Frank Buschmann: Furniture made into works of art
An artist trained as an industrial designer and cabinetmaker.
He spent his childhood in South Africa and Nigeria, his adolescence and education in Germany, where he studied cabinetmaking at the Karlsruhe School of Crafts. In the Netherlands he studied Industrial Design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, where he has subsequently been teaching on the Master's degree "Man and Humanity". A man of the world who currently lives in Galicia, Spain.
Tell us about yourself and your work. Where did your vocation start? Any first memories?
It is not the first time I have been asked this question and it is not the first time I have not had an answer. I was born in South Africa and spent my childhood in Nigeria. I guess our roots and the contexts in which these roots take hold influence how and in which direction we move later on.
As for having a first memory, there is no specific one either. I have a family in which trades are omnipresent. I grew up in an environment where I learned that know-how equals freedom.
What do you find most satisfying about being a designer? Any that you are particularly proud of?
The feeling of freedom. When I take care of details which are then hidden.
I am not proud of the pieces I make. They are steps in an infinite process.
What is your creative process like?
My work is an exploration of integrity. I use the object, its production process and its relationship to life and the world as a medium. My creative process is carried out through a consecutive transfer of planes in which the final form of the object always pre-exists in the previous plane. The perfection of the object is achieved in each of the planes and in the sum of all of them. Each step demands its own perfection and the final object is always present in each of these steps.
What are your sources of inspiration?
My most important reference is the tree, which provides me with the raw material for my work, a wise being that connects the sky with the earth. It is the tallest living being on the planet, a master engineer as Claus Mattheck explains so well in his essays on biomechanics. And if we think of the sum of the individual trees, the reference becomes nature.
We are part of the landscape before we are born and after we die. In life, we become landscapers, but by focusing too much on ourselves, we forget to listen to nature.
Tell us about yourself and your work. Where did your vocation start? Any first memories?
It all stems many years ago from literature and the magical realism of García Márquez. I always loved reading and writing my own stories, but when I was in high school and I read Gabo for the first time, I was so taken by him that I felt that this is what I wanted to do, to tell stories and let people immerse themselves in my world, making the extraordinary into the everyday and the seemingly insignificant into something unique. I searched for my own language and I found it through art and colour.
Any special music while designing furniture?
We can do another interview on this if you want...there's a lot of music.
Favourite colour, book, film and record - in that order!
Today: indigo blue.
Today: Ebo taylor - Will you promise
Today: The Wire ;D
Is your home a reflection of who you are?
Of who we are but also of who I am.
Tell us what it smells like, your favourite corner, your favourite decorative object or piece of furniture, if you treasure a collection... And if you have a pet, introduce it to us!
Come by one day and you'll discover what it smells like...
I treasure thousands of vinyl.
We have no pets.
If you could buy anything right now and take it home, what would it be? Anything!
A new mixer. Mine broke 2 days ago.
A great plan at home always includes...
Cooking.
Do you have a signature dish?
These months I explore paella over a wood fire.
What is your favourite place in your city?
The beach.
And abroad?
Sites with horizons.
