Interview Designer Lara Bohinc
This autumn she brings her own vision of “utopia” to Miami. Her immersive installation of functional sculptures in the city’s Design District for Design Miami presents a world in which humans and nature can live in harmony. Its bulbous forms feel familiar yet somehow otherworldly.
Ahead of the opening of the fair (6-10 December), she tells us more about her utopian dream, being a female designer in a male-dominated world and her addiction to the news.
THE WICK: Tell us about your typical Monday.
Lara Bohinc:
I usually get up at 7:45 and meditate for twenty minutes, then listen to the news over a cup of tea. I’m addicted to knowing what’s going on but I’m not sure if it’s actually doing me any good. Then I get dressed and go to my studio in the same building as my home. After checking my diary and clearing emails, the creative work begins. I don’t like going out on Mondays so I avoid it where possible, instead having a relaxing bath after dinner and perhaps doing some reading and research.
THE WICK: What is the linking thread between all your work?
Lara Bohinc:
I’m obsessed with the exploration and deconstruction of form. I think form can convey memories and evoke emotions on the most basic level. The circle is something that I keep returning to. For me, it represents life, because it doesn’t have a beginning or an end.
THE WICK:
Why did you make the switch from jewellery design to furniture?
Lara Bohinc:
I wanted a change in material, scale and function, and switching to working with furniture and objects provided all of that.
THE WICK: If you could own any piece of design from the past, what would it be and why?
Lara Bohinc:
I love drinking tea so it would be German painter and sculptor Marianne Brandt’s silver Bauhaus teapot from 1924, which I would use every day. It has such an interesting shape: a circle (my favourite), a globe and a square. It’s so simple and yet stunning.
THE WICK:
Tell us about your Utopia collection and how it will be presented in the Miami Design District?
Lara Bohinc :
Utopia is an installation of organic looking pieces which question how we might live if we truly lived in synchronicity with nature. It was inspired by the idea of a beginning of life, by single and multiplying cells and eggs. It is a four-part installation of bulbous formations of seating and lighting spanning across four areas of the Miami Design District and accompanied with 900 birdhouses. The second part of the installation will be in front of the Design Miami exhibition.
THE WICK: Why cork and what inspired the vibrant colours you have painted it with?
Lara Bohinc:
Cork is one of nature’s most sustainable materials. It comes from tree bark, which means that the trees never need to be cut down. The bark is compressed into large blocks which have been milled by a 5D robotic arm and then finished and painted by hand. It’s also a naturally waterproof material, making it perfect for outdoor installations and furniture. I painted it with colours that we associate with Miami: lavender, pistachio, sky blue, turquoise and pink.
THE WICK: Your work often recalls the female form or other deliberately ambiguous living organisms. What motivates this?
Lara Bohinc:
I am inspired by life in all its forms. I also believe that as a creative, you have to be true to who you are, so being a woman and a mother plays an important role in my artistic life. Design is a very male-dominated industry so I think it’s important to accentuate a feminine view of the world.
THE WICK: Who have been your mentors or inspirations in your career?
Lara Bohinc:
I have a lot to thank the sculptor and jeweller David Watkins for. He was my professor at the Royal College of Art. I learned so much there and it influenced the way I think today.
“I am inspired by life in all its forms. I also believe that as a creative, you have to be true to who you are, so being a woman and a mother plays an important role in my artistic life.”
