Is Dave Hile a compulsive hoarder or an inspired advertising guru? Only time will tell.

Do you collect things? My cousin collects anything related to penguins. The mother of a friend of mine collects owl bric-a-brac. Her house is packed with owl ceramics, art prints, aprons, snow globes, door knockers, figurines, pillows and anything else that could possibly get an owl image on it. I always wondered what the appeal was, and I found people who obsessively collected themed whatnots to be slightly bizarre (except, of course, my cousin who might someday read this blog). How far is the leap from being a collector to becoming one of those eccentric people who live in darkened houses, who never throw out their newspapers dating back to the 1960s?

Like I said, that’s what I thought. Until I became one of them!

I collect modern clocks. It started about four years ago. One day I felt like we needed a clock for our office. A nice big one so all the designers could keep an eye on their deadlines. But of course being a lover of all things modern I couldn’t just buy a regular clock. So I turned to the internet and began researching designer wall clocks—most of the ones that appealed to me were made in Italy, Holland, England, Finland or some other European country. I ended up buying the Contrattempo model by Rexite, an Italian product design firm. It was big and easy to read and really well designed with a cool red pendulum in place of where the numeral “6″ should be. Then a few weeks later I saw another really cool clock from an English company named Joseph Joseph. I figured the office could use another clock. I mean, there are all kinds of walls and corners in our office so another clock wouldn’t hurt, right? A week later on impulse I bought two more Joseph Joseph clocks. Four years later our office has eighty clocks. Oh, and the son of my (penguin) cousin bought me a clock on his last business trip to England. Yup, the circle is complete.

I take a lot of flack from my staff. Their jokes include not being able to tell the time from the clocks because of their modern, unique designs. Other jokes revolve around my being compulsive and my “hoarding problem.” I make our production designer, Lindsey, reset all the clocks twice a year because of the time change in our region of the country. It takes her an hour and a half to update them.

But I have developed a unique defense for my collection. It goes something like this, and I’ve actually used it with clients:

“See all these clocks?” (Client makes a 360 of the room.)

“All these clocks are created for the same purpose. Right?” (Client nods affirmatively.)

“But each one takes a wholly different approach with totally unique results. Some are clever and some are functional and some are funny and this one over here doesn’t even have any hands at all.” (At this point I show them the MOMA Timesphere clock that uses a little red ball that travels around the clock face in lieu of mundane and archaic hands. The client chuckles and increases their head bobbing.)

“It’s just like your advertising. What we have to do is find out what’s most unique about your company and the services you provide your customers. There are many creative options we can apply to your corporate branding, just like there are many different ways to create a timepiece.” (The head bobbing is at maximum capacity.)

Sure, I made this spiel up after I got all the clocks, but it actually is a good analogy. Each clock design is inspired in its own way and presents a completely different “attitude.”

I have to go now. The clocks are telling me I’ve got a meeting to attend. At least I think they are.

I love contemporary design: furniture, home and business accessories, architecture, motorcycles—you name it. Anyone visiting our office has seen my collection of (some would say obsession with) modern clocks. So it is a treat for me to be able to interview the very talented designer Joey Roth. I am not the only one who has noticed Roth. He has gotten press in magazines like Forbes and Wired and design blogs such as MocoLoco, Josh Spear,  Apartment Therapy and DesignSpotter.

Let’s find out a bit about what it takes to conceptualize, design and manufacture everyday consumer products that are functional, environmentally friendly and also beautiful to behold.

Sorapot

Hile Design: Hi, Joey. You have an interesting background in that you started out in college pursuing creative writing. Writing is a medium that depends on people forming their own mental images based on the imaginary world the author creates. Industrial design, on the other hand, reveals a physical object interpreted and designed solely by the designer and presented to the consumer. Do you see a parallel between these two different creative processes?

Joey Roth: Hi, Dave. The two processes actually aren’t that different to me. I think that the meaning of a teapot, a short story, or any creative piece comes from a conversation between the creator’s intention and the reader’s interpretation. Once people start using something I designed, I lose the final say on what it means—and that’s part of why I love design. An object, like a piece of writing, means something different to each person who uses it because of the person’s unique memories, associations and expectations. These mediate any encounter with something new.

HD: Sorapot, your take on the modern teapot, made it into the marketplace in a big way. I’ve seen it all over the Internet and in catalogs such as Veer. Can you share with us the background story of how you conceived the pot and how you went about designing it?

JR: Before I loved design, I loved tea, and making a teapot for my first independent product was an easy choice. I wanted to emphasize the beauty of leaves unfurling as they steep, and use materials in their most raw form. The glass tube that bisects the steel arch flowed naturally from these parameters. Figuring out how to make such a simple shape function as a teapot took a lot longer.

HD: Tell us what kinds of considerations and challenges went into finding a manufacturer for the Sorapot, and how you went about marketing the product?

Photo credit: Jean-Marie Phonesavanh

JR: I designed Sorapot as a portfolio piece during my junior year. I didn’t intend to manufacture it until a writer for Cool Hunting somehow discovered it and posted on it. The same day, I received a ton of emails from individuals and stores asking about price, availability and minimum order quantities. They thought it was a real product, so I decided to make it one.

I eventually finalized the design and found the right manufacturer through a great referral. I began to take pre-orders through my site, and was able to fund the first production run largely from these sales. Not coming from a design school background, there’s a ton I’m still learning about manufacturing, ergonomics, SolidWorks and all the other things that industrial design students master by the time they graduate. Luckily I’ve made some friends who are design school alums, and they’ve been an invaluable resource. The same goes for wrangling incorporation, fulfillment, insurance and forecasting into a viable business—I couldn’t do it without help from friends who’ve done it already. In general, I try to see all the day-to-day frustrations as map markers that force me to find a better way as I shape my business. The process is a lot like designing a product.

HD: You have a strong commitment to to the environment. How does that get expressed in your products and packaging?

JR: Most products that harm the environment are made from permanent materials, but are designed for short lifespans. I make sure that my designs either become more beautiful with use or disappear as cleanly as possible. My dream is to see a well-used and well-loved Sorapot in an antique shop in a few decades. The raw stainless steel will record the user’s daily tea making, becoming shinier where it’s held, revealing where it was scrubbed, and changing color gradually as tea tannins are deposited on its surface. It will look far better than when it comes out of its box, which will have decomposed long ago.

HD: What inspires your design work?

JR: I’m inspired by everyday rituals like swiping a card at a train turnstile, talking on the phone, and of course, making tea. I think each of these rituals has the potential to become an oasis in modern overcomplicated life, but people tend to ignore them, largely because of ease-of-use advances that designers have made. The less thought a product requires to use, the less the user will think about the task. This is great in most circumstances, because it allows people to accomplish more in a shorter amount of time. Some tasks reveal tremendous beauty if they’re given some thought, however, and I try to design products for these tasks. For example, the easiest way to make tea is to nuke some water in a mug and stir in powdered Lipton, but the point of making tea isn’t the tea itself. I designed Sorapot to encourage its user to attend to the details, while still making a delicious cup.

HD: Could you share a bit about your daily work routine and environment?

JR: I like to wake up early and make oatmeal for breakfast. I use the daytime to call people, meet with people, find new customers, make sure my existing customers are delighted. In the afternoon I usually take a break to explore San Francisco. After dinner I do creative work—designing new products and planning for the future.

HD: Are there any projects you are working on currently that you are excited about?

JR: I’ve been spending a lot of time designing shoes, trying to channel elegance through humble materials like cork, felt and steel. I’m also working on cardboard furniture that’s designed to last about a year, and then decompose in your yard. I’m starting to get into interiors as well.

The next design that’s actually ready for production is an optical mouse made from felt and teak. Mice are in constant contact with your hand, but for some reason they use the same materials and design language as computers, which are in constant contact with your desk. I re-imagined the mouse as a personal accessory, using materials that feel good against the skin and will change over a break-in period to fit your hand. Felt also allows me to maintain the boxy aesthetic I love while ensuring that the mouse is comfortable. I hope to have it ready this fall.

Optical mouse

HD: You are a young guy with a whole career ahead of you. Envision yourself at retirement age. What would have been your greatest achievement?

JR: If I ever feel like my greatest design achievement is behind me, I’ll go back to writing.

Want to learn more about Joey Roth and his work? Visit his website or the sorapot website now.

Today it’s my pleasure to interview Robert Frolich of Filtre Studio, a digital imaging company based in Chicago. Filtre’s client list reads like a Who’s Who of some of the world’s best known brands including AC Delco, Bayer, ExxonMobile, Kimberly-Clark, Sony, TAG Heuer and more. Frolich is the inspired force behind Filtre and also a dear friend of us here at Hile Design. We have admired his work for nearly two decades. Let’s meet the man behind the creative curtain to see what goes into running a cutting-edge photo imaging and retouching studio.

Hile Design: Hi, Robert. Can you tell us what Filtre Studio does for its clients?

Robert Frolich: Filtre Studio’s primary focus is high-end creative image retouching. We work with advertising agencies, design firms and photographers to artistically enhance images, or in some cases create them from scratch. Projects we work on range from simple color correction to complex multi-image composites, combining 10 or more images to create one extraordinary image.

Often, we work with a client to create a composition that would be impossible, or at least cost prohibitive, to create in camera. Or the task can be taking an ordinary photograph and increasing the drama through a carefully crafted color palette, creating an entirely new look and feel.

Sometimes, it’s about making an already beautiful photograph even more beautiful. We have had the pleasure of working with some very talented photographers. Recently, some of our retouched images for TYR Sport, shot by award-winning photographer Steve Bonini, have been featured in Lürzer’s Archive 200 Best Ad Photographers worldwide. Also, German Vanity Fair has featured some of our International Truck images, shot by Andy Goodwin.

HD: You came out of an ad agency background, before founding Filtre. Can you share a bit about your past positions and tell us how you ended up specializing in digital imaging?

RF: I come from a design and art direction background. I started out with a small agency in Ann Arbor, Michigan, working on General Motors assignments. I then moved on to a Raleigh, North Carolina, agency for 6 years before returning north to Chicago as a creative director for Bagby and Company. There I worked on Sony, International Truck and Miller Lite. I’ve always been with small to mid-size agencies, which gave me the opportunity to wear several hats. With the larger shops, everyone is more specialized—the creative director is often more of a manager, overseeing art director/writer teams who come up with the concepts that then get handed off to production. Being at smaller agencies gave me the opportunity to see a project through from start to finish. Especially in the early years, if I wanted to see one of my ideas produced, I would have to do the retouching myself. Often, the budget just wasn’t there to send it out to a studio. Creating an image from scratch, or making a photograph more beautiful than it was to begin with, is something I’ve always enjoyed doing. The post-production has always been the icing on the cake for me.

HD: If there is such a thing, what is a typical day like at Filtre Studio?

RF: Every day is different, but at Filtre the one common denominator is the morning routine. Coffee.  Lots of coffee. Then, on to the day’s business. I know many creatives like to use that early morning time to generate ideas. We generally prefer to use that time to answer emails, make phone calls, do invoicing, estimates, scheduling and any other administrative tasks that need to be done. Then we can focus on digging into an image. With the larger composite images, it’s good to block out several hours of uninterrupted time. Late morning through mid-afternoon is usually a good time to focus on that.

Read the rest of this entry »

“I am born.” So begins Charles Dickens’ classic novel, David Copperfield. And so too the Hile Design blog. But it might be better stated, “We are born,” since all our staff will be commenting on advertising, design, culture, and anything else that is currently stimulating our gray matter. We’ll also be interviewing other people in a wide variety of fields, from product designers to photographers and other creative people from around the world! Our intent is to stay active bloggers—several entries a week. We’ll keep our comments bite-sized, informal, and (hopefully) interesting. But blogging is a two-way street, so please feel free to let us know what you think.

Since my theme is “Birth,” I thought I’d kick off our debut entry by giving a history of the beginnings and growth of Hile Design over the years. So here goes: Read the rest of this entry »