Kostas Metaxas & Sins

My art/design background started in my teens when an uncle who was not that much older than me, showed me some art magazines with images from old master painters - I didn't know why, but I was drawn to the shapes, textures. Then he introduced me to a friend who was a crazy Hi Fi nutter - Luxman Valve amplifiers, horn speakers. That was it. I was lost in the art and more importantly, the music. Music is my core. I see art and design as "visual music".

My "design" background started very early when I left university and set up my first company to produce very serious Hi Fi equipment. As a teenager, I couldn't afford to buy expensive Hi Fi, so I taught myself electrical engineering [you could do that in those days by just attending lectures at uni in the different campus]. So my hobby turned to my business. But even then, I felt that it was important not to be a "superficial" designer - to really know what goes on under the hood. So I pick things up very quickly. I do believe in form follows function, but within reason. The Hi Fi was a big success so I decided to start a magazine business as well - to be able to bother [with interviews] the heavyweights of art and design worldwide. To really learn by asking questions and exposing myself to great design. I've also consulted along the way, over the past 12 years, the magazine experience was converted into Broadcast. I like to think that I've absorbed the creative energy of a lot of very interesting people. Most of my clients are mid-sized to very large luxury companies.

The late jeweller Stefan Hafner would say, design is the ability to make a straight line sing. Architect Glenn Murcutt would say that is is a process, a journey. Andre Putmann told me she was an explorer. I think it's a combination of those things.

I've designed a lot of things over the years, but what really tickles me the most are objects which are supposed to be design, but can easily be mistaken for art.

My favourite thing is always what I'm currently working on...

Hi Fi equipment for my first company. I was lucky enough to win a BHP Design Award for it.

I love working with the latest technology and metals, whether casting them, CNC machining them, milling them. It's the precision and the longevity. Also, I love subverting technology - using dentistry to make jewellery or watches. I'm a real tech-head. I love 3D rapid prototyping. At my age, I'm old enough to know traditional forms of manufacturing [virtually anything] but also the absolute latest software. I applaud Frank Gehry's use of CATIA! Try telling today's photgraphers about film...

After snorkelling through the shallow rocks of a beach on a Greek Island.

Big picture first, then the detail. The Italians say God is in the details. The Germans say the Devil is in the details.

Euphoria...like when you're listening to Sviatoslav Richter playing with the Chicago Symphony recorded by Lewis Leyton.

Like the birth of a child. You wonder how they will be received and interact in the real world.

A combination of novelty, proportion and beauty. With a large dose of personality.

It's relevance. How it will be considered in 50 or 100 years.

It's like asking a musician to be a politician. It's enough if they make great music. Having said that, I do feel a designer has to be environmentally friendly.

The design field is changing similar to music, video and other creative fields where there are incredible pressures to innovate, but at the same time to be mindful of the divides between creative nations and manufacturing nations and the respect of a designer's IP. There will always be a need for great design to inspire.

This years exhibitions included the March 2016 in BASELWORLD Switzerland at the Watch & Jewellery fair where LEPEE [Clock company from Switzerland] was showing my latest collection - EDEN and HELIX, and the world premiere of my new range of Hi End Hi Fi amplifier sculptures at the May 2016 MOC in Munich.

Inspiration can come from anywhere. But mostly it's the mind slowly weaving through past ideas until they become interesting enough to become present ideas. I feed my creativity by talking to extremely creative people - like Romeo Gigli the fashion designer once told me, Every designer has peaks of creative energy, they pass this on to their peers, then wait to be re-energized when their peers come up with something even more spectacular. It's like intellectual ping-pong. Sources - art, music, movies...exhibitions. Fashion Week, Venice Biennale, Baselworld, 100% Design, Salon de Mobile, ARS Electronica...Maastricht TEFAF.

Despite my obvious Greek name, my ideas are far more "northern" [Strict Australian upbringing with a sprinkle of German education] - Bauhaus. I like it when there is an organic backbone to something which can then be upset by chaos. The fight between chaos and control [Get Smart??] There has to be substance - I hate "frou frou" or chicky-micky as the Germans say. Also, I like honesty and neutrality. Not too much theatre [the Greek], but not ultra- utility. It's always a balance with a twist.

I live in Europe. I spend as much of my time as I can on a Greek Island with my laptop, or in a Berlin Cafe. I've always felt like a stranger everywhere I go - which is not a bad thing. It helps me see the differences in things. Then I pick up things I like from one culture and ignore the things I don't like. My upbringing in Australia was very multicultural.

Different ways. Many companies I work with are still family run - so you need to become part of the family. In larger companies, you work well with the artistic director, are on the same page. I always try to put myself in my clients shoes [but never lingerie!].

They need to like the designer's style, give a simple brief to at least 3-4 designers and see what they come up with. Pick the designer with the best long-term direction - picking a designer is no different to adding to your family.

My design process is a constantly evolving one. I'm always mulling over 6-8 ideas at the same time in my mind, and as I have my little "eureka" moments with each idea, I add to the modelling. Once I reach a certain point with a project - the "tipping point", it then starts on the path to become "born". At this point, I start working with various ateliers, workshops or 3D printing houses to realize the first models.

1. My writing instruments. 2. My Hi Fi equipment, 3. My various sculptures. 4. My favourite Chair, 5. My espresso machine.

It depends on what I'm working on - whether I'm travelling to cover a design/fashion week in Copenhagen, London or Paris[Broadcast TV Doco], editing in a cafe in Munich, mulling over production issues on a design object with a client , no two days are alike in my world.

Best advice is to study the Masters...I still get blown away when I see great work.

Positive - giving birth to a great idea. Negative - when you actually don't have a great idea right now...

Listen. listen. listen to the client. Then ignore the client to come up with something even better than what they had in mind.

Solidworks. Moleskin pad, Pen. Joni Mitchell, Puccini, Aussie contemporary Jazz.

I never work on only one project at a time - I allow the projects , light impetuous children, to make demands on me and I deal with them. There is no linear process.

The brief inspiration and basic idea is quite quick, but then it can take anything from a few months to a few years to realize.

My first job. That at the age of 21, a kid tinkering in his parent's basement in Melbourne Australia could produce one of the best amplifiers in the world according to the German Press. Why this was important was that it made me realize that ANYONE can be the best of the best. Its just passion and a lot of hard work.

S.T. Dupont, Swiza [Lepee & Matthew Norman Clocks], Stuart & Sons Pianos, my own brand - Metaxas & Sins, Many broadcasters [Documentary & Films], to name a few.

Creating objects that "connect" with you and tickle more of your senses . Thats why I love creating writing instruments [very personal] and Hi Fi - allowing you to experience the full emotion of music.

Continue to create interesting objects. Meet and document interesting people. Have fun.

My art/design background started in my teens when an uncle who was not that much older than me, showed me some art magazines with images from old master painters - I didn't know why, but I was drawn to the shapes, textures. Then he introduced me to a friend who was a crazy Hi Fi nutter - Luxman Valve amplifiers, horn speakers. That was it. I was lost in the art and more importantly, the music. Music is my core. I see art and design as "visual music". My clients [apart from myself] include S.T. Dupont [Writing instruments], L'Epee 1839 Clocks amongst others.

My "design" background started very early when I left university and set up my first company to produce very serious Hi Fi equipment. As a teenager, I couldn't afford to buy expensive Hi Fi, so I taught myself electrical engineering [you could do that in those days by just attending lectures at uni in the different campus]. So my hobby turned to my business. But even then, I felt that it was important not to be a "superficial" designer - to really know what goes on under the hood. So I pick things up very quickly. I do believe in form follows function, but within reason. The Hi Fi was a big success so I decided to start a magazine business as well - to be able to bother [with interviews] the heavyweights of art and design worldwide. To really learn by asking questions and exposing myself to great design. I've also consulted along the way. The magazine experience was converted into Broadcast in early 2000. I like to think that I've absorbed the creative energy of a lot of very interesting people. Most of my clients are mid-sized to very large luxury companies.

I’m both an artist and engineer and I can work in both intellectual planes at the same time. In my earlier designs, I was more BAUHAUS – form follows function, but these latest designs are very different. I remember a conversation with Christian Louboutin [shoes] who told me “Form Follows function can end up being boring and repetitive”…and I agree. This explains the “same-ness” of many audio products. In the case of my new collection, the design came from some ideas I was developing for an Italian furniture manufacturer. In particular, a Chaisse Longue. I was also developing a “helix” pen for S.T.Dupont , which naturally became the “heatsink”, so the combination of these elements led to the amplifier cases. The speakers, essentially follow similar organic, flowing lines but with a female form. It probably represents beauty in its purest sense. The power amplifiers deviate slightly and seem to combine a flowing organic form with a more “animal” masculinity – like a crouching tiger.I love working with metals, whether casting them, CNC machining them, milling them. It's the precision and the longevity. Also, I love subverting technology - using dentistry to make jewellery or watches. I'm a real tech-head. I love 3D rapid prototyping. At my age, I'm old enough to know traditional forms of manufacturing [virtually anything] but also the absolute latest software. I applaud Frank Gehry's use of CATIA!

Ideas are forever swimming in your mind until they are ready to emerge - there is Euphoria...like when you're listening to Sviatoslav Richter playing Brahms with the Chicago Symphony recorded by Lewis Leyton. Or Joni Mitchell's "The Sire of Sorrow".Or Emma Matthews singing julius Caesar's V'adoro Pupille"...Then after you realize your idea, its like the birth of a child. You wonder how they will be received and interact in the real world.

Inspiration can come from anywhere. But mostly it's the mind slowly weaving through past ideas until they become interesting enough to become present ideas. I feed my creativity by talking to extremely creative people - like Romeo Gigli the fashion designer once told me, every designer has peaks of creative energy, which quickly [through media] stimulate/challenge their peers. They are then re-energized when their peers come up with something even more spectacular. It's like intellectual ping-pong.

The design field is changing similar to music, video and other creative fields where there are incredible pressures to innovate, but at the same time to be mindful of the divides between creative nations and manufacturing nations and the respect of a designer's IP. There will always be a need for great design to inspire. The enabler - as always, is technology. It's no coincidence that the best designers [and artists] are always at the cutting edge of their craft.