RINO

CLAESSENS

in CONVERSATION

Q. Who are you and what is your profession?

My name is Rino Claessens and I design and make furniture. My studio is based in Eindhoven, the same city where I recently graduated from the Design Academy. I mainly work with ceramics and I’m interested in showing this in a contemporary way. I experiment with the material and try to expand it’s limits.

Q. What’s your morning ritual?

The first thing I do when I get into the studio is check on the drying ceramic pieces. The ceramic objects that I make need to dry about 4 weeks before I can fire them, a lot can go wrong at this stage so I check it daily. When that is fine I have a coffee and plan my day.

Q. Talk to us about your background?

I grew up in a small village in Brabant. My Father was an engineer and my mother is fascinated by modern art, I believe these two subjects were influential to my raising and merged me into a designer.

Q. Where does your love for design come from?

I grew up thinking graphic design was what I wanted to do. When I was studying I discovered I didn’t enjoy working on the computer all day and preferred creating physical objects. That’s how I got to know the field of Dutch design. I noticed that all the designers I admired came from the Design Academy in Eindhoven, I loved the freedom that I saw there.

Q. How do you start your design process?

My projects evolve slowly from one to the next. I have to work with materials and be able to experiment to get new ideas. When I find something that fascinates me I explore this in an abstract way, try to find out how to apply it so it’s qualities are emphasized the most. Shape and function come after the materiality in the process.

Q. Do materials dictate the design process, or do you have a vision of what you want to create and choose materials according?

Materials absolutely dictate the design process and are the center of every project.

Q. What’s the story behind your most recent project?

I’m continuing my graduation project and I am making new objects in this series. I designed two side tables that stick to the same formal language as the “Scraped Earth” stools. The shapes are a bit more complex this time, in this way I try to learn a bit more with every object about working on a big scale with ceramics. It’s about expanding the limits of ceramics and putting it in a new context.

Q. Could you explain the process of making these side tables and how long does this process take on an average?

For these new side tables I’m using a press molding technique for the first time. With this way of working you need a plaster mold of the negative shape of the table. I roll slabs of clay and press it against the walls of the mold to create the table. The pieces needs to slowly dry in a controlled environment for about a month. This is a slow process and a lot can go wrong, the material shrinks when it dries and if it happens too fast it will crack. When the clay is all dry it can go into the ceramic kiln and fires for a day on 1200 degrees.

Q. What do you enjoy most about designing?

Finding something new that I was not intentionally looking for. It’s important for me to start the design process without knowing what you end up with and I find great joy in small discoveries.

Q. What are you working on at the moment?

Together with Paul Coenen and Tim Teeven I was working on an exhibition during the Dutch Design Week. We just heard that all the physical exhibitions will be canceled because of the pandemic, so we have to adapt and find different solutions to showcase our new designs. It is the first time that I will show new work, so I’m exited about how this will go.

Q. Is there a person in the industry that you particularly admire?

I’m often most intrigued by things when I don’t fully understand them, to have an affection for something but don’t immediately know why it’s done like this. Aldo Bakker is one designer who continues to fascinate me in this way.

Q. What are some of your future goals?

I would like to showcase my work for a bigger audience than I can reach now and make it more accessible for the public. Right now I do projects that I realize myself and don’t have a connection with the industry yet, but because of all these hours of labor putting into it it also gets very costly. I would love to collaborate with companies who have the capacities to produce more efficient.

Q. Best piece of advice given?

Don’t compare yourself too often to others and be content with what you have.