Speed Date / JAKUB POLLÁG, designer, studio deForm

Where did you study?
A year in Bratislava, at the Slovak University of Technology, four years at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM) and two years at the Royal College of Art in London.

Who was your best teacher?
Each one of them was in a way special. At Prague’s UMPRUM, I was studying under the lead of Olgoj Chorchoj studio, for which I started working after my first year. And then practical experience taught me the most. What was great about RCA was that I could talk openly about design with the grandest masterminds in my field such as Sir Kenneth Grange or Sam Hecht.

Who were/ are your parents?
My mum works in the general directorship of railroads, my dad is an academic painter.

What don’t you enjoy in design?
I am starting to be bored by extreme minimalism.

And on the contrary, what do you?
When things have an idea, story and perfectly fulfil their function.

What do you listen to?
My scope is broad, but mostly to rock music.

Your favourite film or cartoon?
Eternal sunshine of spotless mind = and that given the fact I don’t like Jim Carry too much.

Who do you respect as an authority in and out of your field?
Successful people who have saved their face.

What thing did you last buy?
Last night I bought tickets for the Ghost poet gig.

Do you buy professional literature? What was the latest book?
I have a feeling that professional literature is quite repetitive, so I often change fields of interests to broaden my horizons. In the past, I was buying books on design, followed by the ones on branding and business, now I am more into books on psychology.

Do you vote?
That’s a wicked question. Last time I wasn’t and am ashamed for it.

Who throws best parties?
Spontaneity.

Your favourite dome?
I don’t have any.

Party dress. Made by…?
I don’t care about it too much. Something black.

Best/nicest house?
VIPP shelter.

Do you have any stereotypes when you work? How do they show?
I don’t perceive them somehow. All in all, I regularly change software and hardware I use. The only thing that remains is that before I make a line on paper, I want to have it well-thought. I try not to waste. Nor paper, nor energy.

What’s on your desktop?
Very few folders, I try to be neat.

Best exhibition, work of art?
My father’s exhibition in Danubiana starting on 24th March will be the best.

What do you respect both from the local and foreign design scene? And why?
Courage to explore the unexplored spheres.

Ethics or money?
I guess these two things are not mutually exclusive.

Extraordinary book?
It would be definitely Deyan Sudjic‘s B is for Bauhaus in design. For fun, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield.

Optimist, pessimist, nihilist?
According to my mood and workload.

Do you have any hobby?
I used to play in a band, I miss it a lot. Now I clear my head on a motorcycle.

Solo or in a collective?
It depends. It’s good to take turns. But for example a collective vacation is pure horror for me.

Slovakia as the Promised Land?
What ones does is important. I spend around 10 to 12 hours a day in the world of design, which is still in its infancy in Slovakia. There are loads of smart people, great events and organisations, but unfortunately few customers, investors and companies who would really like to work with designers, who would invest into the whole process of something unique. So for me, no, it’s not.