Profile: Paul Loebach

By Linda Ricci.

Some people are just, as they say, en fuego: designer Paul Loebach, for example, fits that description perfectly.

A new line of furniture introduced in Milan Design Week 2011. A line of lighting debuting at ICFF in New York just a few weeks later. Tons of press. Yeah, en fuego is right.

This might go to the heads of some people, but not Paul. He’s still a low-key guy. And talented. Diverse (he designs anything from the lighting and furniture you’ve seen to wooden vases, even clocks. And let’s not even talk about his collaborations, which range from quilts to wallpaper.) Prolific (according to Design-Milk, over 200 products in production. And the man is isn’t even 40 yet.)

His work is substantially light. Substantial as in, innovative and materially complex, often employing composites. For example, the Watson table – named, appropriately after James Watson, the American scientist who discovered the helical structure of DNA – sports legs made from wood and carbon fiber, laminated over a 6-part plywood mold. But the design is light: it makes you look, and makes you smile. It has a touch of that very Dutch whimsy, but executed in a 100% American way. (In fact much of his work references traditional American styles and techniques.)

And what’s as intriguing as his talent and design? The way he blends craft and technology, the soul of a maker with the mind of a manufacturing engineer and consummate entrepreneur.

A great deal of digital ink has been spilled on your roots in the Midwest (Cincinnati), your father who was an engineer from a line of master German woodworkers. But what were YOU like as a kid? As a kid, I was always building things. I was much more 3-D than 2-D at a young age. I used to help my dad with woodworking projects. My father was important in making me who I am: he was the ever-resourceful German. In fact, resourceful doesn’t convey the humor of it all. My dad even used to cast his own toys. Every object in the house had a story.

And what was Cincinnati like? A great place to grow up and leave. You can’t not do anything there because there’s nothing to do.

What was the first thing you made? I remember making this lamp…the first wood object I made, a lamp from a bowling pin. (Perfectly Cinci.) It taught me how to lathe.

How’d you get to RISD? (He graduated with a degree in Industrial Design.) I started at the University of Cincinnati which has a strong design program. But after the first year, I went to Colorado, California and New Mexico for a while.  (I’m guessing there are some stories that could come out of this period.)  But I decided to go to RISD after visiting a friend there. I just fell in love with RISD.

Did you work a lot with wood there? The funny thing is, I didn’t realize that I was good at woodworking until I got to RISD. I just realized I had a natural ability. It was just such a revelation, although when I think about it…

OK..so you moved to NYC after graduating in 2002. I worked with John Davies, a friend of one of my professors at RISD. John designed wooden chairs. He designed in pencil. His sketches are real art objects and communication tools in themselves. These were layered designs showing all aspects…these sketches were really beautiful objects. But John wanted to take his studio to the digital space and hired me to help him. So I took CAD classes and helped him do that. (Aha the beginnings of the interest in tech.)

When d’you go out on your own? I worked with John for one and a half years, then started freelancing doing design and making. I got a shop space in Red Hook, started working for clients: anyone who needed furniture designs, anyone from Martha Stewart to architects. It was funny, I just felt the urgency to get out everything I had.

You’re known for your collaborations: you both work for manufacturers, and commission your own. It’s just evolved from going out on my own. Every project I do is a collaboration of some sort. I figured that out early on. From the beginning I realized that I couldn’t make a living if it took me a year to make a chair. (Smart.)

But collaborations are super-tricky. Why do you think you excel at them? I think my real skill is in working with people (engineers, manufacturers) to execute a vision. My most recent project (the Watson table) was a perfect example. I tried to nurture a spirit of the exploration where all the disciplines came together to make this happen. I started working with interns in the studio doing prototyping, then worked with engineers to figure out how to really do it.

How does collaboration work with the Italian companies? It’s me reaching out to them, talking about objects. With Italians, they’ll make something nice no matter what. There’s a certain ease going in. It’s different than something made in China…let’s just say it’s a constant communication challenge.

But how involved do you get in the manufacturing? Different designers have different approaches. I know the tools and I always insist that I go there. I need to see the equipment, see what we’re working with, what they can do. I don’t see my prototypes as a singular perfect solution: I see it as a collaboration with the factory to make the best object.

But you also work with more artisanal manufacturers throughout the US. Yes. I have a pretty massive network of US manufacturers at this point. New England is a great place to work and communicate with people. There’s that great Yankee spirit thing that’s going on: it’s really real. Entire family businesses run by people who know what they’re doing: people who are excited about doing things, getting things done. And I have been reaching out more to MI, OH, Indiana…PA. They’re just phenomenal, without attitude.

Not that you want to pick among your children, but what’s your favorite among the pieces you’ve created? The Watson table. It was great problem solving experience for me. It was about the making….something that seems impossible is suddenly possible. And that comes from understanding craft.

You found you were good at wood, but you haven’t stuck to just one medium. A lot of people find their “thing” and stick with it. I know. I have interests in lots of areas: it grows out of a short attention span. I just need to be diverse. I love the idea of exploring something new in a thoughtful way.

I sometimes think of myself as having kind of a “post-modern” approach to work or life: nothing is exclusive to another…everything feeds everything else. I like wrestling through those notions…where does art end and design begin and much tougher, where does craft end and design begin?

What inspires? I don’t follow design, I actually follow engineering technology. I try to keep in touch with what’s going on. Engineering, materials, how do you keep up? Mostly talking to people, talking to people in different fields.

But other than that, the interest for me is form and meaning. My obsession is the meaning of form. Why does something look the way it does? Objects are just like language…an expression of emotion, of carrying a thought. Therefore form is a language that carries meaning. Everything references everything else. It’s understanding that, just like language is always evolving. I love the history…I go to flea markets, and always learn something.

What do you do for fun? Everything we just talked about.

What’s your favorite place? My studio.

What was the last thing you read? Oh I read Patricia Highsmith a little bit. But really, the last thing I read a bandsaw supply catalog. (Uh huh.) There’s this guy, Louis Iturra, in Florida who does the Iturra Design catalog. It’s like this xerox copy 100 page thick…he writes essays comparing one band saw to another. Really amazing, a true expert who’s letting it all hang out. It’s just really good. An amazing selection of objects, incredible expertise.

Who would play you in the movie of your life? God, I don’t know actors, I don’t really like movies. I would want David Byrne to play me.

And what kind of film? Maybe it would be a French New Wave kind of thing. Or maybe like 8 1/2.

What 5 objects define you? But if you’re not into objects…Oh no. I have this massive altar that’s just overflowing with things that are important or interesting to me. What’s on it?

1. A knife that my grandfather made when he was in the military. The blade is from a bandsaw, and the handle is from an old bomber. It’s a retro futuristic steak knife with the most amazing patina.
2. An old hand plane that my dad gave me.
3. My models: I’ve made a lot of paper models. Some are accidentally nice, curiously amazing objects.)
4. There’s another piece that’s so nuts…I made in my first internship in Providence. They were interested in eco-design way before it got trendy. We did so many experiments with materials and we did this cafe interior with homasote. We welded this enormous tray, filled with wax, then dipped homasote into it…the wax impregnates the paper and creates a whole new material that looks like concrete. I started taking the scraps made a bowl out of it. (Cool.)

First thing reached for. Oh coffee. Definitely.

Details

www.paulloebach.com

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