Interview with Nepto
A Nepto watch is a jewel of character, whose art is to reveal the unique style of each individual. The complexity of a watch's aesthetics is to make it visible through its design and shape while…
Designer of the Day Interview
23 May 2019
I studied engineering and I worked before for a solar company. So I'm far from any background in art and design. But one component of my life bring me to become an artist/designer/builder : my family. Indeed, my grand father open in the 70's a shop of shoes tailor-made. He created the shoes from the beginning, selected the best leather and skin, designed the shoes for a feet of anyone who wanted it. Then my father was an industrial designer but he was passionate by motorbike. He finally open his shop as well, called motobel, and prepared motorbikes for competitions. He was really good technically but he also always cared about the design and the look of his motorbike. The shape, the colors, the equilibrium in the design was always well selected. After my baccalauréat, I wanted to make a design school in Paris but I finally choose engineering for the job security. I would do a design school but I don't regret at all my formation in engineering. It was pretty useful to understand the mechanical behavior of material and how works a clock movement for example. So, yes I've always wanted to be a designer but it took time to really feel it and become one.
I started to become a designer after some years in a research and development area. I had enough experience as a worker and I knew that I had the capacity to make my own company in design and it is what I did.
My design process is quite basic. I always start with some scratch on paper to see how I feel my design. Then I make my design a bit more structured with proper dimension and eventually in 3D with different material. Then I use Illustrator to make a clear 2D design and to integrate colors. At the end I finalise my design with a CAD software and exact dimension.
I have lots of excitation when I'm designing and I don't take sometime the time to make the things perfectly so I need to come back on it. But I try to go directly where I want to go and I don't want to try tousand things because all is clear in my head.
I enjoy the most the first view of the prototypes because you see all the work behind you and you see also the final product. I enjoy also because you can change some tiny details and it is extremely important to do it.
I enjoy the most the first view of the prototypes because you see all the work behind you and you see also the final product. I enjoy also because you can change some tiny details and it is extremely important to do it.
I think that it's the curiosity and the education that my father bring me. He was really meticulous and I became also like that. All is in the detail in design.
I want to
We want to design in 2020 two new collection. One automatic watch based on the SHIELD but with a new shape which will bring event more fineness. The second model will be a watch with some other accessories which will be part of the watch. And then, we would like to make other design products but we have to define it.
I am myself a young designer, not in age but in experience. Anyway, I think that the most important is to stay open. To make exhibition which can be far from them specificity. Get inspiration from all which is around them, in the street, at a place of a friend of them, in the nature…
I wake up quite late and then I have a proper brunch. I like to eat only two times by day. Then I manage all the administrative stuff, mail, and day check. Then I have my list of to do and I start point by point each of them by priority. sometime the design of the watches, sometime the catalogue to prepare on Indesign, sometime translation of French in English and German, sometime visit of a shop, sometime traveling.... Around 18h, I go to fitness and then I eat again. After eating we have a quick meeting with my partner and I usually work a bit at the evening again. As I drive my company and we are a really small one, I don't have a monthly plan, everything to do is coming so quickly that my list of todo is always full.
I don't care that much on it. I should maybe a bit more to get even more success in business but I think that it is contre productive and contre creative to do it.
When judging a design, I think that you have different steps. The first step is the first impression when you arrive in front of the object. This first impression is really important and that's why you have to present your design in the best condition. Then, I need a bit of time to really observe it and see how I react on the design, more in the details. And finally, I need to touch it, to understand how it was made and why.
It's hard to answer to this question. I think a design is never ready.
The two first collection of watches I did last year.
Frank O'Gehry, Iris Van Herpen
I love Berlin, it's my favorite city and by Berlin I love electronic music and nightlife. In literature, I'm a big fan of classic books, from the XVI century to the beginning of the XX century. About cinema, I'm really open. To be honest, I don't have a most favorite design. I think, it is monomaniac to have a most favorite design and it stop your creativity. I like in architecture the design of Frank O'gehry, I like the design of Aston Martin for cars, I like the Bauhaus style for interior design... But I don't have a most favorite design. I need to stay open mind about every kind of design around me to keep creativity.
I think that it's really important to stay open in your work. Better two brain than one. So yes I can work with a co worker and it can be really efficient in thsi way. But I also need my own time to prepare and thing before to do something. If I hire someone, I want him to have an open minded and be able to work on different topic. I need someone curious and who is ready to work hard sometimes and take more time some other time. I don't want to make time shift, you can come whenever you want and leave whenver you want until the work is done.
To be honest, I would love to but I'm driving my little company and I have really no time for it. But in the future we want to have eco responsability in the product we will propose. I'm also taking care of the people who are producing our watch to be sure they have good condition of work.
It was a new challenge and so it is always exciting. I like it because it is a competition and I want always to win. I did lots of rugby at a really good level and I'm a competitor. I like it also because you can see what other people are doing.
Design Legend Interview
23 May 2019
I studied engineering in Paris, at the University Pierre and Marie Curie and then I worked for a solar company in Berlin. So I'm far from any background in art and design. I wanted to make a design school after my baccalauréat but I finally choose engineering. When I was younger, I did 3 years of drawing and painting lessons after school. That’s the only background I have.
One component of my life bring me to become an artist/designer/builder : my family. Indeed, my grand father open in the 70's a shop of shoes tailor-made. He created the shoes from the beginning, selected the best leather and skin, designed the shoes for a feet of anyone who wanted it. Then my father was an industrial designer but he was passionate by motorbike. He finally open his shop as well, called motobel, and prepared motorbikes for competitions. He was really good technically but he also always cared about the design and the look of his motorbike. The shape, the colors, the equilibrium in the design was always well selected. After my baccalauréat, I wanted to make a design school in Paris but I finally choose engineering for the job security. I would do a design school but I don't regret at all my formation in engineering. It was pretty useful to understand the mechanical behavior of material and how works a clock movement for example. So, yes I've always wanted to be a designer but it took time to really feel it and become one.
I chose it and I thing that it is really important to choose it. Being forced in any kind of creative job is really not a good idea and you will not become a good designer. But I have to thanks my family to let me doing what I want because lots of people don’t have this luck.
I’m designing watches at the moment and I’m really happy to do it because we are a super small company and I’m designing it from the beginning to the end, including the first scratch to the selection of materials and the final prototype. I like it because it is every day different and new and I need a good knowledge in plenty of area. But in the future, I would really like to design some furnitures and bikes.
I’m not a design legend at all! I am myself a young designer, not in age but in experience. Anyway, I think that the most important is to stay open. To make exhibition which can be far from them specificity. Get inspiration from all which is around them, in the street, at a place of a friend , in the nature. And then, have the capacity to transform what you see in an object or a concept. And at the end, working hard and believing in what you do but with keeping your ear open to positive critics.
Talent and perseverance.
I think that it is all in the detail. It is when a master piece have been thinking in every corners and every details. I use often the sentence of Charles Eames : The details are not the details, they make the design.
It has an extremely high value because design, art and culture are a fundamental component of the humanity. How would look like a human world without design? Human have a cortex which have emotions and reactions trough his 5 senses. And one of the best thing to activate these emotions are design, art and culture.
I would design a red jacket for my mum
The dream project is to design and concept a full motorbike with my father. But it should come next winter.
It’s to take inspiration in other discipline as mine. Stay extremely open about what you see around you to use it in your design. Even insignificant things.
Frank O’gehry, Pininfarina, Iris Van Herpen
In the watch industry, I really like Rado because they make minimal and extremely fine watches. It’s a perfect balance in the proportion of each part of the watch. In fashion design I love Iris Van Herpen and Alexander Mc Queen (The designer and not the current maison de couture) because these designs are like illusions not real in a way. In car design, I’m a big fan of Aston Martin. The design of those cars have a strong identity and you can see in them the roots of England. I like when you can see where come from the design from the first view.
My greatest design is the one I present this year. The NEPTO SHIELD. I think that it’s great because of the shape of this watch. It was not done before and I really enjoy that. Also because I think that the proportion of the shape is quite good. It is easy to make a round or square shape for a watch. But going out of those two shapes is a big more difficult.
You have to stay open, make exhibition, read books, spend thousands of hours on internet to see what’s peoples are doing, and take a part of your time to travel and react with the nature and your environment.
I have no idea. I’m a designer and I never thought about a plan B
The design means for me "taking care of all which is around us". It's basically how to make any kind of little or big things beautiful to contemplate. Again, I like the sentence of Charles Eames : The details are not the details, they make the design. But a good designer should never forget that the design have two components : esthetic and useful.
My family and couples of pretty good friends and my work partner Florian Fernandez.
I think that it is my curiosity and so on all the background I could have by being curious. And then, to be where I am now it is also a lot because of my sister who is product designer herself and give me lots of support.
I’m not really a design master. I’m myself a young designer. But to become one, I had to face my doubt about my capacity to become one. Then, I’m more or less autodidact and so on, I had to learn all the tools and the process by my own. That was my biggest challenge.
I think that they have to present it in the best environment. In an environment which is in accordance with them work. They have to tell about it, bringing a story about the concept and why they did that. But I’m not a big fan of telling too much. The piece of work should talk by itself. I like to have some details about the designer but if I like the design of a designer, I like it and I don’t need too much of blabla around it.
We want to design in 2020 two new collection. One automatic watch based on the SHIELD but with a new shape which will bring even more fineness. The second model will be a watch with some other accessories which will be part of the watch. And then, we would like to make other design products but we have to define it.
It is to have the financial capacity and the time to make as much different project as I can.
They expect emotions. They expect to look in your design and to ask some questions, to make them thinking and say : Damn, I’ve never saw that before.
A designer have a huge responsibility for society and environment because in an architectural project for example, he is the one who will be responsible of the integration of his design in the society around it. He is the one who have to think about the relation and the integration with the nature around it. But it depends of what kind of design we are talking about. If we talk about accessories then the impact is less.
My company is really small. So I currently make things which are not excited at all. But I should be back on design really soon to make other models of the SHIELD and the NUMERO 1.
The project that I actually driving with NEPTO watch because it is my own project and because I’m doing exactly what I want to. That is the most luxury thing I could get. But between the collection NUMERO 1 and the SHIELD, I had more satisfaction with the collection SHIELD because when I start to design it, people were septic and I deeply believe in it. And here we are now with an awards and pretty good sell with it.
I would like that they take more in consideration the environmental problem. Especially the big company because they have the financial ressources for it. Another point is to take a big more risk sometimes in design and not make a copy of what is the best sell of the year.
I think that the future of design is what I call " the hybride design". We have recently such a development in materials, digital technology, and AI that designer will be able to mix all of that. We will be able to mix plenty of materials with an integration of digital technology. The designer will have to drive engineer, digital engineer and craftsperson in the same time to bring the design to another level.
It depends of the complexity of the object. But I would say between 1 and 4 months.
My design process is quite basic. I Read books and try to find inspiration on internet and some design website and then I always start with some scratch on paper to see how I feel my design. Then I make my design a bit more structured with proper dimension and eventually in 3D with different material. Then I use Illustrator to make a clear 2D design and to integrate colors. At the end I finalise my design with a CAD software and exact dimension.
The details are not the details, they make the design.
I think that main of the designs are set by the trends and few of them sets the trends
It have a crucial role when we are talking about the movement of the watch but also when we are talking about the material we will use for the other part of the watch. It is really important for a designer to be aware about the last technology in terms of materials.
I’m using Adobe mainly. Illustrator, Lightroom, Photoshop, Indesign. And a bit FreeCAD for 3D.
I think that it is very important. That’s why we say that a white room is limiting creativity. I like to have around my desk thousand of little thing and to be a bit messy. Not too much but a bit. I definitely believe that you can get creativity with all around you.
I wish them not to ask me something but to know how they feel.
I’m impressed and I think immediately how they did it.
It’s my sister because we can be true about what we are thinking. I really believe in co-designing. Better two brain than one.
My sister Laura Ifrah and my work partner Florian Fernandez
La conquête du temps from Dominique Fléchon
I’m autodidact in design so I learn by my own everything. But I had some background with my father to learn how to create something from nothing. Then I develop my skills through tutorial.
I would love to have some time with Alexandre Dumas and Claude Levi Strauss.
I’m not famous and it’s my first award so I can’t answer to this question, sorry.
My favorite color is blue, my favorite place is Berlin, my favorite food is a tournedos rossini, my favorite season is spring, my favorite thing is clubbing but I don’t have a favorite brand.
It was last year when I got the first plastic 3D printed case of the watch. The 3D printing was really bad and when I saw the case I thought that it will be a total disaster. I was really stressed during a week. No sleep, thinking a lot about what I did because it wa my first design. Then I received the metal 3D printed case. And it worked perfectly!! I was so scared during a week but all went well after it.
It’s great because I’m doing what I want to do and it is my own creativity. I wake up every day with motivation because I realize what I wanted since long time!!
No, not at all. My parents never oriented me and I liked plenty of things, art, sport, music…
I’m really septic. More I get old and less I believe in the capacity of the humanity to understand what are the problems our society have and how to resolve it. Even we have the answer to all of our problem, we don’t act in the right way. Our economic system is an infinite system but we are living in a limited system which is our earth and our ressources. So I think that if we are not changing radically and quickly our style of life, we don’t have future.
Just check out what I have done and follow us if you like it!!
Designer Interview
20 October 2019
I studied engineering and I used to work for a solar company. So my background is far from art and design. But one component of my life brought me to become an artist/designer/builder: my family. My grandfather opened a shop of tailor-made shoes in the '70s. He created the shoes from the beginning, selected the best leather and skin, designed the shoes for feet of anyone who wanted it. My father was an industrial designer, passionated by motorbike. He opened his own shop as well, motobel, and prepared motorbikes for competitions. He was really good technically and always cared about the design and the look of his motorbikes. The shape, the colours, the equilibrium in the design was always well selected. After my degree, I wanted to go to a design school in Paris but I chose engineering for job security. I don't regret at all my formation in engineering, it was pretty useful to understand the mechanical behaviour of material and how works a clock movement for example. So, yes I've always wanted to be a designer but it took time to really feel it and become one.
We created the company one year ago in Paris because we are French and we had a better opportunity to plan the logistic from there. But we are working from Berlin and travelling through Europe. We are a really small and familial company and we are doing everything by ourselves. The design of the watches, the visuals (photos, videos, display etc...), the marketing and the distribution in shops. We already have 4 shops in France and one in Belgium to distribute our collections. We are currently starting to look for some shops in Germany and Portugal.
Design means for me to "take care of everything around us” and to make things beautiful to contemplate. I like the sentence of Charles Eames: The details are not the details, they make the design. But a good designer should never forget that the design has two components: esthetic and usefulness.
Everything related to interior design (chair, table, lamp, mirror etc...), design of accessory (watch, jewellery, pencils, book, cup), mechanical design (motorbike, bike), fashion design.
To be honest, I don't have a most favourite design. I think, it is monomaniac to have a most favourite design and it stops your creativity. I like the designs of Frank O’gehry in architecture, I like the design of Aston Martin when it comes to cars, I like the Bauhaus style for interior design. But I don't have a most favourite design. I am trying to stay open-minded about every kind of design around me to keep my creativity.
The collection Numero 1 from my current company, NEPTO watch.
I don't have a favourite material. I know that I like to work on a design which has a human size. I don't have the capacity to work in architecture or where you need a huge platform and structure. But again, I stay open about materials and technology.
I feel the most creative when I'm alone in the evening, from 18h to 23h. I'm definitively not efficient in the morning and I need to stay alone in a quiet place to be creative. I like to talk with people around me to see if my creativity make sense or not.
I studied engineering and I used to work for a solar company. So my background is far from art and design. But one component of my life brought me to become an artist/designer/builder: my family. My grandfather opened a shop of tailor-made shoes in the '70s. He created the shoes from the beginning, selected the best leather and skin, designed the shoes for feet of anyone who wanted it. My father was an industrial designer, passionated by motorbike. He opened his own shop as well, motobel, and prepared motorbikes for competitions. He was really good technically and always cared about the design and the look of his motorbikes. The shape, the colours, the equilibrium in the design was always well selected. After my degree, I wanted to go to a design school in Paris but I chose engineering for job security. I don't regret at all my formation in engineering, it was pretty useful to understand the mechanical behaviour of material and how works a clock movement for example. So, yes I've always wanted to be a designer but it took time to really feel it and become one.
I'm often excited and impatient. I like to be efficient and go fast in my design.
I feel unsecured and stressed because I miss a bit of experience and even if I like what I did, I really want that people like it too. And you are never sure about that.
Nothing. We have thousands of examples in the history of design showing that designers can have success one day and not any more the next one. You also have designs from the '60s or '70s that no one wanted ten years ago and which are now really successful. Design is subjective and it is difficult to say if it is successful or not and somehow it depends on the trends.
When judging a design, I think that you have different steps. The first step is the first impression when you arrive in front of the object. This first impression is really important and that's why you have to present your design in the best condition. Then, I need a bit of time to really observe it and see how I react on the design, more in the details. And finally, I need to touch it, to understand how it was made and why.
A designer has a huge responsibility for society and environment because in an architectural project, for example, he is the one who will be responsible for the integration of his design in the environment around it. He is the one who has to think about the relation and the integration with the nature around it. But it depends on what kind of design we are talking about. If we talk about accessories then the impact is less important according to me.
I think that the future of design is what I call " the hybrid design". We have recently such development in materials, digital technology, and AI that designer will be able to mix all of that. We will be able to mix plenty of materials with an integration of digital technology. The designer will have to drive engineer, digital engineer and craftsperson at the same time to bring the design to another level.
My last exhibition was at the Louis Vuitton Foundation, one month ago and I would like to make the one about Picasso in Berlin the coming month.
I got my inspiration from the coat of arms of Paris for the collection SHIELD. It shows a silver sailing ship on waves of the sea in a red field, with a chief showing the Royal emblem of gold-on-blue fleur-de-lis. Originally introduced in the 14th century, its current form dates to 1853. The city motto is Fluctuat nec mergitur.
The second collection, the numero 1, with a water droplet shape comes from the dome of the DZ bank of Berlin designed by Frank O'Gehry. I feed my creativity everywhere and every day. I don't close myself and I don't look that much the design of my competitors. I like to get inspiration about things which are necessarily related in the first look. For exemple, the straps of some of my watches were inspired by the belt of a friend.
The second collection, the numero 1, with a water droplet shape comes from the dome of the DZ bank of Berlin designed by Frank O'Gehry. I feed my creativity everywhere and every day. I don't close myself and I don't look that much the design of my competitors. I like to get inspiration about things which are necessarily related in the first look. For exemple, the straps of some of my watches were inspired by the belt of a friend.
I think that my design style is close to neo-retro. I like to mix the modern/Contemporain/industrial with a touch of classic. I like minimal style but I'm not able to do it. And I don't like when things are too simple. I like that people tell: "oh, that's original, I've never seen that before."
I have been living in Berlin for seven years but I'm originally from the suburb of Paris (Maisons-laffittes). Maisons-laffittes was a royal city and Paris kept its historical architecture. In opposite, Berlin was fully destroyed after WWII and has this heritage of the communist time. It reborn after 1990. Berlin is really underground and the nightlife has a huge impact on the city. I used both cultural heritage, the Parisian one for the SHIELD and the Berliner one for the NUMERO 1. I think that anyone who is creating used unconsciously his cultural heritage, the best example is a writer.
We have a single supplier for the watches because there are extremely competent and we wanted to minimize the logistic. About the distributors, we have 4 shops in France, one in Belgium and we want to deal now in Germany and Portugal.
The basic things are of course the formation and the experience of a designer. But I think it is important for a company to not stay focus only on that. I think that it can be really interesting to select a designer who comes from another area to have a different point of you. If you select people who have the same background, you will have the same result on a paper.
My design process is quite basic. I always start with some scratch on paper to see how I feel my design. Then I make my design a bit more structured with proper dimension and eventually in 3D with different material. Then I use Illustrator to make a clear 2D design and to integrate colours. In the end, I finalise my design with CAD software and the exact dimension.
lamp, mirror, table, pencil, ashtray
I studied engineering and I used to work for a solar company. So my background is far from art and design. But one component of my life brought me to become an artist/designer/builder: my family. My grandfather opened a shop of tailor-made shoes in the '70s. He created the shoes from the beginning, selected the best leather and skin, designed the shoes for feet of anyone who wanted it. My father was an industrial designer, passionated by motorbike. He opened his own shop as well, motobel, and prepared motorbikes for competitions. He was really good technically and always cared about the design and the look of his motorbikes. The shape, the colours, the equilibrium in the design was always well selected. After my degree, I wanted to go to a design school in Paris but I chose engineering for job security. I don't regret at all my formation in engineering, it was pretty useful to understand the mechanical behaviour of material and how works a clock movement for example. So, yes I've always wanted to be a designer but it took time to really feel it and become one.
I am a young designer, not in age but in experience. I think that the most important is to stay open. To make an exhibition which can be far from them specificity. Get inspiration from everything around them, in the street, at a place of a friend of them, in nature.
The most positive is clearly creativity. Starting from nothing and bringing a project to life. It is really challenging and exciting. The negative point could be not being understood by your boss or the people around you. You have to be able to support failure.
Being sure of where you are going, get a plan in your mind and keep on going. Not losing time of trying and trying and trying.
It's hard to answer. I think someone who can bring on a paper what he has in his mind quite quickly is a huge skill. Having a global and clear vision of what you want to do, being able to visualise is important. In the end, having a good knowledge of materials and their properties.
I studied engineering and I used to work for a solar company. So my background is far from art and design. But one component of my life brought me to become an artist/designer/builder: my family. My grandfather opened a shop of tailor-made shoes in the '70s. He created the shoes from the beginning, selected the best leather and skin, designed the shoes for feet of anyone who wanted it. My father was an industrial designer, passionated by motorbike. He opened his own shop as well, motobel, and prepared motorbikes for competitions. He was really good technically and always cared about the design and the look of his motorbikes. The shape, the colours, the equilibrium in the design was always well selected. After my degree, I wanted to go to a design school in Paris but I chose engineering for job security. I don't regret at all my formation in engineering, it was pretty useful to understand the mechanical behaviour of material and how works a clock movement for example. So, yes I've always wanted to be a designer but it took time to really feel it and become one.
As I said before, It is really important to have a clear and global vision of your design. You gonna save a lot of time with it. But in the end, the design of your product is the most important. So it is better to have a short night and postpone some other tasks to focus on it. Sometimes I end up at 2h or 3h at night just watching things to find some inspiration. But if you like being a designer you have to do that.
Depends on the complexity of the object. But I would say between one and four months.
About the Collection SHIELD, it is: " where did you get your inspiration from?»
My most important job experience is the current one as I started from nothing and I created my own company and learned without formation. It is really challenging but really exciting at the same time.
My clients are random customers who bought our products online via our online shop and distributors (Parrenin bijouterie, Ochrono Paris, Dessange, Mr.Ego Brussels)
I enjoy the most the first view of the prototypes because you see all the work behind you and you see also the final product. I enjoy also because you can change some tiny details and it is extremely important to do it.
We want to design two new collections in 2020. One automatic watch based on the SHIELD but with a new shape which will bring event more fineness. The second model will be a watch with some other accessories which will be part of the watch. And then, we would like to make other design products but we have to think about it more in detail.
I develop my design on my own but I have some external support for the conception of it because I'm still learning some step of the conception as the CAD for example.
We are currently preparing some other models for our two collections, the SHIELD and the NUMERO 1.
You can reach me by email at this adresse: v.ifrah@neptowatch.com or by phone at the 004917631324844
No, it was really well covered and I tried my best to answer properly.