Interview with Matteo Mirko Cetinski

I set up a company that would give me the opportunity to explore all the creative aspects of my personality. I started in the Television business as creative director and producer. Later I expanded to the Marketing field working as a Brand manager and Marketing Manager; but I always knew I would eventually make time to start designing. The fact I worked in these various fields (especially marketing) helped me to stay "real". It made me recognize the thin line between a marketable product and just a designer's self indulgence.

I always saw it as something I would pursue after I turned forty. I don't know why. Probably because I perceive it more as enjoyment rather than just work. It is important for me to keep seeing design as something I do for fun.

As long as it excites me, I am OK with everything. I am lucky I design things I envision, not products that are commissioned by someone else.

My favorite design is always the next one. By the time I am finished with a design i am working on, my mind is already working on the next one. I never stop to analyze a past design. Besides, I don't design designs, I design things. I can talk about their purpose and the practical aspects, never about their look. That's something people will either relate to or not. It's subjective; no matter how long I try to explain the appeal of a design to someone, they either like it or they don't. Beauty is always in the eyes of the beholder and should always be.

Interior design was my first designing expression. It all started with works within my circle of friends and family. Later I moved to product design for a winery. This was my first officially commissioned work, but the "Chilim" furniture line is my first very own furniture design line.

Materials, platform, technology etc. are just tools. You don't start a design thinking of the material. You start with the idea and that simply dictates everything else.

The very moment I have an idea that excites me.

I always focus primarily on the purpose, use, function. Creating something esthetically pleasing and exciting while not losing these elements is the real challenge.

While you are working on a design, the creative juices "drug" you and everything seems wonderful because you fall in love with the feeling of creation. It's like falling in love with a person.

A few days after I am finished with the design is the critical moment when I realize how good the work is or isn't. The emotion I love is when I look over the design after a while and I am still in love with it. The affair isn't over and I realize it is something more. I am married to it.

There is a quote by Joe Sparano I like: "Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent." A design is successful when people embrace it either by using it or by just looking at it, without effort, without thinking of the design itself. The design should never "scream" designer. It should be silent.

You should always judge a design from a users' perspective. When judging a design I am not a designer, I am the user. People from every age group, every background and every level of education have the same right when it comes to judging a design. So, to answer to your question, the only aspect I consider when I judge a design is, do i like it or not. It's as simple as that.

The best projects are those that incorporate a useful product in an esthetically likable form with materials that are environmentally friendly. This is why I like the "Chilim" furniture line. These are pieces of furniture that are definitely useful and usable; they are original because the outer surface is covered with rugs and the rugs are repurposed 80 years old Kilims that would otherwise be lost forever. In other words, this design incorporates an original design that uses repurposed material. Add to this the fact that by re-using these old rugs, we also help promote this old weavers' tradition, which is nearly extinct - it is a win/win.

What is constantly changing and evolving is the materials that can be used. Technology is opening countless possibilities that were not always available. But the estethic component can't really be defined and unified and therefore analyzed globally. What is going on in the western world is not necessarily going on in other cultures. We have to be careful not to monopolize taste and design when talking about trends.

My inspiration comes from the need to have a certain object. If I can't find it on the market, I design it. As I already said, first and foremost I am the end user.

I am not tied to a particular design style. The fact I don't have formal design training helps me stay unconditioned by the various industry's "school of taught". My need to create a product brings me to the most different design quests depending on the product and the need itself.

To a certain degree we are always conditioned by our cultural heritage. At least at some unconscious level. Nevertheless, I can't say I was solely affected by the heritage in my native country. I was born in Croatia, studied in Bologna, Italy for four years, and finally did my Masters in New York. These were essential years for my formation as a person and they all influenced me both as a person and as a designer. Also, I am an avid traveller and each place I visit influences me further. I am a global mix, I guess.

I work with companies when my design is finished. These are companies that buy and distribute my products. The fact they are not involved in the process of designing make our collaboration fairly simple.

It is often a case that a designer doesn't understand or doesn't want to adapt to the companies' needs. Also, often the company that commissioned the work, doesn't trust the designer and doesn't understand his/her vision. It is critical to understand that the designer and the company work for the same goal rather than for each other. The goal can be the sale of a product or the visual identity of the company etc. The critical part is to clearly define what the goals are. The designers ability to adapt and accept the companies' goals while maintaining his/her integrity is what makes it a good or bad designer for the job.

I collect objects from my travels. Each of them reminds me of a place or a unique moment and therefore it is difficult to choose among them. There is a glass bowl in which I keep small stones I collected all over the world and I think there is some magic in it. It's literally like having a piece of those places at home. There is a little granite sparkling stone from Central Park (NYC), another from the pyramid site in Cairo, there is one from the garden of the house I grew up in from my home town etc. When you put them all together in a bowl, you create a unique mix of different natural energies these stones have and that mix is specific to you, it's your own unique mix. I guess that bowl is my favorite designer item in the house. Designed by nature itself.
Second place would go to a mid-century theater spotlight I found in London. There is something magical when I think how many plays this spotlight has been part of. I see it as an old retired man. Worked backstage for a lifetime and now quietly replaced by "younger" and more advanced versions, yet still full of pride and dignity resting in my living room.

Every day is different.

Haven't I been doing it the whole time so far? :)

A designer must be a mix of technical skills and talent. Besides creativity, the talent must also include the ability to remain down to earth, remain an end user of the designs. A great designer must produce understandable and useful designs while also pushing the envelope. It sounds easy, but it's not. I've seen countless designers indulge into their vanity and distance themselves from the end users, to finally isolate themselves while complaining nobody understands them anymore. An elitist designer is not a talented designer. Quite the opposite.

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I start working on an idea and almost never finish it. I then go back to it when something tells me to. It always happens that something I started and didn't finish a year prior, starts to be relevant after some time. It's like I get inspired but it's always a little too early. I stop and know a time will come when I will pick it up again and it will all make perfect sense. Then I finish it and it all falls into place easily. It happens every time.

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People tend to ask too much about technique while the technique itself can change with each project. It doesn't define a designer, it is not constant and therefore it is not really relevant. Specializing in a certain technique can limit the designer's zone of comfort and this can be a handicap.

By email:
mirkodimatteo100@gmail.com