As a designer and maker of furniture I am asked from time to time 'what are the favourite items of furniture that you have deigned and made?'

I'm not very good at favourites - of anything - be it person, book, film, meal, wine etc., etc., let alone furniture.

In all these instances - and others - I'm inclined to see things in their context, especially so when it comes to furniture items for the design and execution of which I am responsible.

This leads me to what I consider to be the 'fundamental of design' and the very essence of my work and business.

As I'm sure I will have mentioned, I am a 'commission' designer and manufacturer which means that I do not make a product: instead I respond to the needs of potential customers, places and spaces.

Invariably the first step, to follow an enquiry, is a visit to the potential client in the space for which the proposed furniture item is intended. - In fact I will not proceed without this step having been taken because, without it, I am in an information vacuum.

This 'on site' meeting enables me to seek to understand more fully what is in the enquirer's mind; to assess the place, position and space for which the item is intended; fully appraise myself of the function or functions that it is to fulfill and inform myself of any other factors that could or should influence the design.

I really don't, and cannot, conceive ideas until I have this information in my mind and often, even once I do have it, some time passes before I begin to perceive or formulate a solution.

From time to time, though not very often, I don't come up with a solution that satisfies me - and if I cannot satisfy myself there is small prospect of me satisfying the customer - so, on these rare occasions, I have no difficulty in informing the potential client that I am not the designer for the project.

But to get back to the notion of 'favourites'.

My 'favourites' are 'moments or occasions' rather than 'particular objects'.

It is when I believe that I have achieved a truly satisfactory fusion of the factors that lead to the design and execution of a piece of furniture.

These factors are:

to understand and interpret the client's ambition in visual terms

to match this aesthetic to the intended function of the artefact

and

ensure that the object compliments, or is complimentry to, its position and surroundings

So, it is when I consider that I have achieved this in the creation of an object and, more importantly, when I believe that my client fully shares my view, that a 'commission' will be a 'favourite'.

Now, in that formula for success, the hypothesis exists that I may not particularly like the result myself because it is not me that I am seeking to please.

It also means that it may as easily be an humble object of small (financial) worth, as a 'major opus'.

But, as with all rules, there are the exceptions that prove them.

One such, is to work 'off the drawings' of a building or space that has yet to be created.
To be in at the beginning of an idea or project, the outcome of which you may have the chance to influence or improve, has the potential to provide the greatest creative stimulus.

I have already blogged one such experience. (See Kilkenny House 13.12.09)

And another exception is the limestone table I made for Showcase in 1990. (See Kilkenny Limestone 16.11.09)