31 October 2008

Relationship Design

Meet Trent Jansen, a young designer strengthening relationships.

Trent Jansen is one very promising young designer. Joint-winner of the 2008 Design Discovery Award he was recently chosen to exhibit at Design Tokyo with his progressive 3D stencil art.

“I like the poetry of taking an art-form that is realised through the use of a very well understood pair of objects (a can of spray paint and a cardboard stencil) and pushing that one step further,” Jansen says.

“With this project I use a similar pair of objects (a can of expansion foam and a small mould) to create the three dimensional equivalent.

Jansen doesn’t like to categorise his work, he designs furniture, lighting, small objects and graphics and would eventually like to get into designing spaces – “I just need to find someone to trust me enough,” he says.

Jansen graduated from Sydney’s College of Fine Arts in 2004 before taking on a mentorship with Marcel Wanders, Moooi founder.

The Pregnant Chair (designed by Jansen for Moooi) and Kissing Pendants (Design Discovery Award winner) are inspired by personal human relationships.

“It is my aim to inject these objects with characteristics taken from the important human relationships that we engage in everyday.”

“These objects remind us of our loved ones, thus becoming an important part of our lives. This importance gives these objects longevity and makes them sustainable instead of disposable,” he says.

Jansen has plans to spend more time strengthening professional and personal relationships in Europe before taking on some humanitarian design work.

Check out his video below.

trentjansen.com