Interview with Helvex S.A. de C.V. - Manuel Martínez

Helvex is a mexican company that designs, develops and manufactures their own products. Being in the market for 70 years, they have always been interested in offering the best quality there is, mixed with water saving technology and the vision to create a better world. In the very own words of our leader, Eng. Jorge Barbará " We love water and our passion is to take care of it"

Design is everything that surrounds us physically, it is the key to survive, to evolve, to make our lifes better. It has the potential to create a better day-a-day for people, more comfortable but also to give meaning and to help achieve greater and better things. It comes with a great responsibility because if we do not take Design seriously, the impact can be completely opposed to what it should be.

I like designing objects that holds real meaning and positive impact to people´s life. I really enjoy finding and solving real, actual needs. Always aiming to create great experiences that enriches this world, making it a better, more comfortable and friendly place.

My favorite design is a bathroom faucet called Bamboo because it has a different interface of use, the aesthetics of this product is contemporary,clean and simple but has a lot of multidisciplinary work involved and was one of the first designs that the company allowed me and entrusted me to design, giving me total creative freedom. it also has been deployed, installed in many places, from residences, public bathrooms,restaurants and big hotel chains and it was also awarded both nationally (in Mexico) and internationally.

The very first thing i designed for a company was a handlebar system for the Public Subway Service in Mexico (Metro) it was envisioned to help people with different physical capabilities to use the subway premises in a safe, comfortable way. It was designed and produced in Stainless steel with a photoluminiscent paint that could guide all people in case of a blackout.

My favorite materials are the reused materials, any material that can have a second / third use and in consequence, increase its life span. For example, I recently designed a Dinning table using scraps of steel rods that were thrown away in a building construction and the result was great. it actually sits in my apartment.

I feel most creative when listening to calm, instrumental music, when thinking about my loved ones and how could i enrich their lifes through my work. I feel the most creative when i think about everyone else´s needs but mine.

I focus on solving real, actual needs that have not been foreseen or haven´t been solved correctly. I believe that the path to innovation is to gradually increase the qualities in the products. this creates the knowledge to trully "think out of the box"

I mainly feel Love, empathy, a sense of responsibility and the hunger to leave a possitive mark in this world.

I feel happiness to see what my mind envisioned, my hands drawn and modelled, and my coworkers enriched and finished solving. It makes me feel happy to know that now those designs/products are in hundreds of houses, hotels, restaurants, etc. that were chosen above other options. I feel great curiosity and responsibility to know what can i do better, what can i improve and what to avoid in order to help creating a better quality in people´s lifes.

That it does correctly what it was meant to do from the beginning, that the people chooses this design
over other options. But most importantly that the people creates a sense of appropriation with the object because it makes their lifes easier, better, more comfortable and more sustainable and because it lasts years and years performing efficiently.

When judging a design as good or bad I always ask myself... "does the world need this?" "does this product makes people´s lives better?" "does it perform to its upmost quality?" "does it responds to what the people needs?"

Every single product we design must aim first to make a positive impact on people´s lives, in order to do so, we need to be empathic with what the society and the environment really needs, and by doing it, it´s really easy to detect areas of opportunity that other may have missed. So at the end of the day our responsibilities for society and environment resides in offer real solutions, to real problems/ needs, and make those products as affordable and accessible to everyone as possible, because the more people benefits from this, the bigger the impact on a macro scale

The design field is evolving exponentially thanks to new technologies, process and materials, so the future of design will become more of a service design, to generate solutions that can adapt to the constant changes that the users experience or to solve on a better way, the needs / problems that people will face. I think the future of design resides in the "adaptive design"

My last exhibition was in Mexico, in a museum called Franz Mayer, as part of a national design award call Diseña México, and my next exhibition will be hold in the same venue as part of the most recent awards that Sustenta and other designs that me and my team developed.

My creativity comes from my wife, my familiy,