My Thing. Tim Rundle, industrial designer.

“Don’t think of your product as the final state of the materials it is made up of, but just one of many in an infinite journey. To do this well, you need to understand manufacturing inside out.”

Tim Rundle, a Kiwi industrial designer based in London, runs the imaginatively named, multi-disciplinary design office, Tim Rundle Studio. He lives in Leytonstone with his wife, daughter and the imminent addition of twin sons. While trained as an industrial designer and most of the work he’s known for falls into the category of furniture and lighting for brands such as MENU, Resident, SPØ1 and Morgan, the studio also delivers strategic design consultancy and has recently been working on more interior design projects, both commercial and residential.

The ‘One Thing’ I want to be known for

Creating simplicity, both aesthetically and in terms of interaction, through technically elegant solutions. The products I’m most proud of have months or years of iterative technical development in them, but in their final form, look like they were the most obvious and natural answer to a problem.

The ‘One Thing’ I care about deeply

Obviously my small, but growing family is the thing I care about most, and this has translated into a deep concern for the future. In every aspect of our lives we need to be considering the impact of our actions, from travelling in a more sustainable way, to the impact our work has, especially as designers and makers.

It really worries me to see design businesses talk about seasons in the fashion sense, as if a sofa from A/W 2021 will be irrelevant by S/S 2022, like a trainer in a certain colour.

The ‘One Thing’ I want to inspire in others

I’d like to inspire others, young designers in particular, to get excited about understanding materials and processes. This knowledge will be critical as we all move, as quickly as possible towards designing for a circular economy. Don’t think of your product as the final state of the materials it is made up of, but just one of many in an infinite journey. To do this well, you need to understand manufacturing inside out.

The ‘One Thing’ I enjoy most about the creative process

Testing ideas through physical prototypes, even just rough mock-ups. It’s really the only way you can push the limits of a design and understand how your ideas work in real life and how they effect the spaces they will live in.

The ‘One Thing’ I want others to feel when they engage with my work

I’d like them to be able to intuitively understand my products, how they are made, how they work, how to use them just by looking. The term I use is ‘aesthetic legibility’. Regarding the spaces we design; I’d like people to feel calm in them, and for no single object or feature to overpower the overall atmosphere.

The One Creative you must start following today

Monument Store - a treasure trove of objects and less common design classics started by two East London creatives with the most discerning eyes in the business monumentstore.co.uk

Follow Tim on Instagram and step inside his latest interior project - Glasshouse Salon - here.