Celeb Bowls

Tasoni

London Design Biennal

Damian Fopp is a designer based in London. He is currently doing MA studies at the Royal College of Art. Since 2012 Fopp’s studio works in products, furniture and lighting design. Some of his designs can be found in the permanent collection of the Zurich Design Museum, the Federal Office of Culture and the Museum of Applied Arts Vienna.

He has designed club furniture for Depot Basel and a porcelain bowl series called “Celeb Pools”. The bowls resemble existing swimming pools belonging to celebrities such as Celine Dion and Frank Sinatra (nominated for the Swiss Design Awards in 2013). In 2016, the Swiss pavilion for the London Design Biennale was utilizing his English shelving system that was awarded the Jaguar Innovation Medal. Fopp has collaborated with brands and institutions such as Tasoni, Julian Zigerli and Kulturbüro Zurich.

In our interview he told us why it is inevitable that design creates something new.

How does design change life?

Design has truly penetrated every aspect of our lives and therefore its influence is unparalleled. This requires us designers to develop intelligent but humble work and regard ‚life changing‘ and ‚disrupting‘ an area, that needs very careful consideration, if it should not even be avoided at all costs.

Is good design invisible?

To a cynic maybe. But how do you want to walk through life? Be compassionate and know that existence is fleeting, to quote Sottsass, who was much more of a poet than I will ever be.

Must design create something new?

It is inevitable. Good design can not NOT create something new. A rearrangment of known entities maybe, but it will happen in a different time, a different place by a different mind and therefore be absolutely new.

Which designer influenced you?

I’m sure there is a long list of people who had a profound influence on me, but I learned the most from the dear friends I’ve had the privilege to either study or work with in Zurich and London. Shoutouts in this case go to Giliane Cachin, Johannes Breyer, Joshua Schenkel and Ludovic Varone to name a few.