Interview with Manolo Duran Diseño

Manolo Duran Diseño ("MDD") interviewed on Sunday, 29 December.

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

MDD : After finishing my Baccalaureate studies, I entered the School of Industrial Technical Engineering, where I only finished the first year, because I lacked the creative part.... In 1991 I obtained my bachelor's degree in Applied Arts and Industrial Design. My first job as an employee was at LUMINARIA, a lighting company in Valencia. After leading creative teams for others, co-founding my first studio with former teammates, in 2011 I decided to create, design and run my own studio, manoloDuránDiseño, to which I transmit my clear philosophy of design as a strategic resource of the company. From my studio, global design services are developed; management, product design, graphics and interior design.

How did you become a designer?

MDD : From a very early age, I liked the visual arts. My mode of expression was always drawing. Later, influenced by the industrial environment of the family business dedicated to the manufacture and marketing of domestic electric heating, I acquired industrial background in various disciplines such as technology and materials from the metalworking and electrical world. The concepts of engineering (processes and materials) and design (innovative conception) unfailingly linked to the industrial concept, will form the profile that will accompany my entire professional career.

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

MDD : Since my beginnings I have understood design as a strategic activity that is not limited to slyling, but begins with the discovery of an opportunity by constantly looking for new perspectives and ideas with which to redefine services, products and experiences, providing value and innovation.

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

MDD : Without a doubt, the creative phase is the most exciting. Observation, analysis and personal relationships are three fundamental pillars to approach the creative process. Designers must be aware of our cultural function. I have always understood this profession as a service to society. My humble contribution to the world of design could be the diversity of products that I have designed during these 35 years of career, always with the intention that they would be useful and serve to satisfy the real needs of the people who use them, both from an aesthetic, functional or emotional point of view. Future generations will learn from the result of our work.

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

MDD : My inspiration was undoubtedly my father, who being an industrial engineer at a time when being a designer "did not exist" as such in our country, knew how to understand that this discipline would be able to change the course of products. You don't choose to be a designer. Being a designer is not an option, it is simply an attitude, a way of being and understanding life.

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

MDD : I don't waste time thinking at such a distance, better "Carpe Dien". There is no point in worrying about what will come or what happened. The present is the experience and it is worth living it with all its intensity. Each new project is always a space for reflection regarding the mark we will leave with this piece, how it will be used, who will use it, etc. This is enriching in all its dimension, we are equipping the future!! Perhaps my evolution lies in the fact that every day I am more aware of how difficult it is to design well. As for the project of my dreams, it would be the integral furnishing together with my son Carlos (industrial designer), of a house designed by the architecture studio of my son Manuel (Architect).

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

MDD : "When you're a good observer, everyone is your teacher" and "Before it happens, you have to dream it", are two phrases that I love. It is not only a matter of talent, but also work and effort. Having the aptitude or gifts helps, but if it is not accompanied with dedication and passion, it is useless. You have to always be with your eyes open and be curious. Moving around a lot. It is also important to take care of the relationship with customers, listen to them, attend to their needs, this is what builds lasting collaboration projects.

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

MDD : I'm not one to give advice, but I suggest that it's our obligation to have very fluid conversations with our clients. My work is always the result of close collaboration with the different R+D, marketing, production and commercial departments of my clients. We all make up the team... Once again observe, listen and analyze.

What is your day to day look like?

MDD : I start my morning by checking emails and my to-dos. This is how we plan the weekly work. Then there will be visits from customers and suppliers, review of prototypes, administrative procedures... In the afternoon is when I'm most creative, I like to work late,.. My best designs appeared at night.

How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?

MDD : Designs set trends. Trends are created by all groups that evolve in a certain direction without interacting directly. I don't like to follow passing fashions, my designs must have my personal stamp, it is something that identifies me and differentiates me from the rest. Trends are very important, I spend a lot of time analysing them through the web and groups with which we collaborate. Also from the ADCV Association of Designers of the Valencian Community), it keeps us punctually informed to the rest of the collective.

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

MDD : If they fulfill the mission for which they were conceived. At this point it is very important to have a good breafing. My designs usually have simple and sober lines. I like shapes that convey stability, proportion and minimal expression. Although there is a common conceptual link, each project is the result of different constraints, which means that the result is never the same.

How do you decide if your design is ready?

MDD : The success of projects has a lot to do with customers. Their personality, their experience and the great knowledge they have of their businesses, gave me the necessary vision. Good projects are always developed with companies with which you have a special feeling, it is the designer-company collaboration that makes the project special, when that union really works, it shows in the final result. All projects have room for improvement, but this is firmly linked to the time factor. As the years go by and reviewing past works, I always find details to polish, but these help me to evolve current projects.

What is your biggest design work?

MDD : My designs are usually complete collections of furnishings, therefore there is no specific piece, because it is its set that gives meaning. For example, a bedroom cannot be understood only with the headboard but is accompanied by its tables... In this sense I could say that the COSMO collection for Glicerio Chaves and within it is the ICON bed, along with the NOA bedside tables which is my most awarded design. Despite the years that have passed, it continues to be a top seller. That shows that it's a good design!

Who is your favourite designer?

MDD : I don't have one defined, but to name one of the first ones that I liked would be the Toledo chair by Jorge Pensi,.. I was impressed by the functional solution together with the use of the material (aluminum), in addition to the beauty of its silhouette itself. Without a doubt I would love to have a long conversation with Leonardo da Vinci, I am passionate about his creative capacity in all fields.

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

MDD : I live and work in Valencia, a beautiful city on the Mediterranean coast, where the friendliness of the climate has made us more hedonistic, and that climatic comfort also derives in the way we design. The city of Valencia and by extension the Valencian Community is a land of creativity. The work of design, architecture, interior design and illustration professionals over the last hundred years demonstrates a design culture that extends throughout the territory. All this comes together in Valencia World Design Capital in 2022 and this marks the importance of... In my free time I love nature and there are all the colors, something that is vital for my work. Color is implicit in the nature of matter and of our perception; we ignore it, but it already exists because it is there and responds to our way of perceiving the world with its receptor differences. It is very important to learn to master its properties in order to know how to use it as one of the most important elements in creative design decisions.

Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?

MDD : I've gone through all the stages of work. I worked as an employee for large companies in the furniture sector, I had my own studio with associates and finally I chose to have my own design studio alone. I think that they were all good, each one at its own time, undoubtedly this last one is the best, although the capacity is more limited, but as a consideration is that the designs are more elaborate, more personal...

What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?

MDD : Designers must be aware of our cultural function. I have always understood this profession as a service to society. My humble contribution to the world of design could be the diversity of products that I have designed during these 35 years of career, always with the intention that they would be useful and serve to satisfy the real needs of the people who use them, both from an aesthetic, functional or emotional point of view. Future generations will learn from the result of our work. I have recently collaborated with organizations such as the ADCV promoting and supporting various initiatives to support people and professionals affected by the DANA that devastated the province of Valencia on October 29, 2024.

What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?

MDD : Honestly, I haven't won so many awards in my career, but when they come they are welcome, it's a recognition of your effort, a message that tells you that what you're doing isn't bad. I don't feel famous. My ego is resolved by seeing that my designs are available to the public and they buy and enjoy them. The awards are a recognition of a career that undoubtedly projects and makes visible works and people. If the audience has decided that today I am the "Designer of the Day", it must be that I am doing something right...

Manolo Duran Diseño Profile