What made you decide to become a designer?
From our early years we were creative. For all three of us the decision to become a designer came naturally, as if we knew our purpose from the very beginning. As children we preferred playing with lego and crayons more than anything else. Later we changed building blocks to SimCity on PC and crayons to professional drawing classes. Before we even met at the university each one of us knew that he/ she wanted to create and own a studio, we were just waiting for the good moment and proper partners. We established 370studio during our last year at master studies. The idea of joining forces professionally came to us after several academic and competition projects done together, during one of our nights out. We had different motivations but shared the same goal - to create something extraordinary that everyone would be talking about. Apart from being business partners and colleagues we always stayed friends which helped us get through all stages of creating our brand. Can you tell us more about your design background? The three of us are as different as opposite colors, but our set of different skills and different perspectives of perceiving the world complement each other perfectly - probably that is our key to success. There is a coordination element that is focused on having things done on time in a most efficient way; an organization element making sure all is done by the book, and a cool hunting element helping to fuel the team's creativity and caring for the details.
How do you stay inspired and keep coming up with creative ideas? It is about looking at the world with a child’s curiosity and imagination :) Whenever it is a movie that you watch, the book you read or just the road you take to get home. Just take the time and attention to look at the small details, pose questions and look for answers.
What does good design mean to you? Good design helps to be more satisfied with your everydayness.
It satisfied the needs, as diverse as they can be. It solves problems and answers your exigencies by being functional. At the same time it brings harmony to the space around you. It is invisible and visible at the same time. So functional that you almost don’t notice it because you use it with your intuition; and so “good looking” that it pleases your eye when you see it. Good design is all about the detail, proportion and material. It creates an experience to whomever gets involved with it.
What is the most challenging thing in your profession? There are many challenges in the profession of an architect and interior designer.
One of the most important ones is finding a way to make things work despite the odds and limitations (budget cuts, technical issues, multiple installation layers, monument conservationist guidelines, health department regulations, tight schedule, client being indecisive... ). Sometimes the project starts with a great idea and everything flows just perfect until something unexpected happens and puts in question what has been done so far. It is important to be open to changes but at the same time brave enough to stand for what is important to the design.
Please, explain the best project you are most proud of and why. Our recent realization Paradiso - because it perfectly shows how after over 10 years of designing restaurants we still have fun in doing it and try to stay fresh with our ideas. Paradiso has been attracting lots of attention, has been broadly published and keeps on winning prizes for best design.
What is your biggest design career moment? How does this milestone impact your career? There have been a few milestones so far and as long as we live, we keep on looking for new ones :) We always wanted to design restaurants, but of course, as we created our studio as students, we had to start with some smaller designs. First big milestone was our first restaurant project that happened to be the flagship location of a big chain. What is quite interesting is that this satisfied client stayed with us since that project, and we keep on designing new concepts for him. Next big milestone was our first author’s concept designed fully from scratch (interiors and complete brand identity). La Sirena: the Mexican Food Cartel was and still stays a hype place on Warsaw’s nightlife map. After that project we started having our hands so full we had to enlarge our team. Next important career moment was when we were asked to design a restaurant (1300 sqm) for the football world champion Robert Lewandowski. It was an honor, challenge and big responsibility.
How do you learn and grow your knowledge and design skills? You grow when you are open to extending your mindset. We read and talk a lot, exchange our thoughts, opinions and visions during our weekly meetings. It is one of the most important moments of our office routine. Brainstorming is a fuel to development!
We participate in conferences, conduct webinars and write expert articles to magazines sharing our knowledge and experience with the others, at the same time gaining new broader perspectives on many subjects.
We are members of Interior Design, Real Estate and Graphic Design associations engaged in promoting good practices, quality solutions and sustainable development. We meet regularly to discuss important issues, exchange ideas and widen our horizons. We take part in workshops that help us to better understand not only architecture and business-related topics but also psychological aspects of communication and design.
To stay motivated and ready to learn we exercise in different ways: sports, meditation, music practice and camping.
What would you say will be future of design? As we are facing the fast development of AI, the future will demand from us the ability to adapt to new tools and technologies by the same time maintaining what makes us, humans, unique.
Design was always about the experience. We have to ask ourselves what does that mean in today’s world. With the world changing so dynamically, so does the way we experience things. We expect products to be environmentally responsible, multifunctional and smart. On one hand we respect tradition but on the other we are excited about innovation. It will be a mission for today’s and future designers to balance those elements in a sustainable way. What are your career plans for the future? We are always in motion! Each year we do a big meeting where we analyze past experiences and make plans for the future. Surprisingly we never run out of new ideas! After the pandemics that put some of our projects on hold we’d love to go back to international expansion and developing our hotel design branch. Last year we got a prize for the Best Polish Interior for a boutique hotel we designed in an old villa in Zgorzelec and we are opening this year with 10 projects pending, out of which 3 are hotels.
Few months ago we released a clothing brand for foodies (foodstorieswear.com) and soon we will be launching our furniture brand nunk.store. Stay tuned!
Where can people find your projects and get in touch with you? www.370studio.com
www.instagram.com/370studio
www.facebook.com/370studio
www.linkedin.com/company/370studio
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