We continue our series of interviews for those of you interested in how the mind of a designer works and for all our young readers looking for a strong carrier in this fascinating field. Today’s interview is about chasing your dreams and never giving up, no matter what the obstacles. Here us Hillary Unger from Perianth Interior Design : Freshome : What determined your passion for design? Tell us about the moment when you decided this is the way to go. Hilary Unger : My passion for design was determined at a very young age. I used to draw floor plans of imaginary houses that I would want to live in when I was 10 years of age. I have always been interested in architecture and building and decided that interior design was the way I wanted to go when I was about 16. Finishing my final years of schooling, interior design appealed to me as it was creative, but in a much faster turn over than with architecture. Freshome: Can you remember your first design project? Describe it a bit, whether it is a gizmo you worked at as a little kid or something that was sold at a large scale. Hilary Unger :The first design project I worked on was a cubby house I had built by my parents for me when I was about 7 years old. It was a little timber house with a front door and balcony. It was amazing! Freshome: What field of design are you most interested in? Do your works have anything to do with it ? (We are asking this because not many designers do what they actually want) Hilary Unger :I love what I do and love the diversity of interior design that my company works on. I do not really have a favourite as I love all design, residential, retail, hotel, restaurants, corporate offices, planes etc as they all have different challenges. Ultimately I would love to work on projects all over the world, especially hotels. Freshome: Chronologically describe what you are going through (feeling and thoughts) on your way to work. Hilary Unger : On my way to work I am thinking about the day, although I had already started doing this before I even wake up. Design for me is my life and not just a job, therefore I am constantly thinking about it. Driving to work is usually consumed with thoughts of the day ahead, making lists and going over design projects in my mind. Freshome: What is the most frustrating aspect of your job as a designer? And the most rewarding one? Hilary Unger : One of the most frustrating aspects of interior design is the tight time constraints, having to deal with tight budgets, when you want to spend, spend, spend and trying to design with new materials and details that can not even be achieved yet. This gets very frustrating. But the rewarding part is when you do achieve a new detail or find a new material to work with, this is very rewarding when you produce something new. Freshome: What is your favourite book/magazine on design? How about your favourite site? Hilary Unger : My favorite book on design at present is one on Plam Springs modernist houses. My favourite website is the Aman Resorts website, here I can dream about holidays and look at beautiful images of amazingly designed hotels. Freshome: What inspires you? Hilary Unger : Many things, places, people inspire me. It is hard to pinpoint it. I am like a sponge that is constantly absorbing what is around me. I am more of a visual person rather than a heavy reader so I get inspired by things I see and experience. Freshome: From your point of view, is design an art or a science? Hilary Unger : Design is both an art and a science. A huge part of my day is working with consultants on air conditioning, structural design, constraints with materials and detailing, energy efficiency with lighting, costing projects and programming them. This is all a science. The artistic side of design can be very minimal in a project, but in order to reproduce the beautiful artistic end product you have to be good at the scientific part. So the scientific part actually becomes part of the creative process. Freshome: Tell us something unusual that happened in your carrier. Hilary Unger : Something unusal that happened in my carrier would be the constant change that your mind plays throughout the years that you travel through a design carrier. I am constantly questioning myself but at the same time am very sure of my decisions. This feeling of being pulled both ways with your mind can become unusual at times. I just have to let myself go and trust my gut instinct. Freshome: Let’s say you entered a contest. You have to come up with a design for the first house on the Moon built for extra-terrestrial living. How would your project look like? Hilary Unger : My house design for an extra-terrestrial living on the moon would be a homage to the 1960’s. This era, for me, was very provocative of what space life could be. I love how 60’s design was so cutting edge for its era and I think this style of living would suit. My design would therefore be organic, maybe a huge UFO shaped building, a bit Oscar Numyer, with an interior full of Saarinen furniture, French Louis XV antiques , a stainless steel floor with a bridge over a perana pond. Very James Bond! Freshome: If design were a product, what would it be and how would you design it? Hilary Unger : If design were a product I would design a water bottle that keeps filtered water cold all day. I love cold filtered water, I think it is so indulgent and very hard to keep on you all day. It would be housed in a Lucite and stainless steel canister, simple and functional. Pure design. Freshome: If you had no limits (money, resources), what would you create? Hilary Unger : If I had no limits on design and money to produce it I would probably create the most luxurious aeroplane in the world. It would have to be fast and glam Like the Concorde, but on board be the most luxurious environment ever experienced. This would be absolutely amazing and exciting to design. Freshome: Share something you would like the world to know about you or your ideas. Hilary Unger : Something I would like the world to know about my ideas and design is that I strive to create the best product I can for whatever budget, brief or client. I would like the world to know that I am here! Freshome: What do you think of our site? Hilary Unger : Your site is fantastic. It allows so much information but in a controlled way so as not to overwhelm. It is the perfect edit for the design consumer. Freshome: What advice do you have for young designers or architects reading this interview? Hilary Unger : The major advice I have for young designers is to follow your dream, do not give up and remember that those people that did not give you a chance may be working for you one day. So please……dream on.
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Interview : Chasing Your Design Dreams with Hilary Unger
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