Introducing Studio Do-Make
The studio will focus on designing through making and doing, but although Carbonell is known for his tactile and sculptural approach to materials, the studio won’t be limited by ideas of craft or specific methods. Instead, Carbonell is focused on empowering students find their own process, identity and relationship with the designed world, asking questions instead of providing answers.
Originally from Spain, Carbonell is intimately familiar with the school, having both studied and taught at DAE. He has developed his approach through years of interactions with students. ‘What we’re creating through design education is a new identity as a professional, as a creative person,’ he explains. ‘For me, doing and making is the basis of a design education, because that’s what is going to make you experience success and failure.’
Jeannette Petrik of DAE’s Editorial Team interviewed Carbonell to find out more about his plans for Studio Do-Make.
→ Jeannette Petrik: What is your vision for the new BA studio which you will be leading from September?
Nacho Carbonell: My vision for the studio is based on an approach of making and doing, not only referring to an idea of craft, but to an idea of taking action, creating something no matter what it may be—from an action movie to a sculpture or a designed space. I don’t care about the medium as long as we’re taking actions that correspond with what we think and what we want to express.
This vision is very much in tune with what I learned when I was a student at DAE. I still seek the same freedom, the liberty to really question and research approaches to design. What is one’s idea of the world that surrounds us? How can we interact with this world, with society, with this planet?
I do not want to narrow down any kind of possibility. I can’t know what will be relevant for students in five years’ time, which type of jobs we’re going to have, how this pandemic moment will influence what we do and how we live. Everything is changing. I want to collectively learn to prepare ourselves. I want to be able to adapt to anything that is coming. For that, students need to create experiences for themselves and for others. These experiences will design the world around them.
For me, doing and making is the basis of a design education, because that’s what is going to make you experience success and failure. If all our ideas stay in our heads, we’ll never know how good they were because we’ll never understand them properly until we experience them. That’s my mission, to push my students to experience their ideas, to transform ideas into realities. And, what is a reality, a material thing or a happening? I don’t know. Anything is valid, but we need to try it.
→ JP: Have you found a response to these questions?
NC: In the context of design education, I think that it’s important to reflect on how we want to design and how we want to live within our context. Work, travelling, life - everything is interconnected, thanks to new technologies and transportation. I’m wondering how we are going to take action. How are we going to design experiences that can really improve our world?
I like posing questions. People who are looking to receive answers in my studio might not get what they expect. I am more concerned about students’ ideas and how they want to take action. I can’t tell anyone how they should do things.
Of course, there will be opportunities for feedback and communication where we can inspire each other and push each other to become better in exploring new things. That’s how I have been teaching in the last five years, which made me and the students grow, developing interesting relationships and interesting projects. For me, the challenge with the leadership of this new studio is to form a group of teachers that really understands my vision of teaching, to help empower students.
→ JP: I assumed that your studio would be based on materials and crafts because I imagined it to be in line with your personal design work. It’s exciting to hear that you have a different pedagogical approach.
NC: Most of what I do relates to materials. But that’s my own practice. I don’t want that to become an obstacle to anyone who wants to express an idea in any other medium., I would like to see a diversity here.
In the last few years, I have learned to interact with students through giving feedback on a diverse range of mediums that are less related to my own design process. I can understand and feel what they are doing because, in the end, we are designing experiences. I don’t know how to make a movie but I can tell what kind of effect a film has on me, so I can relate to that. I want to offer a more conceptual way of thinking to students, combined with the idea that materials can communicate a narrative. This balance is what I bring to the table.
→ JP: Is there anything particular that you’ve learned from your past experiences as a teacher that will inform the new studio?
NC: In previous years, the classes I taught were centred around getting to know and understand yourself, developing a sense of exploration and briefing yourself on what your interests are. From there, you should grow your design practice. Everyone starts from their own background, not from my background.
If you stay close to where you’re coming from, this is your best tool. No one else can say what is wrong or right. I can support students in exploring things, but they need to be loyal to themselves and find out what their interests are, to keep challenging themselves step by step into the future.
I come from a background of industrial design and came to the Netherlands in 2005. I had no idea that there was a different kind of design. It required an introspective view to discover a new me. In the end, what we’re creating through design education is a new identity as a professional, as a creative person. It’s undeniable that our experiences mould our character, so there’s nothing wrong with applying experiences in design processes or in any type of creative practice. That’s what I learned at Design Academy Eindhoven.
It took me many years to develop my practice, many failures and disappointments. Eventually, I had a great revelation, that if I only followed the advice of my teachers for the sake of doing so, I would feel miserable. Initially, I was trying to please all of them, but not myself. At the beginning of their studies, students might not understand this, but later they will. It’s made me feel very proud and very happy to see how students find themselves after a few years, how the questions I pose at the beginning of their studies make an echo and help them grow as a creative person.
→ JP: I’m curious to see how you’ll find the balance between structure and freedom for your students. What do you see as your greatest challenge in this context?
NC: It’s all about practicing and trying to make sure you have an interest in creating, together with people that are exploring this path, too. I want to try to put together a team of educators to work closely with. I prefer a small team of teachers.
It’s important to be closely involved in the department. In my design studio, we eat together every day. We spend one hour together and talk about girlfriends, boyfriends, nightmares, movies, anything. Knowing each other has helped us understand each other. In the studio, we know that this kind of openness is good. I want to try to bring a similar atmosphere into the new studio at DAE.
