Interview with Oliver David Krieg

Oliver David Krieg ("ODK") interviewed on Thursday, 23 May.

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

ODK : As an architect, designer and PhD researcher I have engaged with both wood and digital technologies for almost ten years. I have always been fascinated by the relationship between the scientific, almost purely mathematical approach of robotic fabrication, and the aesthetics of the material that is directly affected by this process.

How did you become a designer?

ODK : In my opinion, the tension between the digital and physical - the method and the result - is most prevalent in wood. The richness and visual detail of a wooden surface stands in contrast to the clean manufacturing process, and yet they depend on each other. While I was conducting research about architectural potentials of robotic fabrication at the Institute for Computational Design and Construction at the University of Stuttgart, I couldn't help but notice the aesthetic potentials of this captivating relationship. AESTUS became a passion project that I was only recently able to develop into a finished product.

How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?

ODK : Good design is one that is true to its material, simple in its expression, and yet shows a high degree of sophistication in how it was made. A design is successful if people can use it without thinking about it. It is successful when people engage with it, appreciate its materiality and like looking at it or touching it.