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Joe Parker
Product & Furniture Designer
Joe Parker is a British product and furniture designer whose work is characterised by a desire to produce quality objects with a meticulous and materially-driven approach. With a background in woodworking, Joe’s designs combine both contemporary production processes with minimal pared-back aesthetics and an honest approach to craftsmanship and quality. Originally from Oxford, Joe graduated in Product Design at Nottingham Trent University with a first-class honours degree in 2017. With his Danish-inspired folding chair, Joe won the innovation award from the UK's Furniture Maker's Guild and has continued to design with a blend of Scandinavian-style and functional simplicity. A keen cyclist and motorsport enthusiast, if Joe’s not designing he’s often found sketching, making furniture and homewares in the workshop or planning his next cycling trip.
Oxford, United Kingdom
Get to know Joe Parker
What led you to become a designer?
I don’t really remember a time in my life when I didn’t want to be a designer. I’ve always taken pleasure in finding out how things work, how they don’t work and how they can be made better. Having been involved in woodworking from an early age and seeing the level of attention to detail my mentors took in each of their products led me to pursue the same path. I take pride in making and creating, solving everyday design problems or simply making beautiful objects for people to use. The fact that when you put your name to something it becomes personal is what drives me to design and make things that i’d want to own myself, ensuring that I’m driven to achieve the best possible outcome whatever the project may be. Good design is user and experience focused. If I’ve designed and made something which others enjoy interacting with, then it’s a success.
Tell us about some previous design work that you are proud of?
I often approach my projects with the intention of challenging existing preconceptions, looking to think outside the box or identify what users really value. Having lived in a tiny apartment in London, I had come to rely on the humble tubular-frame folding chair. Dragging them out when friends came over when all the usual bulky and cumbersome dining chairs were taken. I looked at the existing market of folding furniture and noticed that almost all of it is focused on the budget end of the market with little thought to the user experience outside of the primarily goal to fold flat. I set about designing an alternative, looking at what other aspects of a folding chair had been overlooked and how far I could push the concept of a high-end folding chair, the outcome followed months of modelling, testing and evaluating concepts all with intention of improving the end user experience. Having presented the work as my university major project I was invited to exhibit the chair at a few design shows, which ultimately led me to receiving the innovation award from the UK’s furniture maker’s guild. Whilst my initial intention was to just make the folding chair better for the user, it took the project on a journey which ultimately resulted in a unique and thought-provoking idea. I like that design can be used as a tool for change and discussion, and that it may inspire other designers to tackle the issue in a creative and user-focused way, I think my folding chair embodies that.
What inspires you (in design or in life)?
I get inspired by the little things, a well executed piece of wood joinery or a less than perfect experience using a folding chair. My phone is filled with quick shots I’ve taken of things I’ve come across whilst out and about. I’m usually not thinking about design when I’m at my most creative. Keeping a notepad and a pen on my bedside table helps me to jot down the odd ideas I have when I’m nodding off and the morning commute often yields a few ideas too. I’m driven by the challenges design presents you with and the hurdles you overcome to deliver a final outcome.
What is your design philosophy?
There’s a great TED talk online by a guy called Simon Sinek who talks about what motivates people to do what they do and that people don’t buy what you do, they buy what you believe in. It may be a bit too philosophical for some, but for me designers make things their own by having a strong personal sense of what makes good design good. I’m passionate about functional simplicity and quality craftsmanship in the things people use and interact with everyday. Good design should be driven by a desire to make things better and not require pointing out. Wether that’s making an everyday task easier or simply by making objects more desirable to interact with, in most cases it should go unnoticed by the user. My designs encapsulate my lifelong passion for woodworking and craftsmanship with my interest in technology to design objects that make things better everyday for the end user. It could be a innovate solution to a problem, or just a really comfortable chair.
What are some goals you have for your career?
I find success a bit of an odd thing to measure, I think as a designer you’re always learning and improving both your designs and your approach to the design process, design is constantly evolving and so you’ve got to move with it. With that in mind, my career goals are always changing, once you’ve achieved one you move on to the next. Winning the innovation award from the UK’s Furniture Maker’s Guild with my major project folding chair will always rank highly on my personal list of achievements, although I’d like to think the best is yet to come!
What's a crazy, pie-in-the-sky dream you have?
I’ve always liked the idea of setting up a local and open collective of designers and craftspeople, having a workshop space of my own to make and sell furniture and homewares. Acting as a community of creativity that includes everything from furniture makers to ceramicists, big and small championing locally-made which allows people to come and take a tour of the processes and intricacies of how things get made. It would be a small and quaint store with a well-stocked workshop.
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