Interviews with Camil Octavian Milincu

We are in the industry since 2005. We have been working as architectural planners and designers since then, but since 2018 we started working in furniture design

The initial phase is very exciting, but also the phase of inventing, adapting details to the whole ensemble

Art school, art courses, sculpture course, model ship, woodworking, interior design

We plan to start a business with high-end furniture

Assign a lot of time for research and work, in order to get good results

We are both architects, however, designing furniture has the advantage of offering greater freedom of expression.

Studio Minus was established in 2007, as an architecture, interior design, and bespoke woodworking (furniture and sculpture) studio. During the activity, the accent shifted from one domain to another, but several characteristics remained a constant in all the projects: coding of a meaning, sincere use of materials, taking into account the way that these change over time, addressing all the sensory elements in user interaction and using durable construction

Design is a way of coding a deeper meaning in functional objects.

Furniture and mechanical installations.

Hard to tell, it depends on the context.

Interior furniture for a residential building.

Our favorite materials are wood and brass. In regards to technology, we believe in using the best suited to obtain a complex result, even if this means mixing traditional hand tools with CNC.

In front of a piece of good drawing paper.

Encoding a meaning in the image of the piece. Fine details addressing all the senses.

One of us tends to worry a lot. The other believes in magic.

Working hands-on on a piece is a way of finding oneself.

When the piece functions. When the client understands the encoded message.

There is no excuse for functional errors or bad construction.

A designer can teach things using his objects as messengers. Pieces that are responsibly made and can endure could and should still be made today.

Design, for now, seems to lose focus and to trying to address issues beyond its field. Let's hope that the future returns to material, function, and the emotions of the user.

Inspiration comes from different areas. Mythology, nightmares, literature, famous cinema quotes.

Our style seems to be most of the time a mix of mid-century modern with sculptural accents.

We live in Timisoara, Romania. We were lucky to experience communism and the transition to capitalism. Thus came great adaptability and flexibility in finding a solution using whatever was close at hand.

Most of the design work is one-ofs or small series. In this instance, a company as a customer behaves roughly the same as an individual.

Sometimes is better for the designer to select a company who shares his values.

Lamy 2000 fountain pen. 1227 Anglepoise lamp. Lie Nielsen #4 bench plane.

Good design should go much beyond an image shared over the internet.

Make it honest.

creativity, technical skills, communication

paper, pen, pencil, design books

Designing storage furniture seems to offer functional and formal opportunities in perfect proportions.

We plan on having an exhibition showcasing furniture and sculptures designed without any brief constraints

We work as a team. Designs are developed using a mix of talks during breaks scattered across a day's work and a solitary stare at an unfinished piece.

We have Techne, an interactive piece of furniture which includes more senses in the design, like sound

via e-mail otiliaalexandra@yahoo.com, milincucamil@yahoo.com ore telephone +040752128647, 0040744694734