At the Altherr

In their 16 years together they have worked with many of the worlds leading furniture and product manufacturers, including Arper, Andreu World, Bontempi, Bernhardt, Poltrona Frau, Sellex, Foscarini and many, many more.

Matt Sheargold (Geyer) had the pleasure of meeting Jeanette Altherr (Lievore Altherr Molina) while in Valencia in September 2007. A quick chat on a crowded bus on the way to the Andreu World party proved to be a wonderful way to gain insight into the Livore Altherr Molina journey. Read some of the interview below.

MS: You consistently ’hit the mark’ with your designs and clearly have an incredible understanding of the commercial viability of your designs. How much is knowledge versus instinct?

JA: There is knowledge, there is instinct, but above all we have a real interest for people’s needs. We really try not to get blinded by the design community. There is a danger in being too self-referencial.

MS: Now the three of you are from different backgrounds professionally as well as your heritage. How important are the dynamics between the three of you in your work?

JA: In our group we add up to more than the sum of the three: it is the interaction among the three. We start work with a great deal of exchange of views on the new project. The first sketches are idealised, dream images, pure wishful-ness. Then the subsequent development work is a continuous negotiation: between ergonomics and gesture, between technology and the client’s possibilities…between what is desirable and the principle of reality. Our starting point is that design is communication, not self-fulfillment. We seek to instill harmony, balance, values we believe in: we are out to seduce rather than impress.

MS: As leaders in the world of design your work inspires designers around the world, who or what inspires you?

JA: Some masterworks such as the former designs of those like Eames, Kjaerholm, Bertoia, Noguchi…. in general design that is humanist, optimistic and art-loving. Architecture, both classical and contemporary. Life in all its complexity and richness. And Apple as a company, for the strong entrepreneurial vision: everything speaks the same language: the designs, the technology, the strategies, the graphics, advertising, shops… invisible, pure, friendly technology and elements of desire…

 

For the entire interview, see the current issue of DQ Magazine – Vol. 28 on shelves mid-January 2008.

 

LAM Stockists

KE-ZU (stockist for Andreu World and Sellex)
info@kezu.com.au
kezu.com.au

Stylecraft (stockist for Arper and Verselloni)
sydney@stylecraft.com.au
stylecraft.com.au