Phebos Xenakis

From a young age I used to admire the aesthetic beauty in nature and practice drawing and prototyping. My father was an architect and I always looked up to him, that was an important factor regarding my later life. High school was never really my thing and failing many of my theoretical exams didn't help either, this was the final sign I needed to change directions and enter an art school. There I studied architecture for the last 3 years of high school. Architecture was really interesting and fascinated me, but eventually I discovered there was a different field of studies that in my opinion offered more possibilities towards developing my creative side. It was product design. The possibilities were endless. I discovered you could design everything if so desired, from a small object like a pen to a complex hypercar. This is what attracted me the most in design, the vast variety of things that can be designed.

Currently I'm a graduated design student specialized in furniture design. With a new course involving packaging & brand design I hope to expand my knowledge around the subject. A design studio has not been established yet but I'm thinking about it. Of course this does not mean that as a young designer I don't accept projects.

Personally, I think this is a question I cannot answer yet. It is suffice to say that I am too young and too unexperienced too already have an answer ready for a question like this.

I am currently focusing on furniture and packaging design. Furniture design is still my favourite design practice.

Trapesi, the work I entered for A design competition is one of my latest and most favourite designs. It illustrates how an everyday object can evolve into a completely new design by making a few minor adjustments to the functionality and aesthetics.

The first piece I ever designed for an extern company was a stool consisting of UHPC and thermo ashwood. I named it Vemu, this project is currently exposed on my website.

My internship at Sixinch brought me in contact with polyurethane coated furniture. For me, this was a whole new technology never seen before. The vast possibilities that can be achieved using this production technique are immense. It was the same production technique used in Trapesi.

Allot of people think the best way to get creative is to sit behind a well organized desk with lots of paper and markers. I disagree, you can't always force these things. In my case most of my ideas are created when going out for a drink, when sitting on the train or going out with friends.

When designing a furniture piece most of the time this piece will contain a basic function. So it is easy to say that every piece from a certain sector will have the same basic function (like a chair and its function to create a sitting surface). It's my responsibility to manipulate the aesthetic and functional aspects of this piece to make it stand out from the rest.

I am not one to judge. A design can look succesful in the eyes of one but look like a failure to the other.

As you can tell by my age I haven't really been as long in the industry of design as others.For me it all began 4 years ago when I started my Bachelor in design at the University of Howest.Through the years I noticed that furniture design was one of the disciplines I adored the most in the world of design.

During high school I was studying architecture. It was an interesting study for me and it still is to this day but what architecture was lacking for me was a diversity in designing, especially since I lived in Belgium and allot of the architectural projects here are renovations instead of new constructions. One of my teachers had told be about design and the variety in projects and products it can offer. This was what intrigued me the most and eventually made me change directions.

I usually never start of by focusing on a target audience or a shape but rather focus on a new technique, material or problem that I find interesting. From that point on I start analyzing the possibilities and what this technique, material or problem can offer. I don't like casual designs and try to avoid them, but that's just my own opinion. If possible I will always try and create something new or experimental.

I think as most people in the creative sector I feel a sense of accomplishment and euphoria seeing a project develop from nothing into something.

Being born and raised in Crete, Greece and later on moving to Belgium I had the chance to shape my creativity through experiencing two different cultures. This is what made me who I am today.

I think as seeing I'm only 23 myself there isn't much advice I can give yet, I'm still learning new things myself, no shame in being honest here.There isn't much advice I can give since I still have a long way to go myself and I certainly don't want to spread pretentious advice.

I wouldn't say I'm a successful designer, as I've sad in my previous statement, I still have a long way to go.

For me that is a difficult question as I think it's also kind of subjective matter. You can have a design that 2 people find amazing whilst 2 others may find it ridiculous.

When having designed a piece or an object it is crucial for me to lay my mind of it for a day. If I still like the design the next day then this is a sign for me that I am happy with the current status of the design and can further develop it.

My most successful design as of yet is without a doubt the Trapesi bistro table. It was designed as a solution for a problem I saw many people struggling with, including myself.

I have many.To some up a few:Oki SatoAlain GillesPhilippe NigroPhilippe Starck

Last year I wasn't able to attend the A' Design Award, but hopefully this year I will be able to attend.