Interview with Tobia Repossi

Tobia Repossi ("TR") interviewed on Monday, 16 May.

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

TR : I've been an industrial designer for more than twenty years, with experience in product design for furniture, electronic appliances and accessories. I have worked for major Chinese market-leading companies as well as European and American brands and for startups from China and Silicon Valley. My designs have been sold in Apple Stores and other famous retail chains and selected for international awards.

How did you become a designer?

TR : My grandfather was a painter, and my father was a sculptor later taken to design in the seventies and eighties. It's a family tradition. I was involved at a young age in a creative environment.

What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?

TR : I had computers since I was very young and 3d modelling and modelling and visualising objects in space has always been my interest.

What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?

TR : I'm a good reference point for startups from Silicon Valley, India and China. We range from electronic products to furniture and our ability to mix ideas taken from different fields makes our designs unique and innovative. I want to keep the level of high standards and execution that we kept in the last few years.

What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?

TR : In a world of product design which is becoming so fast the ability of a designer are to manage a connected world where ideas come from California, Plastic from Malaysia, Assembly from China, electronics designed in India and produced in Vietnam... everything distributed from Hong Kong. The entire world is connected in the production chain of an electronic device. A command of all the communication and managing tools involved in the field is mandatory.

You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?

TR : in a field where products have a limited shelf life, is definitely to be able to read the market at least six months ahead. Being Up to date and trying to get in touch with the best ideas is the real key to producing innovation.

What is your day to day look like?

TR : My day is divided by the time zones of USA and India and China. In the morning we connect with Asia, in the night with America. Mostly designing 3d shapes and engineering plastic shells or mechanical pieces. The rest of the day is spent on learning and researching our clients' markets and new technologies.

How do you decide if your design is ready?

TR : We have a very strict process related to approval of the pieces by different companies of electronic engineers, plastic factories, and the client itself. The approval of every piece is a complex procedure that involves almost all the players, not just us.

What is your biggest design work?

TR : Definitely always the last one, because we don't have so many recurring works, the amount of market and design. research we have to develop for every product is massive and takes a lot of time.

Who is your favourite designer?

TR : I admire all my colleagues, I follow them, they inspire me, and they are a source of information: There is never a competition with them, it's always a positive exchange of information. Of the past I admire the great masters like Raymond Loewy, Dieter Rams and the Italian Castiglioni and Munari.

Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?

TR : At the moment we are working on exciting projects: a new camera and a coffee machine. But I must say that the best project is always yet to come.

Tobia Repossi Profile