Design Sojourn | Strategic Industrial Design Blog

About 6 months ago I discovered the work of Brazilian designer Chico Bicalho in, of all places, the Artist village of Leura in the Blue Mountains of Australia. I was in a rush, but the mechanical critter’s uniqueness probed my consciousness, and drove me to seek out the designer of this wonderful product.

I totally love them and managed to finally get my hands on some last week. My critters, The Cosmojetzs, are a joy to play with, even though they are neither sports car slick, or Apple chic. Instead they are so beautifully honest and simple that it reminds me of the simpler joys in life, like a smile. It reminds me that Design is and has always been about fun, and that we designers often incorrectly take our products and product development work a little too seriously.

Check out this wonderful video of all his designs in action.

With the power of the internet I mange to locate him as I was eager to learn more. An amazingly friendly person, Chico’s interview was frank, honest and as wonderful as his work. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did speaking to him.

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DT: Hello Chico, first of all thank you very much for taking the time off your busy schedule for this interview. I know like most designers we are very eager to jump right into the juicy design bits, but before that, I think it be great for you to share with us a little about your unique background and how you got into design? This would be a wonderful primer that will set-up the framework of your design profession today.

CHICO BICALHO: I have always worked with 3d. When I was a little kid, besides being fascinated with animals of all kinds, I made objects. While kids my age made drawings, I made corky objects. Some were weird, like the time when I was about six years old, and went out of the house where I lived with my mom and dad in Rio, a quiet street with houses, and stumbled on to the corpses of about 6 or 8 rather large rats, poisoned, probably. I then returned home and fetched a can of silver spray paint, and proceeded to paint each rat thoroughly, enjoying the shiny look and texture of the metallic dead rats. Later that day, the rats were removed, and an oval spot of silver paint, with the outline of each rat remained on the asphalt for a few months. Looking back, the piece could be almost looked at as “art”, but I am certain it was just fun.

I built weird boxes with hinged doors leading nowhere, small catacombs for dead lizards, I also melted lead, and dripped it in cold water, cast weird things, built dangerous slides, and played with my mom’s Polaroid camera from an early age. Later, I studied sculpture at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design), and, ironically, the sculptures I made were absolutely flat, and 2d. I became interested in public, site specific art, working with large painted areas on grass, working with different forms of light projection, and, eventually, came to the conclusion that sculpture and photography were the same thing, since one always (or almost always) photographs objects that have mass. I then got a MFA in photography from NYU realizing I would eventually have to earn a living.

I made over 4,500 Critters by hand, and sold them to two stores only; MXYPLYZYK in the West Village, and The Guggenheim Museum Store.

I did manage to live as a portrait, and architectural photographer since about ‘87, and in ‘92 I began to develop the windups now distributed by Kikkerland Design. Critter, the first one, began its wired existence as a hand made product, based on a Japanese gearbox bought in quantities from a surplus store on Canal St. NY called Canal Surplus, now defunct. I made over 4,500 Critters by hand, and sold them to two stores only; MXYPLYZYK in the West Village, and The Guggenheim Museum Store. Since 1997, Kikkerland Design began to distribute Critter, and production moved to China. Since then all other windups sprouted, and, in the near future, LE PINCH, and MXYKIKKER will be introduced, bringing the total models to 17.

DT: Wow I love the story about the Metallic rats! I can see you had a great inherent curiosity about life and things when you were a child. For my next question I like you to share your passions, and what inspires you as a designer?

CHICO BICALHO: I believe the reason why I come up with these windups, it is because I want to create objects that is both humorous, and unpredictable in behaviour. But, most importantly, I see, mirrored in each one of them, a certain passion I have for creatures that are not looked at with “respect” by humans, such as insects that have no particular aesthetic appeal. I see them as some of the world’s most endearing creatures, mostly because we oppress them, as much as we do oppress just about every other form of living thing. I train myself to respect every form of life on Earth, and believe they are just as important as we are. I don’t like touching animals that don’t like to be touched. I realize this discourse sounds demagogical now days, but it is absolutely true. The difference being, we have the strength to destroy the planet, and no other animal does, meaning, we, humans, if seen from a distance have taken the form of a plague, infecting the Earth. Sounds ugly, but it is the truth; we are the scum of earth, if viewed by any other form of life on the planet, aren’t we? Since there is no point whining about the planet’s destruction, I have chosen to work against it, or try to “do my part”, by undertaking a modest reforestation project in Brazil. Since 1996, I have been working with a small group of friends to recover a 20 acre area of Atlantic Forest destroyed in the late 1970’s http://www.projetomilfolhas.com. Over 110,000 trees have been planted the past 12 years, and, another 200,000 shall be planted the next 10 years.

Sounds ugly, but it is the truth; we are the scum of earth, if viewed by any other form of life on the planet, aren’t we?

Reforestation has given me incommensurable pleasures, and a lot of work as well. One thing that struck me some time ago was that a circle was completed, since reforested areas became, in a sense a kind of “public art” that encompassed a much farther reach of “public” than I could ever imagine. Among my favourite “viewers” are birds of all kinds, insects galore, porcupines, skunks, armadillos, lizards, bats, bromeliads, and the occasional orchid as well, all attracted to the new forest.

DT: That is a fantastic vision and I can see that all your work ties into a great common personal philosophy. With your Critters, could you tell us a little about the design process you use and how you created with the many wonderful mechanical contraptions?

CHICO BICALHO: Curiously enough, the creative process has never been repeated from one windup to another in the seventeen products created so far. The first ones were created physically, by getting pre existing gearboxes and attaching the legs by placement of the wire, and booties, then sending the “hand made prototype” back to the factory. The keys were designed using Quark Xpress, believe it or not. Some were created by taking a photo of the gearbox, and using Photoshop, another odd approach, I must admit, then I used Auto CAD for a couple of them, and later Vellum Cobalt 3d modelling. No matter what happened during R&D, the process has always been different from one to the next, and, as samples were sent form the factory in Hong Kong, improvements were made via e-mail and digital photography. Indeed an unorthodox approach to product design.

DT: I think that is a fantastic approach. I notice designers today tend to get caught up in the world of 3D and computers and forget the more hands on approach to design in the past. Personally I used to design all my products in Auto CAD or in Illustrator as well.

This leads me to my next question. What about working with the other people in the product development process? For example do you work with engineers at your factory in Hong Kong? What about Kikkerland, how do you work with them? Does Kikkerland do your marketing, or product planning, or are they just a distributor?

CHICO BICALHO: I really like the idea of collaboration between designers, and I always look forward to sharing a product development with people I love and respect. There are two designers whom I have always hoped to work with, my good friends David Dear, and Jozeph Forakis. We have frequently talked about working on something together, but it hasn’t happened yet. My experience working with Guga Casari, a fine Brazilian designer, and woodworker now living in Italy couldn’t have been more gratifying, and successful. We came up with ZéCar, conceived from the beginning to have all its royalties (plus now a matching fund from Kikkerland) towards our reforestation project. Thanks to ZéCar buyers we have planted over 100,000 Brazilian trees the past eight years, and will continue to plant for many years, until a unique and richly diverse forest is standing.

Thanks to ZéCar buyers we have planted over 100,000 Brazilian trees the past eight years, and will continue to plant for many years, until a unique and richly diverse forest is standing.

For five years I have been working in collaboration with my wife Isabella Torquato, and the team work is generating very interesting results. Isabella is very creative, down to earth, and organized; we have filled each other’s gaps, and grown together as a team in amazing ways I never suspected would be possible. We met ten years ago working; she hired me for a photo shoot for an ad campaign she was working on, back then, which was very successful, and we did a few other campaigns together as well. For the past five years, Isabella and I have had a business that covers essentially three things; graphic design, photography, and product design. We get along very well, and have developed a relaxed system of living, and working together, which is very helpful for business, and love. Just recently, Isabella has been working with me developing wind-ups. Her vision has opened up a new space, and approach, which I believe will take the wind-ups (it has already) to a new level. The new products, Le Pinch, and Mxykikker have Isabella’s thumb all over them, and I am very proud. We both are huge admirers of Charles, and Ray Eames, and we’d love to be a small fraction of what they were some day in the future. We are also dedicated environmentalists, and we love travelling together.

The company in Hong Kong that develops the wind-ups has a lot of participation in the development of each product. We have an approach, whereby we not only let them come up with the technical aspects, and solutions for each product (the way gears and sprockets are arranged), but we give the chief engineer, and owner the freedom to “design” certain aspects, meaning, I don’t get very uptight about small details from a philosophical standpoint. Sometimes a mechanical solution becomes a design aspect. I am a fan of Marcel Duchamp, and I like to think sometimes we have to give chance a chance, and see what other people will come up with, in a sense getting a form of “readymade” from the factory, and see if the mechanics of their solutions work for us aesthetically, and it often does. Sometimes we have to make touch up adjustments, but it always works out nicely. I know for a fact the people at the factory, the owner especially, loves to work on our windups, because they don’t end up concealed behind a plastic, or tin shell. For them it is fantastic that the gearbox is fully exposed, paying eternal tribute to their work. I have had a magical interaction with the owner and chief engineer at the factory we work with, and, two months ago, his wife came all the way from Hong Kong, and visited us in Rio for a couple of weeks. We like to joke that we are “long lost cousins” because they came originally from Macau, and I am 1/16 Chinese, my ancestor, also coming from Macau. I am part Dutch as well (from Pernambuco, Brazil), and Kikerland being a Dutch company, I love to think, maybe Goddess put us all together.

I am a fan of Marcel Duchamp, and I like to think sometimes we have to give chance a chance, and see what other people will come up with, in a sense getting a form of “readymade” from the factory, and see if the mechanics of their solutions work for us aesthetically, and it often does.

Kikkerland does all the distribution for our products. There is no planning, except, which product should be introduced when. In fact, my approach is to get a concept approved with them, then I work with Hong Kong, and avoid involving Kikkerland as much as possible, because they are a busy bunch out there. When the product is fully developed, and the colors figured out, I ask them to send samples to New York. It works out great for them, because they get the whole thing finalized and digested. The rest is up to them, like paying for molds, orders, etc.

DT: Chico, those were just some of the most wonderful and insightful stories about of your relationships with designers and the people around you. It is very true that nothing can happen on it’s own and you have shown how ideas can become great if it connects with the right people.

I like to sincerely thank you very much for taking the time to be part of this interview. As a closing, perhaps you could give some advice to designers looking to make their own very special products for the world?

CHICO BICALHO: You are very welcome Brian; it’s been a pleasure. Please let me know when the interview goes up on the site.

My advice to young designers would be the same I would give anyone willing to work creatively. Get to know yourself, because, sometimes, the work most meaningful to you is right under your nose, and if you don’t know who you are, you will end up searching in places where you will exhaust, and frustrate yourself. Keep an eye on yourself and another eye on your public, but, most of all, the work has to excite you, because if it doesn’t, it is unlikely it will excite other people. Learn to love your product from beginning to end. Do not be afraid to come up with absurd concepts, just think that every absurd, wild idea can be tamed, and made feasible. Do not leave stones unturned. Push concepts and explore every aspect to the most minute detail. Always strive for quality of material and durability in your products. While working on R&D, press for the highest quality possible of material, craftsmanship, and finish. Learn to love every step of the process, remember the process has to be exciting to you on every level, because the important thing is the journey, not the destination. When the product is finished, it is no longer yours, so, nurse it during R&D like a loving mother. Make sure your work has meaning, even if the meaning is just to make people smile.

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You can check out more of his toys at Kikkerland.

Mario Vellandi author behind the very excellent Melodies in Marketing, spent the last couple of weeks conducting a hard hitting interview on my views on the future of industrial design, design strategy and sustainable design. It was a great discussion with very high level content and interesting ideas exchanged between Mario and I. As I am committed to being part of Blog Action Day (which is today!), I thought it would be great timing to post this interview as part of Design Sojourn’s commitment to green design. This interview is also jointly posted an his site.

On with the Interview!

MV: To build some greater perspectives on product design in the modern age, I’ve invited DT of Design Sojourn to a little chat about the subject. DT helps build objectives, strategies and development plans for consumer electronics firms across Asia. He’s been a pioneer in promoting the field of Industrial Design, in many more regards than simply admiring fanciful oeuvres d’art et leurs aspects fonctionnels (French for art and functional objects). He reaches out to students and other professionals alike in sharing theory, trends, and best practices in the workplace and beyond, while celebrating the contributions of others to the field.

DT, thanks for stopping by and leaving some feedback on my post New Product Design Strategy. I feel that I’ve barely scratched the surface on this field, as most of what I’ve come to learn has been from my own experiences with CPG manufacturers, some friends, and my PDMA Handbook . What other kinds of strategies or considerations should marketers and product developers be making these days?

DT: Thanks for the wonderful introduction. I have to say you have nailed it at first go. With regards to your list of strategies, they are pretty much all there. But from my point of view I would consider them as tactical implementations instead.

These days marketing and product development and perhaps corporate people have to understand that Strategic product development takes a 360 degree holistic view and outlook. Also to me strategic product development is multi-disciplinary and success means satisfying all requirements of stake holders.

Under the current work environments, stories such as where marketing communications come up with great Ad campaigns but some how the products fall short on the brand promise, or Research and Development creates an amazing technology, but some how sales don’t seem to understand it, are very common.

Strategic product development prevents this. In many ways Industrial Designers are uniquely positioned to bridge this gap, as they have a multi-disciplinary approach to problem solving that is based on a strong background in research drawing inspiration from many sources.

MV: Interesting. It appears to me that the situation you’re pointing out is that there’s a disconnect between product development and the marketing function, arising in the form of communication. In theory, a firm is supposed to carry and update the product definition from its beginnings in concept development, through the product development phase, and into the launch phase where it is then slightly tuned for the target markets. Traditionally, the responsibility for this communication lays in the hands of project leaders, core product development leaders, and launch leaders.

But what happens leadership is weak or non-existent? This seems to be a common risk these days, with global distributed product development and outsourcing being as common as it is. What I believe you’re hinting at, is that communication is an inherent part of all design strategy. Not just for project management purposes, but for the eventual market success of the product as well. This means that marketing and product development have a responsibility to collaboratively spell out the product’s features, attributes, benefits, value proposition, and positioning. I think it’s irresponsible to expect marketing (especially outsourced agencies), to make all this up on their own.

Do you see the current climate of outsourced product development necessitating even stronger communication bridges with marketing and stakeholders? What do you think?

DT: It not so much about just fixing a disconnect or making communication better, its actually more about a strategic management of the product development process.

You could say that project management manages and forms a node point between say R&D and marketing thus facilitating good communication. In fact that is still a major requirement in making successful products. However in my view this is still a line function. Project managers are often so caught up in the daily grind such as, tracking schedules, negotiating contracts, ensuring deliverables, that I often find that they don’t have a chance to ask if all this madness is right in the first place.

Therefore as a result of this designers recently have been finding a niche, especially in large organisations. Their strategy visualisation skills are vital in ensuring if the organisation is travelling in the right direction in the first place. Furthermore the designers ability to move between disciplines or departments and empathising with them, means this new thought in strategic product development assumes that the designer is not a function of any other department (ie R&D or Marketing) but a function of management. As a result if you notice many successful companies today, such as Apple, P&G or IBM, have very senior design managers working closely with the CEO or the board of directors.

Not only that, if we zoom out from our discussion here, this is really all about innovation and getting ahead right? So if a designer’s strategy visualisation has to have any weight, it must come as a directive from the top. It is, ironically, pretty regimental if you look at it, but innovative thought, solutions and strategy puts people out of their comfort zone and if the “order” does not come from the top, personal motivations tend to get into the way of the best interests of a company.

This also leads me to you next point, outsourcing. It is inevitable, companies need to out source to stay alive. But the down side means development gets more fragmented and as a result the strategy stake holder is absolutely vital in ensuring that the end product meets all the expectations set out.

MV: I like your description of design leadership transcending the traditional organizational departments and becoming a part of upper management, should a company allow such integration. Although it might seem idealistic to imagine industrial designers reaching across different parts of the company to develop creative solutions where there are problems, I believe their greatest contribution to the firm lies with developing the company’s product innovation strategy and managing the product portfolio. This is an elevated position that will span disciplines in marketing, finance, r&d, and supply chain management, for which specialized masters education programs will be necessary.

Regarding outsourced product development, I see and share your concern. Traditionally, almost every part of a business can be outsourced these days. But in modern business theory, when marketing and innovation are outsourced, there lies a very large potential risk of losing company identity, a spiritual sense of ownership, direction, and control. Companies that maintain a long-term vision must keep this in mind, and thus exercise due care when working with third parties. As external activities become more important to the firm as critical competencies, the level of partner relationships must deepen and in-house talent has to be developed as appropriate to the circumstances. All I’m advocating is that to be true to yourself as a company, you are responsible for your own vision and direction. Partners can help you build upon that.

Before I begin my next question, what are your thoughts on this?

DT: I actually disagree with you to a certain extent, but you are correct to say that the characteristics of such very senior designers require many years of training and exposure to many parts of the organization. A good MBA, though not required, could help as well. Thus such designers with such abilities are rare indeed.

You are also correct to say that designers have the greatest contribution to innovation strategy and product portfolio, but that is what we traditionally think are the roles of designers. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying designers should take over or lead the functions of marketing or R&D etc., instead far from that. If you would like, the role of strategic designers are in a form of facilitators that make recommendations based on the empathy of the requirements of the rest of the team. Strategic designers work with the departments to find solutions in perhaps a role of a in-house consultant. Another way is to look at them are as “cooks”.

With regard to outsourcing, as you mentioned you can outsource everything including your own life. But these days companies are starting to get smart with this and realize you cant out source everything. So its only on one level that we need to talk about strong partnerships, but the smart companies are identifying their strategic competitive advantage and are choosing to keep it in house rather than out sourcing. Take for example HP they don’t outsource their printer component design.

MV: After looking over the classic design strategies previously covered, I noticed I hadn’t included Sustainability (which I’ll have to go back and fix). Some folks and organizations think of sustainability as a side consideration. However, I believe it is an essential strategy that should be included in the mix. Apart from ecological advantages in manufacturing, product usage, and disposal, there are also potential cost, quality, and performance advantages among others.

From some friends’ experiences in marketing communications and from articles on this subject, I see a larger emphasis on designers becoming well acquainted with eco-friendly inks, paper, and other supplies so that they can provide more leadership and direction to co-workers and management who aren’t as well informed.

How do you see product designers’ roles and activities when considering sustainable design? Could you share some unique perspectives from the consumer electronics industry?

DT: In fact sustainability has had its up and downs. It used to be a time where to be environmentally friendly you had to suffer with poor design or inferior products. Not any more. I would go almost as far to say that sustainability should be a given these days. Governmental requirements have help facilitate this as well. Products these days need to have lead free components, energy saving circuitry, a product end of cycle return strategy (ie used printer cartridges) as well as benefits if the product uses recyclable materials. Some companies do this better than others, but nevertheless this is all going in the background under the radar of most consumers.

However there in lies a bigger problem. Consumption. What is a point of making a product fully recyclable when people continue to buy? Case in point Apple iPods and mobile phones who’s life cycle is a notorious 6 months? The problem here is the energy and effort to recycle these products back into usable material far outweighs the environmental impact of virgin materials.

Therefore Sustainability 2.0 is not so much about recycling but more about creating “sustainable behaviours”. Getting mankind to be aware and control their consumption. Removing consumption demand also helps reduce planned product obsolescences. Of cause industrial designers and marketers here can have a huge role in interfacing humans with products and solutions, this is because changing a behaviour is a difficult thing to do.

MV: Interesting…from the way you put it and as I see it, promoting sustainable consumption patterns appears to be the next avenue of responsible creation and living. Traditionally, extending the usable life of a product implied they were better designed for long-term performance. This created loyalty and admiration in users, allowing for higher price acceptance. But the nature of these products was that their lifecycle was fairly long (let’s say 5+ years), and the rate of innovation in the product category was fairly low (in terms of functional utility in the eyes of consumers).

With highly innovative products in competitive markets, this is not the case as you pointed out. I’m concerned myself about the amount of e-waste purchased, consumed, and discarded…especially in regards to cell phones. Ultimately, it’s a sociological understanding of the long-term implications of rapid consumption that will need to be addressed. But when speaking to a colleague about this subject, we debated whether this pure ethical awareness approach is feasible. He proposed, and I agreed with, that ultimately there is always a business solution to end-of-lifecycle management. The challenge is setting up either reverse-logistics programs from manufacturers that promote this thinking, or establishing provincial/community programs.

In all, I see it as a systems-design approach that combines social awareness of responsible consumption patterns with processes to better handle end-of-life scenarios. It’s a big jumble that involves many differing factors. But I think commerce and people’s behavior will not change on their own, unless society (and unfortunately but necessarily government) generate effective awareness of the problems we face and demand change.

[Note as final question and response to summarize conversation]
What do you think about this?

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed our conversation about design strategy and sustainability in product development. Do you have any predictions or desires on what may lie ahead of us in the future regarding education, materials innovation, or other important topics?

DT: I believe that well designed products with long life cycles still have a role to play with encouraging sustainable behaviours. This is also applicable in high technology products as well. It is a misnomer actually and because of many safety requirements high technology products actually can last a long time. It is the software and components that keep making a product out dated, and as we now move into product experience and the intangiable aspects of software, this cycle will only get worst. The psychology of this touches on whole “keeping up with the Jones”, the haves and have not, and the constant need to be ahead of the rest and own something new. Again this is a behaviour thing and (no offence) owes much to do with very successful advertising and branding campaigns generating consumer desire. In other words, years of advertising encouraging consumer wants not needs.

Refocusing back on product design, I don’t think that that creating a business case for an end of life cycle management solution is the only answer. This to me is a discussion on prevention rather than cure and which side you want to be on. In many ways our efforts in recycling, recyclable materials, ROHS compliance, and EOL management etc. is a reaction to a problem, a cure if you would like. Therefore in this case the solution should be about nipping the issue in the bud.

I agree with you, it is not easy, and most of effort should really about education and educating the public. Its about managing consumption, changing behaviours and awareness. There are many opportunities where designers can come in to make the behaviour change easier, but much of it has nothing to do with making better or different consumer products. For example can you design an iPod that people wont want to change in 6 months? You might, but Apple wont do it because their business relies on this 6 month product life cycle. Then with education you then teach people to ask if you really need to upgrade your iPod every six months or better still do you even need an iPod in the first place? I don’t I just listen to the radio which is essentially a iPod with 2,000+ songs.

At the end of the day, as long as corporations rule, we don’t have much of a choice but to take bitter medicine at the end of the day. As it is even planned obsolescence is a big problem we face as designers and a reason why I made a decision a long time ago to avoid working in fast pace consumer electronics industry as much as possible.

But we can take heart as much of our efforts in teaching is working on the new generation and we are taking a step in the right direction. Systems design and management can be a key contributor in this discussion here. But if we don’t step by a look at the bigger picture, and as long as we don’t teach about adopting sustainable behaviours we will continue to fight a losing battle.

Going forward we are on a cusp of a new revolution and that is personal fabrication or fabbing. The time for Desktop Manufacturing will be is just around the corner in the next few years. I believe combined with the sustainability issue, this will force everyone involved the product development cycle to re-think what it means to make a product, especially when your customers can make exactly what they want. It is scary but I am really looking forward to it.

Thanks for this discussion, I totally enjoyed it and hope we can keep in-touch and perhaps in future collaborate.

What did you think of the interview?

I hope you enjoyed reading this interview as much as I did writing it. I love to hear what you thought about some of my points as well as if you like to see more interviews with other designers here at Design Sojourn?