Ali Sharifi Omid

Good in Furniture Design.

Ali Sharifi Omid

About Ali Sharifi Omid

Ali Sharifi Omid is an Iranian designer who tries to be inspired by the geographical forms of his place of residence and make furniture for different people with different materials. The forms he created have a postmodern spirit and Iranian architectural elements are influential in these products.

  • Winner of 3 A' Design Awards.
  • Good in Furniture Design.
  • Original Design.
  • Creative, Diligent and Innovative.
  • All Designs
  • Furniture
Wheat Bunch Collection

Wheat Bunch Collection

Furniture Design

Khayyam Table

Khayyam Table

Furniture Design

Ravaq Table

Ravaq Table

Furniture Design


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Interview with Ali Sharifi Omid

Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
My childhood curiosity and interest to play with toys and observe their different parts lead to my interest to design and create in my teenage years. I went to a vocation school for my secondary education by chance and there apart from studying literature and history courses, I took classes in metal and wood workshops twice a week. This helped me learn how to work with their equipment and make simple metal and wooden things. In addition, planning and learning the basics of perspective helped me realize my own abilities. I could easily imagine objects and their dimensions in my mind. These courses were my only passions in secondary school. After graduation, I came to know industrial design major. I decided to pursue this career in my life and the more I study it, the more I realized this was the major that I was unconsciously lead to and was the thing I had always wanted.
Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
HAF and Tirouj are two companies that I established two years ago with the intention of making furniture. Tirouj is for making lighting and HAF is for making furniture.
What is "design" for you?
For me design is the creative solution of a problem with a creative and lasting from.
What kinds of works do you like designing most?
Designing and building home and office furniture made specifically for decoration.
What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
Philip Stark’s famous citrus juicer is my favourite design. I cannot stop praising its simplicity, beauty and efficiency.
What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
My first priority as a designer is the practicality of my designs. I first factor in the available materials that I have and the limitations that I face and then I design using the things that I have access to. This puts aside expensive and complicated processes and leaves room for the ones which more affordable and practical. In addition, I consider durability, naturalness, and the feelings that are caused by touching the materials.
When do you feel the most creative?
I usually feel creative when I am happy and at night before going to bed I usually have my best ideas.
Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
After creating the main concept, looking at the details of the design and the predicting the implementation of it will take most of my time.
What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
When the design process goes the way to the creation of forms, I feel elated and mindful and experience silence.
What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
The success of a design depends on many factors including the understanding of the problem, designing an attractive form, recognizing the client’s taste and finally estimating the production cost according to the client’s budget.
What makes a design successful?
I think a good design should have an attractive form, good function and have ergonomic standards. In addition, its construction method and budget should be according to the needs and expectations of the target market. So whatever design that does not include the above is not a good one.
When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
A design can increase its society aesthetic appreciation level and should recognize the needs of its own society and by solving them should create peace and pleasure for its society.
From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
In my country, designing has not found its proper place yet. There are numerous causes for this which is beyond this short introduction. The need for designer has sometimes been eliminated in some countries due to the availability of tonnes of designs online for free. So many industries use the concepts and designs shared in the public domain without paying the copy right fees. Moreover, there is a design clogging, too: being exposed to too may designs in the world wide web makes creative and innovative designing very difficult.
When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
I have never displayed my lighting and furniture designs in any exhibitions.
Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
Depending on the subject of design you could be inspired by different things. For me who is engaged with furniture design, architectural forms are a source of inspiration.
How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
I try to create new and modern forms and designs from old and traditional forms to relate the past with the present. I am interested in this method due to my fascination with my own country’s culture and history. I believe cultural diversity could lead to design diversity and eventually we will reach more beauty.
Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
I was born and bred in Iran. I also live in this country now. I am so proud of and influenced by the cultural heritage of my country. Industrial design is still a new major in Iran and unfortunately has not been fully recognized by many industries in Iran yet. This has created a problem for many designers in their jobs and personal life.
How do you work with companies?
I have always had my own company. I have not tried to work for other companies because they do not value design as they should be.
What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
I believe that those designers who have good and practical design ideas could be beneficial for companies.
Can you talk a little about your design process?
I first imagine the concept in my mind and try to create a good form in my mind. I sketch the first concept by hand and after the first analyses, I start to design it in Rhino. Finally I render the final design in V-RAY.
Can you describe a day in your life?
I remember a day when I was eagerly waiting for the completion of an exhibition booth that I had designed. I was waiting like a child for the final result.
Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
Pay attention to details in design a lot. The famous motto: details are not details; they create the design.
From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
It is too difficult and tedious when you are stuck creating something and you mind does not work and you do not have enough time to suggest a design. But when the process of designing comes to fruition, it is highly rewarding and you can enjoy it like a child.
What is your "golden rule" in design?
A good design that is easy to build with good quality can transform a simple form to an interesting design.
What skills are most important for a designer?
Good designing needs good drawing technique, familiarity with designing softwares such as Rhino and 3D max, and a good knowledge of materials and their construction.
Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
My favourite design software is Rhino. I usually try to look at other designs before starting my own design in order not to repeat the same ideas.
Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
I usually try not to do every thing at the last minute and to finish the project a few days before it is due.
What was your most important job experience?
I used to have a company for designing and constructing exhibition booths and stands.
Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
I would like to work on a team but unfortunately I am working alone due to the lack of a reliable partner.
Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
I have nothing special to say about my future projects to say now.
Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
I would like to thank A design Award team for providing this opportunity for other designers to display their works to the public.

Designer of the Day Interview with Ali Sharifi Omid

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?
I have been designing for about 16 years. Although I’ve mostly worked as an interior designer focused on interior store decorations. In the past 3 years, I’ve been working more professionally in the field of decorative objects such as lighting and furniture
How did you become a designer?
If I were to give a proper description of myself, I would have said that during my teenage years I was interested in most art forms, especially cinema, music, poetry, and photography and since I was studying in a technical college, I had experienced visualizing and building a little bit and had received positive feedbacks from my tutors regarding my ability to visualize. My fondness for art was completely intrinsic and it was in no way related to the environment that I was raised in. In fact, in my domestic environment and under the yoke of a strict religion, all forms of art were forbidden. Acquaintance with the field of industrial design was a complete accident that put me on the path of becoming a designer and seriously getting to know the joy of creating and building. This childlike glee and thrill is still breathing in me by the creation of each design and it’s a motivation for me to welcome the life challenges of being a designer.
What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?
My first priority in designing is to create a beautiful and novel form that has a story or a special outlook in its background. The second priority is to find out how the idea can be made with minimal cost. In the third stage, I would look around in my imagination for a main concept that has the previous two features. The search continues and refines over and over till the final idea emerges on paper in a crude fashion. Then, I would further assess all dimensions of the design after a short interval and if I happened to be satisfied with the overall form, I would start modeling accurately using the real measures. If the modeled design was good enough, I would spend more time on its functional and technical details and prepare a technical plan to build. After building the initial sample, if the proportions, details, and other factors didn’t need a review, the design is complete.
Which emotions do you feel when designing?
The mental stage of discovering a novel idea is just as exciting and uplifting as a bright thunderbolt lighting up the path through a dark desert. Cultivating an idea and drawing it closer to its final stages is just as pleasant as watering a garden full of flowers. And lastly, yearning to see the built design evokes the delightful experience of playing with a toy as a child
What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?
Knowing and pursuing other dimensions of Art (besides designing) broadens the horizons of a designer. For instance, having a deep connection with Iranian music helps me possess a better understanding of rhythm and harmony for designing. My strong interest in photography encourages a concern in me to look differently and find a subject. An interest in old architecture links me with the life experiences of artists who had lived hundreds of years ago and provides me with an abundance of original forms. In reality, diverse realms of artistic consciousness converge somewhere in our subconscious and emerge in the moment of creating a work somewhere in imagination or reality.
What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?
I’m interested in developing my ideas regarding objects used in the interior space of the house. I hope to collaborate with international companies working in this specialized field along the way. It is my dream to design a product that would be sold on a worldwide scale and its user would experience the same pleasure that I had experienced creating the same product
What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?
A design that never reaches production is just like a music that is produced, yet no audience has ever experienced the joy of listening to it. In my view, it is advised to consider the available resources when you are designing and by improving your technical knowledge of building as much as possible, create a design that would not require a complicated and unavailable building technology.
You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?
Success is relative and in most cases, assumes importance in comparison with another. But if I were to give a description of my own experience with designing, I would say that I feel far away from my own ideal designs and I must put in a lot of effort to achieve them. In my belief, the challenge facing a successful designer is to expand his knowledge in domains like psychology, sociology, economics, and philosophy in addition to the professional skills of his own field.
What is your day to day look like?
For me, the day starts with reading the news. It is unfortunately a bad habit that I’m yet to kick. Of course, for one who is living in my geography, the best news is to have no news. If there was no commission for designing, I would spend most of my time in the building workshops. My spare time would be devoted to listening to and sometimes practicing music, being in nature, watching movies, reading books, and being with my family.
How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?
I follow design news via the internet and social networks to some extent. Watching the works of others is a way of acquiring knowledge and cheap experience that I try to substantially benefit from.
How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?
Creativity, harmony, simplicity, and similar factors are my criterion for a good design.
How do you decide if your design is ready?
Whenever I would not be able to add or remove something from a design and yet the final form has reached perfection, then I think the design is ready. Although, this is not always easily possible. To bring a design to perfection, sometimes you need to distance yourself for a while and get busy doing something else so that the event that you’re expecting may happen.
What is your biggest design work?
I like designing and building my handmade pendant lighting very much and I think they are a turning point in my works. Getting inspired from my own art and culture started with this project and the reception of my audience emboldened me to continue my designing path.
Who is your favourite designer?
14.Ever since my student days, my favorite designer was Philippe Starck. His minimalistic outlook that was inspired by the Eastern culture and Zen Buddhism and also his philosophy that ‘less is more’ when it comes to creating products were always interesting to me. This exceptional outlook is quite apparent in Haikus, drawings, and calligraphies of the ancient culture of Japan. In a way, this philosophy is environmentalist and attaches great value to nature and substance. In another outlook, ancient Iranian arts like the making of miniature, rugs, and patterns used in architecture and gilding are artistically speaking in contrast with the minimalistic art. In fact, although Iranian art is conservative in inventing new forms, it is maximalist and seeks diversity in attending to details. I believe that comparatively the Japanese Haiku poems and the poetic form of Mathnawi in the Persian language should be considered the two extremes of artistic minimalism and maximalism, respectively. The works of these Iranian artists which were created in the minimalistic geography of the desert to compensate for the empty spaces of nature is now a very valuable and admirable source of inspiration to me.
Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?
Iran’s culture extends as far as thousands of years ago and as an Iranian individual, I feel joyous of having this culture. In cities like Isfahan, Yazd, Kashan, and Shiraz you can see the unique works of these arts for yourself, enjoy them, and get connected with long gone pasts. As a designer, I’m interested in pulling the gems hidden in this culture and art from chests covered with dusts and put them on display for the other people of the world to see.
Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?
Working as a team is a very challenging position in Iran that I am trying to resolve. Getting coordinated with other members of a group to advance the goals of the whole is sometimes much more difficult than the designing process. That is why I have attempted to pursue my designing projects alone so far. But I wish to become part of a creative team in the future because I believe that the result of a team design could be extremely more remarkable.
What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?
Loving others can be considered the end of a human’s growth and flourishing. As a designer, I wish that things I do would bring joy and create further pleasure for humans
What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?
The A' Design Award and Competition is the most prestigious design event in the world. Clearly, participating in this competition and winning an award would invoke the feeling of success and worth in the designer. On the other hand, the opportunity that this artistic event provides for designers and their designs to be seen is a very unique opportunity. Obviously, I feel wonderful for participating in this esteemed event and presenting my design to lovers of design and art from this platform.

Extended Interview with Ali Sharifi Omid

How did you become a designer?
The process of creating and the enjoyment building an idea is interesting form me.
What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?
I have studied industrial design by chance which was my good luck.
Which emotions do you feel when designing?
I am interested in objects that are used for home decor and will work more in future in this field.
What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?
They should create a photo type of their own designs so the design will become a reality and related to the audience in a better way.
What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?
I believe a good designer has a good knowledge of philosophy and psychology and has a greta aesthetic taste. They should also know technologies of building and the qualities of materials.
You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?
A good design like other art forms can have a positive impact on us and make us satisfied with having a product.
What is your day to day look like?
I would design a case for my favourite Iranian musician Hossein Alizadehe to keep his instruments in them
How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?
Designing an amphitheatre for performing Persian music quartets so that the musicians can have a better relationship with the audience.
How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?
There is not a secret recipe. You have to pay attention to your surrounding.
How do you decide if your design is ready?
Charles Emaz’s famous saying that details are not just details; they will make the design is inspirational.
Who is your favourite designer?
I believe my last designs are the some of my best works because they have beautiful forms which have been influenced by my cultural heritage, they are modern, though.
Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?
I believe a good designer has a good knowledge of philosophy and psychology and has a greta aesthetic taste. They should also know technologies of building and the qualities of materials.
Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?
I would develop my musical skills more seriously or I would become a psychologist.
What positive experiences you had when you attend the A’ Design Award?
The lessons I have learned from my teachers, my wife’s support and the encouragement of my therapist have helped me a lot.

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