www.liammooney.co.za
LIAM MOONEY Confident and outspoken, emerging designer and co-founder of Whatiftheworld / Design studio, Liam Mooney, is not precious about anything nor does he want to set anything in stone. Although he claims he is always contradicting himself, he is remarkably clear in knowing what he wants and what good design means to him. Annelie Rode catches up with him as he cuts to the chase. In 2008, Liam launched a range called Proletariat, which consists of items made from reused and found materials. This doesn’t exactly make him an eco-crusader, but his aesthetic plainly speaks of an environmental awareness and the importance of waste. But not just waste that refers to leftovers from gluttonous consumption but also aesthetic waste due to avaricious over-decoration. ”Enough of this ‘mega design’ stuff, enough of Art equals Design. Call me old-fashioned but something designed needs to be functional,” stresses Liam. “And the whole ‘function of design is beauty’ argument is weak. Enough design for design’s sake. Enough gigantism. I think the most vital issue of all, for myself at least, is that I remember what is really important. Of course any project will always involve a series of compromises, but I would like to know at the end of it all, that the process was conscious and considered.” When I ask Liam how he thinks design will be affected by the global recession, he says that as there will always be money for design, the customer will just become shrewder. Instead of the cheap and expendable, they will want to know that their products are going to last and age well. He joins the collective designer conscious in the belief that we need to cut back on excess but not on quality ideas; something that seems to have been entrenched in his philosophy from the start.
the little desk that could
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one small seed