Speed date / ANDREA ĎURIANOVÁ, designer

Where did you study?
The High School of Applied Arts in Kremnica and AFAD in Bratislava.

Who was your best teacher?
I may not have THE BEST one, but there are more teachers who have a place in my heart.

Who were/ are your parents?
Both are high school teachers. My mum was teaching Slovak language, my father was teaching goldsmiths – designing and practical training.

What don’t you enjoy in design?
For example, massive furniture made of thick pieces of wood or anything that pretends to be something, wants to be trendy and clings to some well-worn and non-functional formulas.

And on the contrary, what do you?
Quite diverse things. I like perfectly processed professional products or nice pictures of perfect interiors in magazines. But I am also fond of “folk art”, photos of bizarre interiors that I find on the Internet. And also, industrially made products of everyday use, machine parts, builders hardware, fasteners and tools. I also like different materials as such and exploring them in practice.

What do you listen to?
I’ve recently discovered the magic of radio plays.

Your favourite film or cartoon?
Sugarman, for instance.

Who do you respect as an authority in and out of your field?
For instance, Marc Monzó in jewel. His jewels are the minimum in the best sense; they’re serious, they’re playful and they’re jewels designed for people that interact well with a body. And Curro Claret in design, as he is interested in people (e.g. in those lacking home). He’s more of a perceptive mediator between a person and a product than a designer of forms. And he has a great sense of humour as well.

What thing did you last buy?
The most common things I buy are materials and accessories I need. Today it was a piece of glass (size 55x55cm; confetti-like texture) and a bottle of diluent.

Do you vote?
I try to.

Do you buy professional literature? What was the latest book?
I buy more than I read. Last time it was this small book by Norman Potter: What is a designer at the Prague Exhibition Grounds. I really like the way it’s made, I enjoy touching it, toying with it. The cover is really soft, flexible and the paper inside is extra gentle.

Who throws the best parties?
I really don’t know. Maybe I should go out more often.

Your favourite dome?
The Irma health spa house in Piešťany has a so-called “zkradlisko” – a big swimming pool with local healing mud. It’s an interesting experience to soak in the brown muddy spa in the monumental secession space covered with a dome.

Party dress. Made by…?
Nothing special.

Your hero from the past?
Ann of Green Gables.

Best/nicest house?
I don’t have any.

Do you have any stereotypes when you work? How do they show?
I do. Stress and panic.

What’s on your desktop?
I had to take a look, as I have a new computer (since March…). So, there is some random pre-set blue picture. I’ll change it finally.

Best exhibition, work of art?
What actually stuck in my memory was the exhibition of Josef Frank at MAK (Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art) in Vienna. I had to buy a book after.

What do you respect both from the local and foreign design scene? And why?
There is a lot of it. As for foreigners, I am a huge admirer of Shigeru Ban, although I know his work only from books. His paper architecture really got me.

It’s more personal when it comes to the Slovak scene, as many of them are close to me as people. I respect many visual artists, designers, architects, but also theoreticians, producers or businessmen that are simply good at what they’re doing and thanks to them there are beautiful books, paintings, graphics, houses, interiors and exhibitions.

Ethics or money?
One needs to search for a balance.

Extraordinary book?
For example Pavol Rankov: It Happened on September the First (or Whenever).

Optimist, pessimist, nihilist?
I am an optimist three days in a month, otherwise I’m a pessimist. Weather plays a large role in it.

Do you have any hobby?
Not in the right sense of the word. But there are activities I enjoy. For example, bicycle riding, being in a wood, riding a bike in a wood, plunging into water, walking in a city, ideally a foreign one, having coffee with my friends (or without them), buying beautiful books.

Solo or in a collective?
I’d say solo, or in a smaller collective.

Slovakia as the Promised Land?
This is not very clear to me.

 

andreadurianova.sk

 

12 / 10 / 2018
by MAG D A
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