Two Designers on Mentorship, Representation and Changes in Design
Mimi Shodeinde photographed by Armand Dasilva, Sabine Marcelis portrait courtesy of Studio Sabine Marcelis
SABINE MARCELIS & MIMI SHODEINDE
Two Designers on Mentorship, Representation and Changes in Design
By Bonnie Langedijk
Everything we interact with has been designed. From the functional everyday places and products to the objects that carry a special meaning or emotion. Every item has been touched or thought about. Over the past decade, creative industries have been turned upside down by a multitude of developments. And it’s no surprise that as the world we live in evolves, design evolves with it. But what’s the impact on designers in this ever changing world and how are they navigating it?
Designers Sabine Marcelis and Mimi Shodeinde are impossible to box into one category. Their work spans across disciplines, creating a holistic design universe. The two polymaths met for the first time during this conversation and quickly found many commonalities in the way they approach design and the industry that comes with it. The two women discussed mentorship, representation and the biggest shifts in the design industry. Sharing honest insights about the world of design, in a better way than we ever could.
Oscar chair, designed by Mimi Shodeinde for Miminat Designs
Totem light, 2019, designed by Sabine Marcelis for Studio Marcelis, photography by Pim Top
Bonnie: Both of your work sits between the art side of design, but also the functional part of design. How do you work between those two?
Sabine: I was analyzing our work and it's almost as if we do the opposite. You make very expressive forms, but with a more stripped back materiality, color palette and I think I do the opposite, where it's very stripped back form language but with a more expressive-
Mimi: Material color.
Sabine: I think everything is a balance, no? If you create a chair it needs to be really comfortable, but that doesn't mean it needs to be only comfortable. I don't necessarily approach ergonomics as the first point of importance.
Mimi: You know what? It’s funny you say that. Whenever I say that, people look at me and I see them think, "Mmm." I have to be honest.
Sabine: The emotional value of a design can also be a function. With my lighting pieces it's not about creating the perfect reading light, it's more about changing a space through lighting or activating the material through light. But you'll still need some more lights around in your house to have a well lit room.
Mimi: You can go to the store and get something functional, but when you’re investing in pieces from me or from yourself, Sabine, the clients are looking for more than that. Although the functionality of a piece is super important, they’re looking for something that's going to invoke a certain emotion or feeling that’s also timeless and can be treasured for a lifetime
“The EMOTIONAL value of a design can also be a function.”
Bonnie: Completely. When talking about inspiration, where does that come from for both of you?
Mimi: I don't really have a particular source of inspiration. My brain just picks up on everything that I see around me. I'm sure that's the same for you, Sabine. As creators, it's not one particular thing that we look at for proliferation. For me, it could be music, it could be art, it could be dance. It's usually a mixture of all of the above. But I would say I'm really inspired by light, movement, and texture. That's where my inspiration comes from. I don't know how I can pinpoint that into something.
Sabine: How does music inspire you?
Mimi: Growing up, my house was always filled with music. Sundays, in particular, were dedicated to Sam Cooke, Frank Sintra, Nat King Cole and the list goes on, everyone in my family are huge music lovers. It puts me in a good mood and when I'm in a good mood, I create my best work. Whenever I say music is an inspiration for me, it's because it is the one thing that settles me and puts me in the zone. When I have a good playlist playing in the background, I'm ready to design.
Sabine: I really hate it when journalists ask, "Where do you get your inspiration from?" It's not like, "There, that specific spot, that's it." You live life absorbing stuff and it all sits in there and it comes out in some way.
Mimi: You work with a lot of color and, I'm intrigued, what does color mean to you? How does it work?
Sabine: I just use color as a tool. The same as light and materiality, color adds a different dimension to a work or installation. It's much more about using it as a means to add more effect or more depth to a work. I don't have any specific color theory I refer to necessarily. I’m curious, did you have any mentor type, strong, female inspirational people in your life?
Designed by Mimi Shodeinde for Minimat Designs
Mimi: I would start off with my mother. She's my everything. She's an entrepreneur herself. She came here as an immigrant. She started her own line of beauty products and through there, expanded. Along the way in my career, I met people like Roksanda [Ilinčić] and other female creatives in the industry. My team is female. I'm all about female everything. I've met so many amazing, inspirational women who have helped me and molded me in my career.
Sabine: There was a moment in time where in every single interview I was asked, "What is it like to be a female designer?" And when I first got that question I thought, "I've never thought of myself as a female designer. I'm just a designer and that's it." For a long time, I really didn't want to address it because if I didn’t, it didn’t exist.
Mimi: I agree. Even now, I find that quite a difficult topic to talk about. You can even bring race into it as well. When people ask: “How does it feel to be a black designer?” I always think, “I don't know?” I've never seen myself as a black designer, I'm just a designer and I want to focus on doing great work. But you do have to talk about it because representation matters.
Sabine: It does. I've always spoken from a very privileged position. It’s really important that there’s representation in terms of women and race on every level. It’s easier to put a lot of focus on it from within. I just did a project at the Vitra Design Museum, where they asked me to present the collection in a different way. They have an amazing design collection which is always presented in the Vitra Schaudepot. When you look at the history of known designers, or the designers that have been given a platform, it's really white male. Both the curators I worked with were female and we tried to put in a wide variety of designers in terms of geography and gender. Because that focus was there from the beginning you end up with something that really puts the focus on that.
Mimi: Just to touch back on the female mentors, do you have any female mentors who have helped you? Do you mentor yourself?
Sabine: I don't necessarily have specific female mentors. I did my first internship at a Swedish design studio called Front and they were all females. Being in a space where I could witness first hand how they worked brought things down a notch for me. That’s the role of a mentor, getting to a place where it feels attainable for the mentee. Not where you put people on these big pedestals and you think, "I could never do that."
Mimi: It's important to have real conversations with mentees. Design looks very glamorous, and for the most part it is, but there is a huge part that people don't see. The struggle of trying to find the right client, finding the right team, finding people that believe in you.
Mirage, designed by Sabine Marcelis for The Collectional
Sabine: Do you have many conversations like the one we’re having now? Do you have any female colleagues whose brain you pick when you come across certain things?
Mimi: In my studio, having honest conversations and talking is how we do things. We're always picking each other's brains. Outside of work, all my girlfriends work in such different industries. One of my closest friends is in finance and the other in medicine. It's nice to understand how their brain works compared to how my brain works.
Sabine: It’s not a given that people are [willing to] share. Especially in the design community, people can be a bit cagey about stuff as in, "I'm not giving that away. That's mine."
Mimi: That's one thing I didn’t understand when I first started. In fashion everyone is open to help each other, advise each other. In design, it's completely different. Nobody wants to tell you who their photographer is. It's [about] supporting other creators and helping each other whether you're a fashion designer, photographer, a plasterer or a furniture maker. That's my philosophy, anyway.
Sabine: I agree. I have a few fellow female designers, Bethan Laura Wood for example, [whose brain I can pick]. With your own team, at the end of the day, you’re still the boss and they don't have to think about those things in the same way.
Bonnie: Since you started out, have you seen any big shifts in the industry that are top of mind for you?
Sabine: What should be on the top of everyone's minds and every industry is the sustainability factor. There are a lot of super interesting startups working on crazy, cool material science. We're experimenting with a lot of new materials. They’re regenerative, 100% recycled and recyclable and that's this whole new angle to use our creative brains on.
Mimi: Design can no longer be simply about just creating beautiful things. The environment comes first and then the end user is second. We're always looking into materials that have a longer lifespan and materials that we can reuse. When we're doing interior projects we question what we can use as existing in the schemes, rather than throw away things. If we see an old chair, how can we reupholster it and bring it back to life rather than just throw it away and make another one? The influence of social media has also made a huge impact on all industries. I'm 28, but when I first started social media wasn't what it is now. There wasn't that pressure to design things to fit into a certain narrative, or look, or style.
Sabine: I think it's a really sad impact, actually. What I also find difficult sometimes is that I don't feel like I'm completely part of either the product design industry nor that hardcore collectable design or art world, Im always dancing inbetween. For you, it's the same, you're in both collectable design and architecture.
Mimi: Have you ever felt the need or the pressure to place yourself in the industry? When I first started, people would say to me, "You can't design furniture and you can't design houses and you can't design lighting and you can't do this, you have to pick one." And I thought, "Hell no, I'm not picking one."
Sabine: I'm not that strategic about it. My whole vision is, I want to keep doing fun projects and it doesn't really matter where that fits in.
Mimi: I agree. I always say I just want to go as far as my talents will take me. I never say no to anything.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
