Speed Date / KICKIE CHUDIKOVA, designer

Photo: Aurelie Jouan.

Where are you from?
Bratislava – Old Town / Palisády.

Where did you study?
I started Design at STU in Bratislava and after a year I moved to Angewandte in Vienna, where I studied Industrial Design for over 5 years. From there I went to Politecnico in Milan for a year.

Who was your best teacher?
Mr. Remeta – teacher at the art elementary school on Podjavorinská Street. He always let me do whatever I wanted, when others had to do as I was assigned. He was looking for a wit in everything. I still remember his iconic beard.

Who were/ are your parents?
Daddy was a civil engineer and sold JCB excavators. My sister and I used to go to his warehouse to play and we could sit in whichever digger we wanted and copy on the photocopier. I’ve loved the smell of new machinery (and the photocopier) ever since. Mom ran the American library at the U.S. Embassy. We used to go to her after school and read magazines and books.

What don’t you enjoy in design?
Poor quality. When things go wrong or don’t work as they should. Thoughtless details. And a thousand covers.

And on the contrary, what do you?
Coming up with new ideas, giving shape to ideas. And this can be on paper, in 3D or in material. Visions of how to improve things and move things forward.

What do you listen to?
Electronics. And I’m also very fond of the piano – I used to play it.

Your favourite film or cartoon?
Some like it Hot, Totoro, Mad Men.

Who do you respect as an authority in and out of your field?
I am inspired by people who have a passion for what they do and do it to the best of their ability.

What thing did you last buy?
My own 3D printer, it was my investment of the year during the pandemic.

Do you buy professional literature? What was the latest book?
I read a lot about color and the theory and psychology of color. I feel like it’s still unexplored in depth and not much is taught about it in school. And yet it’s so very important to the work of both architects and designers.

Do you vote?
Always. Here in the US I can’t yet.

Who throws the best parties?
Ha – I love to party especially during design weeks. Here in NYC, it’s studio Apparatus. It’s always themed and they have different performances from snake dancers to fire eaters. In Milan it’s Fornasetti – in his house, which is now managed by his son Barnaba. He’s over 70 years old now and he’s always the last of the DJs. Party of the year.

Your favourite dome?
Secession Wien.

Party dress. Made by…?
Iris van Herpen – her stuff is unreal, walking architecture, design, science.
If I didn’t make my own, they’d be Del Pozo from when creative director Josep Font was there.

Your hero from the past?
Barbarella?

Best/nicest house?
I stayed in an airbnb in Mexico City in a house designed by Luis Barragán, so clearly his Casa Estudio Luis Barragán is amazing too. The colors, the light, the space. Here in NY the Chrysler Building and the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Do you have any stereotypes when you work? How do they show?
Definitely. I need to be working on several completely different projects at the same time so that I can rotate and move forward.

What’s on your desktop?
Enough mess. A thousand screenshots that I move to the Stuff folder once in a while.

Best exhibition, work of art?
This is a difficult question, because I love going to museums and galleries.
Richard Serra makes huge sculptures out of pieces of steel, they are on display about an hour north of NY at Dia Beacon. I’m always blown away by the majesty.

What do you respect both from the local and foreign design scene? And why?
I think that in Slovakia we have extremely many smart people who are top in their field. For what a small country we are, that is remarkable.

Ethics or money?
Both in some proportion.

Extraordinary book?
I like to read biographies of successful people.

Optimist, pessimist, nihilist?
A great optimist.

Do you have any hobby?
I was collecting phone cards.
Otherwise, I like sports – skiing, running, biking, swimming, skating – all sorts of things.

Solo or in a collective?
Not very collective.

Slovakia as the Promised Land?
I always like to come back here <3.

 

kickiechudikova.com
@kickie.chudikova
31 / 1 / 2021
by MAG D A
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