The Israeli architect focuses on original and functional products
Israeli architect Pitsou Kedem, ever-present at the Archiproducts Design Awards, has confirmed his participation in the jury for the 2021 edition of the Awards.
We asked Pitsou Kedem to share his vision of contemporary design and his expectations of the products that he will be judging.
In conversation with Pitsou Kedem – on the jury of the 2021 Archiproducts Design Awards
What do you expect from the 2021 Archiproducts Design Awards submissions, and what features should the winning products have?
I will always look for original and fresh thinking. Maybe not something perfect, it doesn’t have to be the most beautiful, but it has to express two requirements for me. The first is originality; the second is the intention to respond to user needs and people’s interaction with the object.
How should contemporary design evolve to meet the needs of the community?
I think the designer’s role is to remember that, in the end, an object is meant to be useful to the person who has chosen to buy it. It is vital to think about human scale, user comfort and the real response of the object to a specific need. I think this is a difficult task because sometimes there is a feeling that there is nothing to renew. By approaching design while keeping in mind the needs to be met, new and original ideas are born so that the final design, resulting from such an approach, serves both parties.
In the post-pandemic era, how can design define a ‘new normal’?
This is an excellent question because sometimes designers, who are always so eager to innovate and stand out, will design a product or object that will mainly be original but cannot really become a practical and timeless product.
How do you think the pandemic has affected design?
I’m not sure there are any clear conclusions yet. Maybe we need a broader time frame.
I think the pandemic has given greater meaning to domestic space as a place where we feel safe so that the importance of design for our homes and the objects we use has grown.
About Pitsou Kedem
Pitsou Kedem joins the Archiproducts Design Awards jury for the fourth time. He founded Pitsou Kedem Architects in Tel Aviv in 2000. Today the office counts on a team of 12 architects who design on various scales from restaurant interiors, showrooms and private homes to large residential and office buildings.
Pitsou Kedem Architects team – ©Amit Geron
Most of the firm’s projects are characterised by a contrast between simple, clean volumes and rich, complex interior sections, focusing on light and movement.
The office refers its language to the modernist style. Its work revolves around the period and principles of this movement using an architectural language that seeks to ‘bring order to urban chaos’ in constant dialogue with the fundamental principles of minimalism.
‘Reduction’ is a process that avoids irrelevance and emphasises the essence, the central theme, refinement and the search for the soul of a space.
This process has produced a sophisticated, rigorous and uncompromising architecture in search of ‘absolute truth’.
Registration for the 2021 edition of the Archiproducts Design Awards is open!
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