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DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE

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ISSUE
A U S T R A L I A

/ WWW.DESIGNANDARCHITECTURE. COM /
H K D 9 0
H O N G K O N G

I.M. PEI
THE LIVING LEGEND
AT 100 YEARS OLD
R M 1 8

IRIS VAN HERPEN SIR DAVID ADJAYE

ZAHA HADID OMAR KHAN OMAR SOSA
M A L A Y S I A

YAYOI KUSAMA OLE SCHEEREN ARIK LEVY

$ 8
S I N G A P O R E
 LEGEN DS
LEA DER S
LEGAC IE S
The old informs the new. The cycle of inspiration continues as we speak
to legendary architects of the century, game-changing visionaries and
new creatives on preserving beliefs, craftsmanship and legacies.

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 / STATE /

BEAUTIFUL
COLLISION
The battle to make a
difference comes in the
form of a standout structure
in contrasting red, as all
eyes gravitate towards the
unexpected clash of beauty.
www.ariklevy.fr

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 / I.M. PEI
/ ARIK
RETROSPECTIVE
LEVY / /

A
DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVE
Arik Levy is not your ordinary designer. He works within
a dyslexic vision and with just nine fingers. But his
boundless imagination and the notion of survival give
him the energy to keep going while putting extremes
into creativity. What is created inside a complex mind
is a harmonious setting that is translated through his
sculptural yet empathetic designs. Arik Levy tells his
story with a certain energy, a je ne sais quoi that
emanates positivity, wisdom and charisma.
WORDS MARTIN TEO / PHOTOGRAPHY ©ARIK LEVY

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Born and raised in Israel, Arik Levy never had the
luxury of growing up like a typical child. His family
regarded him as being lazy and no one knew he was
dyslexic because the term was not developed until the
80s. Growing up, Arik picked up skills the hard way.
From selling flowers as a kid simply to make ends
meet, to being a classic roller-skating champion in
Israel, Arik knew that he was special.
His determination to create something beyond
normality started when he was pushed into a situation
to create his own methods of learning. “I cannot spell
and reading was a challenge,” he confides.
Learning how to type as a mechanism was one
way Arik began developing his skills. But it was losing
a finger from an accident in 1992 that gave him
a renewed energy to change his life.
“I had to relearn how to type using nine fingers,
not with ten. I was pushed back to square one.
And again, it’s survival because if you cannot
type, you cannot communicate; and if you cannot
communicate, you don’t exist,” reveals Arik.
The entire relearning process pushed him into
a state of mind that allows him to invent, innovate
and do things differently.
The 54-year-old designer believes that with
everything that has happened, he is creating
milestones in every cycle of his career. “Fifteen years
ago when I started doing the geometrical facets,
nobody did it. Today, everybody is doing it! These
are moments when you realise what you did is right,
and what you did is innovative and new. It’s different
and the market takes time to know it,” he confesses.
Today, he works with some of the biggest
names in the industry including Samsung, Kaldewei,
Ligne Roset, Christofle, and Swarovski. And his
works of art have been displayed in some of the most
established museums including the London Design
Museum, Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York.
How do you define “collaboration”
in your dictionary?
In my own dictionary, collaboration is about people.
The world is about people and not about the product.
What’s important are the people I meet. And they
become friends, colleagues and even partners.
When it comes to my designs, it’s about “P to
P” – people to people. The beauty in the world is
not be the designer’s dream because the furniture
industry is one of the smallest industries in the world.
How many sofas do you think a successful company
sells? 3000 or 5000? Perhaps 10,000? It’’s nothing.
We are merely talking about 10,000 prototypes
compared to an injection machine that makes millions.
1. Rock Growth 808 Atomium So I think the challenges are different. I think that
exhibited in Brussels in 2014
Photograph by Christophe. the understanding of design has been deformed in
Licoppe-Befocus the last years because of fashion and because the
2. Another spectacular industry are historifying the design stars. All this is
sculpture in reflective
chrome finish. not important but the important thing is to be proud
1 Photograph by Ian Scigliuzzi of what you do. Provide answers to the industry;
make sure you are not doing more damage than
good. Have a high volume of self-criticism and do not
get too obsessed with the work that you’re doing.
people and I think that the design relationship really
depends on the uncontrolled energy of people.
Do awards and accolades matter at the end
You can feel good about someone, if not,
of the day?
it doesn’t work. Maybe the person is very talented,
Awards are important because they represent the
but if his or her energy is wrong, nothing takes flight.
opinion of others on something. So it’s good to
So I think people are the most complicated yet the
look at. But awards are also concentrated, it’s like
most beautiful things in the world.
a survey and it depends on who the participants
are… it depends on which moment… it depends on
So you and I agree that the art of
who is the jury… it depends on so many things that
collaboration is really something
the awards today become a marketing tool. It’s not
important in our industry. Why do you
really concentrated on what is really good and why
think that the ideals of collaboration –
it’s really good and so on.
the sharing of ideas – should actually be
Personally, I don’t feel it is important for me.
more encouraged globally?
I think it’s important for the company (the brands
Because sharing is a basic knowledge
that I’m working with) because they’d feel rewarded
– part of our psycho-therapy. Sharing is
and awards can become vehicles to drive better
generosity and if people are not generous to
marketing, self-esteem, product confidence and of
people, we don’t have a world. The analogy
course, self-gratification. But again it should not be
of preparing food is about generosity; it’s in
about this. The real reward I would say is to see that
our DNA. It’s to give somebody something to
what I’ve designed comes out the way it should,
eat, to have him stay alive and this is survival.
and that I’ve made my partners happy.
It’s what I call the uncontrolled muscles.
It’s emotional and physical. What’s common
If you are going to retire to a city, where
between you and an animal: to eat and to protect
would it be?
our family, we need to be generous.
Ah, which city? I think it’s going to be on
a different planet.
Who would you like to collaborate with
one day?
That’s a good question. (pause) I didn’t think of this,
but I think… actually I would like to close my eyes
and feel the person first. So, it’s not what I know
about him, it’s what he knows about me. Cause in
most cases, this is the thing: “Oh, he’s so great,
I want to work with him.” But if given the chance,
I like to say it would be a scientist – for sure. I love
science, science is important for me. I think scientists
are incredible people, great researchers, and this
kind of people truly inspire my work aesthetics.
Why do you think it’s important for
designers to be multidisciplinary today?
I think it has always been important and I think it is
more – the freedom that is more expressive today
and if you really look carefully – it’s still not there.
People do not yet practice being multidisciplinary
and being multidisciplinary is really about being able
to go into many different fields. Most designers have
a dream, perhaps to make a chair but that should
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