Interview / BJØRN JØRUND BLIKSTAD
"Despite all" designer
Young Norwegian Bjørn Jørund Blikstad is a designer, but he says he does not want to make things. His project Imeüble, which threw him out of the school-desk directly into the international scene, is on the borderline between design and art. A shelving system, about which his maker says it is a „two and a half dimensional“, is indeed a magical, illusive object.
Imeüble, source: Magazine Bratislava Design Week 2014.
How did you get to the profession of a designer? What was appealing about it?
BJB: I have always been making things, and was given productive and creative liberty at home from early on. I guess this made me an ill equipped student at the university. I dropped out after one semester, and finallyapplied for art education study. My interest in art and design doesn‘t come from my creative childhood alonebut equally from the lack of creative harbouring in standard education. I had to do something else than study at the university, probably as a protest to wasting time high school was for me. Maybe I‘m a „despite all“ designer.
How would you characterize your work? You are young, but nonetheless, do you have any „designerphilosophy“ of your own?
It‘s impossible to have a designer philosophy in this consumerist world. Stop making things, perhaps? I try to make things that are „of the grid“. A colleague of mine compared me to Harry Tuttle in the movie Brazil, I take comfort in that.
Your project Imeüble was a great success, although it was „just“ a school work. How has your life changed after this success? What opportunities has it brought you?
I am a lecturer at the academy (KHIO/ Oslo National Academy of the Arts).
What are your future working plans?
While slowly recovering from the initial shock of the Imeüble project, inspiration is building up and differentthings are happening.
Imeüble, source: Magazine Bratislava Design Week 2014.