Ben McCarthy Designer Q&A

Ben McCarthy is a Sydney born and raised Industrial Designer who currently lives and works (employed by Michael Young Studio) in Hong Kong. In this interview Ben talks about his past and present projects, transitioning his design practice to Hong Kong, design in Hong Kong and writing for Design Magazines. Ben is also the vocalist/guitarist in the band Poubelle International who will be releasing their debut CD on Feb 26 in Hong Kong (be sure to check out their quirky, but very cool video clip).

1. Ben, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to talk, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself.

I design stuff they make in factories = industrial design. I operate between engineering and marketing, flirting with both. I’m employed by Michael Young Studio in Hong Kong, and I do my own design projects when ever possible outside that. I travel a lot. And I design more than I have to! I have a band called Poubelle International, and we’re launching our first CD next month. The band was started by three designers.

2. Can you tell me about your latest projects and focus?

My latest project was a study of contrasts between Asia and Europe. I spent 4 months of 2009 in Milan, italy, so the project was inspired by the historic artisan culture of italy, vs the technological, albeit unemotional, powerhouse of china. I guess you can say this is my focus of late, showing that there is some fantasic quality coming out of china, its not all toys and PCV pants. The perception is changing.

3. What is the typical process you go through to create your designs and products?

I sit in the bath, hot tub, ocean, lake or swimming pool (where avaibale) and I think hard about it for hours without drawing a thing. Then I drink beer, and play guitar for a while, and generally a solution comes when I’m not paying attention.. Then I hit the computer pretty hard. I’m fairly handy with the 3D work and can resolve the details to direct the factory. I do a lot of renderings to get people excited, and resolve the files for engineers to follow.

But every project is different. The watch was something I helped put together from the start, having a design in mind, a factory, and friends with a brand. The lamp was also self initiated, but was more of an artistic statement than a marketable goal, while my projects for Go Home have been responses to specific briefs.

4. You have exhibited in a range of exhibitions around the world, what essential things do designers exhibiting overseas need to consider?

There’s always a reason not to go. Consider that! And just do it. I’ve met some great friends exhibiting overseas, not just within the industry, if the opportunity is there to exhibit anywhere, I’ll take it.

5. You are currently based in Hong Kong, from a design practice and career perspective what impact has this had? What are the advantages and disadvantages of being located in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong has access to manufacturing that is not avaible anywhere else in the world, ie, The watch project would not have happened from any other city. I had the design, worked directly with the factory, and Workshopped produced it. It was nice to pull a project together like that – its why I came here. The role of the designer is getting bigger, its no longer enough for a designer to sit at home drawing sofa’s and send them to B&B hoping for a 2% royalty. There are many other ways designers can add value to the production and marketing process.

6. How easy or hard was it to transition your design practice to Hong Kong?

Hong Kong is a great city, the British made this place more cosmopolitan than any other asian city – but it’s the access to production that makes it attractive. Its an easy city to live in, so it was an easy city to move to. English is fine, tax is low, food is great, people are friendly on the whole, it’s a productive town, like London, or New York or Milan, people move here to get things done, not talk about it. So moving here was actually a lot easier than I suspected. I think because of the British history, expats are part of the local vernacular more so than other asian cities. For instance, I think if I’d moved to Tokyo, it would take decades before I would feel party of the culture, community etc.

7. What are your thoughts on the current state of the design scene in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong’s design scene is not its strength, its production scene is its biggest asset, and is what draws other design studios to HK. There are some great designers working out of HK, and even large studios overseas with smaller offices here. This fuels some kind of ‘scene’ but its hardly east london. The benefit is the ability to quickly turn ideas around into realities with less bullshit.

8. You have worked for various design studios and manufacturers, what are your thoughts on managing the designer, manufacturer relationship?

All business is about relationships.. possibly even all of life is all about relationships.. I’ve gone into projects without even signing contracts, just because the relationships are sound. The designer manufacturer relationship hinges on an understanding that both parties are adding value to each other. Some designers won’t help factories progress, and some factories won’t think outside the box. The most fruitful projects have been the ones that both parties trust each other and make consessions towards an innovative outcome.

9. You were indesignlive.com’s Hong Kong editor, why do you think designers should write for or contribute to printed or online publications?

I was yes. I haven’t contributed much recently as I spent 5 months abroard in 2009.. my relationship with indesignlive.com was very organic and a great experience. There’s tones of stuff to shout about here in HK, that seems innocuous to locals, but blows peoples minds in Australia. The chance for me to unearth some of these things, while developing a writing technique was something I enjoyed. I’m not a writer, but the time I spent writing for indesignlive made me look into things more deeply, with a new eyes which was healthy, I’d encourage everyone to dabble in some form of philanthropic journalisim at some point, regardless of the outcome, some times its more important to write, than for it to be read.

10. Ben, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

Urm.. no. Don’t believe the hype about the “crunchy credit” if anything, its provided new opportunities for creatives.