Interview with Simina Filat

My mother being a clothing designer for more than 40 years, I have always had an affinity for textiles and materials in general. After college and master's degree in economics, I realized that the dream job is the job where you do what you like, in my case design, we create a product from sketch to finished product. And the feeling you have when you see your product worn or used is wonderful.

The Simina Filat Design brand has emerged from the beginning as a sustainable brand with nature, having as values ​​no-waste, recycling, reuse.
Now more than ever, when I think of a new product, everything starts from sustainability, or even from experiments with new materials produced from waste. Almost all our products talk about functionality, sustainability and something new. maybe something you've never seen in shape or material.

I have the greatest pleasure when I receive the design theme, I start to think and flow lines of ideas towards the theme, then I choose from ideas to draw some sketches on paper. With the sketches I enter the workshop and it turns into a geometric sketch with dimensions, and then into a finished product. The whole process is creative and that's what I like the most. We often face challenges, but there are always design solutions to the problem in the working technique of the product.

I always drew and painted with great ease, I saw my mother's tailoring from an early age, inclined towards economics I became an entrepreneur, and the inclination towards art and design made me become an entrepreneur designer.
I think that my whole life, since I was a small child, was shaped in such a way that now I am an entrepreneurial designer.

I really want to develop new materials, from waste of all kinds, and to succeed in educating the consumer towards sustainable products with nature and sustainable consumption.

To listen to his/her instinct and try not to pollute nature any more with his/her products, but to find sustainable solutions. It is not about who makes more beautiful products, but about who finds the sustainable solution with the social in which we live now.

To work as much as possible, and to always find innovation for the environment.

Every day I wake up in the morning, get to the workshop, drink my coffee and make plans for the day. I enter the workshop, in production 2-3 hours a day, I spend 2-3 hours with the clients, and 2-3 hours at the computer, then the day ends with drawing some new ideas and I start all over again the next day;) It's more fun in reality than this little summary.

I always choose my products to be in accordance with the requirements of my direct clients, but I always try to be innovative, not necessarily in trends, although I follow them very strictly for inspiration.

I consider a good design, it is the solution to a problem / requirement. That is, a product must be functional and in accordance with the needs required by the customer, including the style and pattern of the product.

We can always change and improve the model. We can adjust the model according to other needs of another client for example. I don't think a design is nailed or finished, you can always make declines on it, commercial or not.

My undergraduate project, called Ruumy, is the project I'm most proud of. Ruumy is an architectural wall composed as a puzzle of 49 holders, which disassembled / assembled with the help of external accessories you can form a multitude of products, such as: bags, pillows, beds, tents, toys, clothes, desi, even walls architectural in a space where you can not intervene through construction.

Iris van Herpen - because she always came up with fashion innovation. She is the one who is trying in this century to break down the barriers in this field.

I currently live and create in Bucharest, Romania. Here I was born and did school, last years I succeeded and I got 4 international awards and 2 national awards for my design projects. I had many national and international exhibitions about art, culture and design, collective or not. And in my free time, which I honestly don't have, I will always be at an opening in an art gallery somewhere.

Being an entrepreneur and having employees, it is certainly not easy to work with me;), because I am a perfectionist and secondly because I am directly interested in this brand to work and grow. I like to work in a team, and especially to brainstorm new ideas.

Yes, we have always donated through associations for various humanitarian causes, we have done workshops with disadvantaged children, we have donated masks to all those who have visited us now in this difficult period, we always donate materials and accessories to educational institutions that need teaching materials.

It is an honor and a pleasure always when you receive an award, a recognition of your work. Our clients are proud of us, and we are happy to always be on their high expectations.

It motivates me to bring novelties in areas that require solutions for different issues. It is a challenge for me, coming from a fear of the future over-polluted, to create solutions to change the mindset of the consumer, and to reduce the excessive production of unnecessary products.

I chose to become a designer, I like and motivate me this profession, this vocation.

I would like to create at least one product only to help with the problem of plastic pollution. That's why I'm trying to create a lot of recycled materials, or materials that get to waste. My next collections will have this message very visible.

Do not stop to experience in this area, and not stop listening to the needs of the society in which he lives and to imagine the needs of future societies.

I do not know, I think any professional has a theme he has to respect, and he will do as well as he can to address the theme in his personal creative style. I think the client is the one who chooses the designer with whom he has the most chances of common language and understanding.

A good design is when it responds punctually (or improves) a certain type of problem in society.

The value of a design product is due to the need and demand on the market, the materials and techniques used and the form of marketing of that product.

I really like SF movies, so I'm very fond of the future. I would love to create for NASA or other future space companies, and I would like to work and focus on future intelligent materials and human life in space embedded in terrestrial textiles.

The project I want to start and I do not have time is in the field of biomaterials, textiles created from living matter, or living materials from which you can create clothing or home objects.

My secret thinks it's very close to my consumer, and the very long and extensive discussions about his needs.

I inspire myself from history, present and I imagine the future, but some examples of legends that have stamped my creative courage are: Zaha Hadid, Constantin Brancusi, Steve Jobs, Issey Miyake, Iris Van Herpen, Coco Chanel, and many others.

I love the architecture of Zaha Hadid's alien world, I like and I grew up learning about Constantin Brancusi's sculptures, Steve Jobs inspires me a great deal in his success to change the social mindsets worldwide, issey miyake is a fashion designer who watch and admire for the straight and simple lines of his collections, the successes and novelties brought by iris van herpen in 3D print in fashion is remarkable.

The concept that I really care about is Ruumy, the award winning project, because I think it is part of those new forms of consumer and producer thinking in the future, it is another form of marketing and circulation of the product all over the world. relies heavily on shapes that are most commonly encountered by nomadism.

I think that all the time needs to stay very well informed about what is and what will happen in the future.

I think I would have coordinate teams in economic fields.

The design product for me is the product that answers a possible current or future issue, is a product that improves quality of life.

My main supporter was my mother Valentina Gheorghiu, but in college I met a professor, Ioana Sanda Avram designer, who helped me to understand this area and who continues to support me.

I think I was born with certain abilities that helped me a lot in the field of design, and I was able to discover them and to deepen them in college.

The experience and information that comes to you is the most important. Obstacles are all kinds of misinformation in the media or the online environment, but you have to learn to get the right information for your needs.

I think the designers should present their works in as real and creative forms, or perhaps in new and future presentation forms. I think they should set an example and encourage new forms of expression.

I work for a very near future at a cultural event that will be based on a research in the history of handbags and leather goods in the world, and will be translated into an edited book and a history of the design of the handbag, with projects applied by workshops and sustainability and recycling programs.

My goal is not to produce environmental pollution with my creations and my passion.

You can expect me to develop and learn further without ceasing, and never stop searching for solutions for a better life.

Design creates a better society just solving small or large but important problems.

I work on a new collection of unisex bags, and on a bag-wrap collar that has the imprint of Romanian tradition and royal history in Romania. Besides, I open a bag collection that does not have a defined shape but can be molded in other shapes.

Ruumy is the project that brought me the most satisfaction because it is a novelty and is appreciated as such.

I would like to see the mentality of the producers changed, I would not like to put so much value on the money, and to put more value on the environment and on our health.

I think we are moving towards technological creation very much, but we will keep in mind traditional and manual techniques.

About one or two months.

I start from the theme and the requirements of the customer, or the consumer's wishes.

Create no waste.

I am pursuing the big companies that deal with the study of social trends and the thinking and needs of consumers in time and in the future. That's why I think the trends set the designs.

I've been exploring a lot of handcrafting methods, but in the future I want to introduce as many smart textiles into my collections.

I use Photoshop, and various applications of drawing and technical sketches.

Color, materials and final appearance have a very important role for the consumer, they have a sensational role in the first place that makes us attach to the product or not.

"Where can I buy it?"

"What a good idea, and whow can I use this technology in my future creations?

Yes! I have been using the idea of ​​co-creation with my clients for nine years. I really like to talk to them and guide them to what is most useful to them.

It has greatly influenced the way of thinking and creativity, the faculty and the information about this field.

Science fiction books have a great influence on my way of thinking about the future and the products needed for the future.

I have developed my skills through experience and experiments.

I would love to talk to Zaha Hadid, Coco Chanel and an alien or a person in the future.

The awards have encouraged me to continue and deepen my profession. Perhaps in time it becomes a great pressure to come up with something new all the time, in a world where everything has already been apparently invented.

My favorite color is yellow, my favorite place is the home office, my favorite food is cooked potatoes in every possible way, I really like the stationery and the written accessories.

I remember the moment when I saw a person with a product I created on the street, and I managed to make a small car accident by looking at my bag in the street and driving at the same time.

It motivates me to go to the workshop because I am almost daily visited by people who wear my products, and I love to see them.

At my baptism my mother always told me that I chose from a full tray of products, notebook, pencil and scissors.

I think we will exist and live in space.

I think the above questions covered the major topics about me, I honestly do not come to mind other things to say about me.

SiminaFilatDesign is a complex brand design service that started with small leather products and has now created social research and design assimilation programs for children and general consumers.

Design for me is a strategic problem-solving process, leads innovation to a better quality of life.

My specialty is fashion design, but I like to experience crossings in other areas of design.

I like the mix of different types of design the most. Switching from a fashion product to a furniture product, for example.

I've created a collection of leather bags.

Recyclable materials are the materials that attract me most to creativity, 3D printing, and biomaterials.

I feel very creative at night when it's very quiet.

Functionality.

I am very happy and curious when I get an interesting idea I want to experience.

I feel fulfilled and proud that I managed to create something interesting.

A design product is successful when it is required on the market to solve some problems in society, in daily life, when it becomes viral.

I consider that the design is judged according to the general criteria promoted by the competition.

The designer's responsibility is to create products that can solve certain societal problems or improve everyday life. At this moment we have the ultimate responsibility to create solutions to stop pollution through excessive production.

It is a very large subject, but I want to mention that we live in an era of technology, we are invaded by technology and we are not yet aware whether it is good or not. That's why I think creating solutions to protect our body and planet is absolutely necessary.

My last exhibition was at the Galateca Gallery in Bucharest, and the next personal exhibition is scheduled in May 2019 at the GalleryGalateca Bucuresti Romania.

Absolutely everything that surrounds me inspires me in some ways, discussions with my clients about their lifestyle and daily needs inspire me to create products that improve their lives.

I really like to experience and talk a lot with the customer, the consumer or the beneficiary. I like design to be a negotiation, a dialogue between the parties.

I live in Eastern Europe, in Romania. I explored various topics of Romanian history, but I try to explore and learn from different cultural areas. I can not say that it influences the area I live in because we are connected online world wide non stop.

I work in collaboration with different companies on different projects.

Every company, depending on what it needs, hires a designer who has a portfolio, or is interested in the field or theme required by the company. I do not think there's a good or bad designer, just right for that job or not.

First of all, I'm thinking about some small issues that have passed me, and from there I start researching, documenting myself from the area that already exists, then thinking about how to bring something new. After the process of sketches of ideas and the developed pattern, I get to produce the product in my own workshop, the sample is then modified until it reaches the final shape.

I like kitchen objects such as the various mugs, cups, plates, ceramic bowls. I really like pillows and blankets of fluffy and sensory materials.

I wake up around 8am, walk with the puppy in the park, then arrange to go to the studio. After a day of work in the workshop with the production and the clients, in the evening if there are cultural events or exhibitions in Bucharest I choose to relax there. Then I get home and sit at the office to solve some things that I have not managed to solve during the day. I get to work late in the night when I get a creative idea and start to deepen it a little.

My advice is to understand and document very well what they want to do with their creation after college. There I think it is a confusion of young designers, they can not understand that we are not artists and so, but we are professionals who need to bring quality and added value to everyday or future life.

For me it is a necessity and a pride that I can bring in a so loaded market, high end products that are worthwhile in front of my consumers. I do not see the negative thing unless you fail to put yourself on the market with your products.

My golden rule is that my final product is an improvement and a novelty on the market.

I consider the most important skill for a designer is the empathy with people, understanding problems, anticipating future living problems, and finding viable solutions for the future.

First of all I make a mindmap on ideas, infographs, sketches of ideas, documentation on all online trend websites, and news in the field interested, then I try to gather a team of professional friends with whom I can do a brainstorming to improve initial idea.

I'm asleep as little as night, because I'm very excited when I get a new idea and I'm going to search online very much.

The documenting and sketch part normally takes about a month, then the pattern and sample development takes another two weeks.

"What do you wear is done by you?" This is the most common question when someone asks me what domain i come from, I answer fashion design, then I'm analyzed from head to toe by the interlocutor, the end culminating in this question.

The most important and beautiful jobs I have had were those in which I could experiment in related fields, which gave me a design challenge.

My customers in time became friends of the brand and supporters in all the cultural approaches of this brand, they consider themselves part of a community.

The concept part of the idea I like the most to develop it. But great joy is when I see the finished product.

My plans for the future are to go out as much outside my country as I can, to promote my work and my products in the international environment.

I generally work alone because I'm a start-up and I can not afford to work with other designers, but I have a lot of professional friends in different areas with whom I always advise. But in the workshop I work with two other people, who produce me different objects.

At the moment I focus on two big projects, one is the winning Ruumy project in this competition, and the other is the SiminaFilatDesign brand, which I am struggling to make as much as possible.

You can contact me at www.siminafilat.ro, or by email: siminadesign@gmail.com, Instagram SiminaFilatDesign; RuumybySiminaFilat; Facebook: SiminaFilatDesign; Ruumy. For more information visit siminafilat.ro

No, thank you.