featured designer is Viktor Kovtun. Viktor Kovtun is the creator of iconic designs such as Shark-Commode, Minimum and Deco. |
| We had the rare opportunity to interview the exalted designer Viktor Kovtun who was recently announced as the Designer of the Day by the A' Design Award and Competition. Viktor Kovtun is the creator of iconic designs such as Shark-Commode, Minimum and Deco. We got exclusive answers to our questions about Viktor Kovtun designs and design philosophy. |
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| Viktor Kovtun, how did you become a designer? Viktor Kovtun : My path in design is not quite normal. I have two educations. That is, I have a diploma of a civil engineer and a diploma of a lawyer. But in recent years I have been running a small carpentry workshop. In this workshop, I constantly developed some new pieces of furniture. Already in adulthood my friend advised me to make an exposition to an exhibition in Kiev.This was in 2009. After the exhibition, my exposition was stolen. After that I did not design for 2 years. But still in 2011, rather intuitively, I sent my projects to the A’ Design Award competition, where these works received a positive evaluation.For me it was unexpected, but very nice. At all it was an internal drive to do good by good design.... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, what are your priorities, technique and style when designing? Viktor Kovtun : My priority in design is first of all simplicity, following nature and searching for elegant technical and technological solutions. In many ways my design is intuitive. In the search for a visual or technological solution, I first make sketches, then either I do the drawings in Auto-CAD, or we make a prototype according to the sketches. Models I do not do, because we start to make the product only after I am sure that this product is good.... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, which emotions do you feel when designing? Viktor Kovtun : When designing, I experience only positive emotions.The most exciting emotions arise when I find a simple and elegant solution in terms of design and technology. For me, it's important that the product evokes positive emotions and even laughter.... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, what particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer? Viktor Kovtun : I believe that to make a good design, one must be keen on different types of art, culture and technology. I was influenced by painters - Impressionists, Surrealists.I really love the creativity of such designers as Arne Jacobsen, Carlo Mollyno, Charles Ormand Eames & Ray Eames, Verner Panton: Of course I was greatly influenced by well-known architects, especially Richard Fuller. I also think that I am very much helped by the skills of a civil engineer and the constant desire to find non-standard solutions.... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, what is your growth path? what are your future plans? what is your dream design project? Viktor Kovtun : It so happened that in 2016 I developed and patented two connectors. Both connectors are designed to create a hexagonal morphological structure. One connector for furniture, another connector for dome and other curved buildings. That is, the connector allows you to implement projects in both design and architecture.I dream to create domed domes of any shape and to produce a flexible system of furniture elements that is based on honeycomb structures.... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, what are your advises to designers who are at the beginning of their career? Viktor Kovtun : I would give some advice to young designers, obviously with the question "what" you should ask yourself the question "how". That is, is it possible to do this, is it technologically feasible, how simple and safe is it for a customer? And still very important aspect: your products should cause cheerful feelings at the consumer.... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, you are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects? Viktor Kovtun : I do not consider myself as a successful designer, unfortunately in Ukraine, I encounter an absolute lack of understanding. But my attitude to this is philosophical and I do not see in it this negative.In the end, a cool design that is needed and interesting to people is much more important and significant than temporary priorities. But one of the main qualities of the designer is patience and perseverance.Often you can not find the perfect solution to a creative task, society is often stereotyped in its majority. Novelty and unusual can cause misunderstanding and even irritation, so you must be ready for this and persevere in realising your ideas. Moreover, the realisation of your beautiful idea will still be your reward and recognition, let it be even a little later.... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, what is your day to day look like? Viktor Kovtun : In my usual work day, I work in my small carpentry workshop.That is ordinary everyday life. It takes a lot of time to search for orders. In addition, every morning we solve the current technical problems in the workshop. The fact is our orders are never repeated, and every time I develop both manufacturing technology and the project itself, if this is not a ready project from the customer, but any minute I switch to my favourite creative tasks. This is a habit, developed by years of experience. Certainly, the main time for design is the evening after work and the weekend.... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, how do you keep up with latest design trends? to what extent do design trends matter? Viktor Kovtun : I do not really follow the trends of design, although I regularly review the news of design on the Internet. Since my design is largely intuitive, then just follow the fashion trends is not obtained. Inspiration for me is first of all nature and I'm a supporter of bionic design.... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, how do you know if a product or project is well designed? how do you define good design? Viktor Kovtun : To appreciate the design, you must first of all know the history of design, constantly interested in new design developments, because you can say "yeah" it's cool, and then discover the same product in the 1960 design book. But in general, you must trust your intuition and your knowledge of the matter.... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, how do you decide if your design is ready? Viktor Kovtun : I decide whether my project is ready when both intuition and knowledge prompt that further changes will be superfluous.It is necessary to strive for an ideal solution and it is always the simplest.That's how nature teaches us.... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, what is your biggest design work? Viktor Kovtun : it is not ready yet, and it is connected with cellular design and with cellular architecture. It really will be a difficult job, but I'm happy that I can offer one of the simple solutions to the long-term direction of our activities.... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, who is your favourite designer? Viktor Kovtun : My favourite designer is Arne Jacobsen. If I were given a chance to talk with a single dead designer, I would have talked to him. I most admire many great people in different spheres of our life such as Salvador Dali, Renee Magritte, Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Norman Foster, Guenther Meyer, Philippe Starck, Ilon Mask, Mark Twain, Werner Panton, Carlo Mollyno, Peter Kandinsky and so on.... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture? Viktor Kovtun : I like very different kinds of musics like rock, classics, jazz, and alternative music. I can not listen to pop music and disco music. I prefer to be outdoors. Now I'm working on realising my bionic vision of design and architecture.... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy? Viktor Kovtun : it's not very easy to work with me, because I am more loner than a supporter of collective decisions. It is enough for me that a person should be honest, interesting and ready for change. I have a small team that we work together for a long time. I really respect those people who work in my workshop.They often make a joke that " to work with Viktor, the main thing is not to be surprised at anything" .... |
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| Viktor Kovtun, what are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect? Viktor Kovtun : Unfortunately, in our country right now is a war, so I think that the question is a public charity only after the war....Viktor Kovtun, what positive experiences you had when you attend the a’ design award? Viktor Kovtun : The participation in the A’ Design Award competition was very important for me. First, it is the recognition of my work by world-class professionalism gives both confidence and inspiration. Lots of positive emotions are given during the A’ Design Award award ceremony. Unforgettable impressions remain after communication with colleagues and co-thinkers from different countries and also I feel a feeling of great gratitude to the organisers of the A’ Design Award competition.... |
| Viktor Kovtun, can you tell us more about your company / design studio? Viktor Kovtun : Not a big production workshop, which fulfils the wooden interior works...Viktor Kovtun, what is "design" for you? Viktor Kovtun : All life, surrounding us, but the most great designer is the nature. ... |
| Viktor Kovtun, how do you think the "design field" is evolving? what is the future of design? Viktor Kovtun : We are surrounded by the nature design or the design, created by the mankind. The design in the future will be more closer to the nature which in the time when it has no style will have a lot of styles. ... Viktor Kovtun, thank you for giving us the opportunity to interview you... To learn more about Viktor Kovtun and check more designs by Viktor Kovtun as well as to see more Viktor Kovtun designs such as Shark-Commode, Minimum, Deco, Dog-Commode, Seating For Stations, Furniture of positive emotions and Sputnik visit designeroftheday.com/?109859 |
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| We hope you enjoyed our interview of Viktor Kovtun. This interview was made possible by the contributions of A' Design Award and Competition - The World's largest and most influential design accolade. A' Design Award is an annual, international design award open to both concept stage and realised works by designers, artists, architects and brands worldwide. A' Design Award and Competition aims to create a public awareness and understanding of good design by promoting the best designers such as Viktor Kovtun and their design works worldwide. Visit designaward.com to learn more. |
 REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY:
https://competition.adesignaward.com/designer.php?profile=109859 https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=27072
https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=24452
https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=24453
https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=27084
https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=31188
https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=23662
https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=48286
https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=26535
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This article was added on Friday, 23rd of March, 2018 at 04.15 am by author 
