What made you want to become a designer in the first place?
I didn’t grow up in that large of a town, so when I first went to university I found myself taking the bus downtown to stroll around and hear stories instead of going to class. There was a lot of variety there and a lot of inspiration. Eventually I transferred to art school and my goal was to somehow make physical representations of the different stories and situations I had found.
Where did you study design?
I went to Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan (USA) for my BA in Industrial Design, and I just finished up at the Umeå Institute of Design in Umeå, Sweden with a master’s in Interaction Design.
What was the first thing you designed?
Our first assignment at Kendall was to design a flashlight, and I think I did one that had brass knuckles attached to it. It was pretty awful. Like a lot of designers I made a lot of stuff as a kid. I remember glueing sand to the bottom of my old shoes so I could run around better on the grass.
How do you define good design?
Something that lasts, or something that people have a great draw to and want to keep. For food or services, the design could last in memory.
What would you be if not a designer?
I could see myself owning a pawn shop, that would be fun. I could see myself being in any job where you get to deal with “junk”, strange situations, and a good supply of new inspiration and stories.
Which design of yours are you most proud of and why?
I was really happy with my degree project. There were so many parts to it, and we had a completely open schedule to complete it. It was nice to prove to myself that I could follow a schedule and get all of my work done on time. I was also happy with the fact that I got to make real physical props to help tell my story- I used to do mostly renderings. It was also fun to work with a little bit of design fiction, and to put a little bit of a sense of humor into the subject.
Anything in your career you wish you’d done differently?
I would have started to take sewing lessons years ago.
Which designers do you most admire?
Jack Schultze, Martí Guixé, Joey Ruiter, Dieter Rams, my Umeå classmates.
Which product do you wish you’d designed/do you think is an example of good design?
Paolo Ulian’s double match, and Amron Experimental’s brush and rinse toothbrush
Tell me about your design style at home?
Before I left for Sweden, I sold or gave away almost everything that I owned. I’m back in the States now for a few months and have been staying with friends. I always take my good pan with me, because I like to cook. I also have my computer, and some notebooks that I keep for ideas. Other than that, I’m currently living a pretty spartan lifestyle. When I did have a place, it was filled with a lot of little things from garage sales and flea markets. I would have 20 old skeleton keys, a ton of bakelite radios and only one fork and one knife for myself to eat with.
Check out Matt
Brown’s RFID Radio
More on Matt:realtomato.blogspot.com/
Tags: Dieter Rams, Jack Schultze, Joey Ruiter, Martí Guixé, Matt Brown, RFID, RFID radio, Umeå Institute of Design
