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ACTIU Berbegal y Formas, S.A.
Blog / Products / Talking to Odosdesign about Dorik
Talking to Odosdesign about Dorik

Talking to Odosdesign about Dorik

APRIL 2024
·
4 minutes

"Talking about design solely in terms of its formal aspects means remaining at a very superficial level, and design is much more than that. In many cases, it is an attitude that permeates the culture of the company and can become a multiplying tool".

We talked to Ana Segovia and Luis Calabuig about their more than two decades working from their studio, Odosdesign, creativity, research and design to help companies identify, articulate and communicate their differential value. Their portfolio includes collaborations with brands such as Actiu, for whom they have created Art Direction campaigns since 2014, and with whom they now present the Dorik table collection inspired by Greek Doric columns.

How did you get started, what training did you do, and what were your early years like before founding Odosdesign? Your participation in nude in 2005 was a turning point... What did that turning point mean for you?

We met at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) in 1998, studying Industrial Design Engineering. After four years working together on class projects, in 2002 we entered the nude in what was its first competition; and that same year Odosdesign was born. At that time we were moonlighting, as we had the odd sporadic project, which we combined with other jobs, and it wasn't until 2005 that we started to make a living from the studio. That year we designed the Ensombra parasol and presented it at nude, and we won the Valencia Crea competition and the National Injuve award for young designers, which pushed us to try to make a living from Odosdesign.

You specialise in product design and communication, two disciplines that are different in principle but closely related, and which you work on together. How do you understand this relationship and what does it offer your clients?

Although having studied product design probably makes this discipline the soul of the studio, over time we have realised that knowing how products are communicated, the necessary commercial tools and, in general, having a better knowledge of the market and the business, helps us to provide a more efficient solution to projects.

Limited until recently to its most aesthetic facet, design has shown that it is also functionality, communication, well-being... What is your experience of design as a tool for 'building' company and community, and achieving greater well-being and productivity among workers?

Design seeks to solve people's needs, so we understand that it must maintain a careful balance between form and function. To talk about design only in terms of form is to remain at a very superficial level, and design is much more than that. In many cases, it is an attitude that permeates the culture of the company and can become a multiplying tool.

This is not the first time you have worked for Actiu, with whom you have developed several graphic campaigns, such as “Always on the move” (2014) and “Cool working”, winner of the Red Dot Award for Communication Design 2017 in the Corporate Publication category; and for whom you created a video about the Trim chair in 2019, which was a finalist in the “Digital and Interactive Graphics” category of the ADCV Awards. What changes have you noticed and how has the way of communicating evolved over the last 10 years?

We have been working with Actiu since 2014, mainly on Art Direction projects, such as the 2017 RED Dot award-winning project. For the Cool Working campaign proposed by Actiu, we imagined how to represent the brand's products in different contexts and tried to connect with typical users, so that they went from needing a product in general to needing an Actiu product. This Art Direction work evolved, in some cases, to participate in imagining the real spaces, in the image of the photographic spaces we made. Since then, and although more and more companies pay attention to how they communicate their products, we also see more repetition in the way they communicate.

Although you have designed a multitude of products for other companies, the Dorik table collection is your first work in this category for Actiu. What are its main pillars and inspiration?

Dorik responds to a commercial need, it is a product typology clearly identified in the market, and we have worked on the conceptual part of it to try to make it unique.

A design that in this case is inspired by the Doric columns of ancient Greece, as supporting elements of timeless architecture, and where every detail has been thought through.

Tell us a little about the design and manufacturing process of Dorik, materials, shapes, what spaces and uses it has been designed for, what it offers its users?

The design process is a conversation, words, concepts that are translated into strokes and, with increasing haste, are passed on to the digital world, 3D modelling and the 3D printing machine. An inevitable path, which we combine with manual work with models, the essence of which we try not to lose.

In Dorik, we separate the leg, manufactured using rotational moulding, from a cover available in different materials, such as porcelain, melamine, etc., thus achieving a highly versatile piece that can be adapted to the user's needs, depending on the material and finish, and which can be used in meeting rooms, restaurants, terraces, etc.

How was the process of working with Actiu? How has the project evolved since its beginnings? What do you take away from this collaboration?

We have been collaborating with Actiu for many years and, although we know perfectly well the inner workings of the brand, the development of a new project is a long road with many stages, from the design to the economic validation or the management of the necessary investments... But, if we have to highlight something, we would highlight the moment when they confirmed to us that the project was going ahead.

THE HARMONY OF GREEK ARCHITECTURE