Design Week: Why Do We Need Designers?

This week I am bringing together a whole host of designers to give you their ideas on design issues. Many of these folks are my Twitter buddies who I have met recently at Surface Design Show and Ecobuild. Today we hear from John Keleher who is the IT guy at Crittal windows for a living.

Design Week:

I can hear it now. Who? What does he know about design? I have no excuses. Hear my plea in mitigation. It was late. I was tired. She sounded desperate. I’ve always wanted to be a knight in shining armour.So I said ‘Yes, I’ll write an article on design for your design week special.’

I got into bed and thought ‘What have I done? What can I possibly contribute?’

Charlatan

Only last week, I was having a conversation on Twitter with Su Butcher, the Practice Manager at Barefoot and Gilles Architects. I paused, re-read my responses to her, and felt I had to apologise. ‘I’m sorry, I see everything in black and white, I’m an engineer, I don’t have the imagination to be a designer’.

I work with computers, I see a series of 1′s and 0′s, on/off, yes/no.

As an engineer, I understand how things work, and I can fix them when they are broken. My partner is still amazed by my response to an oven that wouldn’t heat up. She saw the opportunity to get a new cooker just before Christmas, I saw the opportunity to find out how the cooker works, and fix it. So, instead of a small fortune, it cost me £10, and was fixed within 3 days. (Wonder how disappointed the lady wife was? – editor)

I love learning new skills. Unfortunately the art of design has escaped me.

My response to a challenge is to find out as much as I can about it, by reading as much as possible, or taking it to bits. My library is full of books on how to design a books, but I am still clueless. I guess I always knew I was not artistic. As a youngster, I built a car with my brand new Meccano set. It worked beautifully, with a working steering wheel, and lots of moving parts.

My mother, as proud as only a mother can be, asked, ‘Did you make that up out of your own head?”Yes,’ I replied. My father butted in, ‘You must be very glad you’ve got it out.’ He was right, it was functional, but ugly as sin.

Later in life, I bought my first house, and started my collection of  ‘How to design a house’ -books. I was proud of my interior design efforts, until my best friend turned up and said, ‘Hmmm, 12 different shades of beige!’

The Colour Wheel

I resolved to use a colour wheel. I’ve read about them Armed with the certain knowledge of which colours are complementary, and which ones are great contrasts, I would never make the same mistake again. Ooops, perhaps I need to read the rules again.

I’ve given up counting the number of times I’ve painted, re-painted, and re-painted again a room. The secret of how to be a great designer was revealed to me when I was decorating in the company of my 7 year-old niece. ‘Uncle John, is black the darkest colour?’ she asked.

‘It is, I replied, but actually it is the absence of colour, and white is the presence of all colours’, I added, taking the opportunity to educate her in a Mr Spock, logical kind of way. After a short pause, she said ‘I wish there was a colour which was darker than black. ‘I was hooked, ‘Why?’

‘Well, I’d paint 3 walls that colour, and then to cheer the room up, I’d paint the 4th wall black.’ I knew then, that I could never become a designer. I am incapable of that kind of thought process.

I am in awe of designers.

When I lived in Cumbria, I owned a Georgian house which needed a lot of restoration. The only room I was truly pleased with was the Dining Room, which was the last room we did, and the only 1 in which we had the help of an Interior Designer. Of course, I live in eternal hope that my personal artistic style will develop into something tasteful. I continue to buy and read the books, experiment, then go back to 12 shades of beige.

I’ve been following all of the articles this week, Hannah at Dreamwall is awesome. I once painted a wall yellow. I wish I knew her before I did that, I felt like I had a hangover every morning until I painted over it. Can you guess what colour I used to overpaint?

I met the fabulous Francoise Murat recently at The Listed Property Show, she got off her sickbed to pen her offering on reuse, recycle and reclaim. That sounds like its right down my street. I am great at making broken things work again. They might not look exactly like they did originally but

Claire Thirlwall successfully avoided meeting me at The Listed Property Show, and again at EcoBuild (I’m beginning to get a complex), I was very interested in her article on SUDS. She has challenged her friends to a quiz. Little does she know, I have practical experience. No, I don’t do all the washing up.  My house is at the bottom of a hill, and everyone else’s surplus water drains into my garden. I have used a permeable ground cover on the patio to let it soak away. It doesn’t go with the rest of the garden, but hey-ho, I think you might have guessed that.

Roberta, my pretend damsel in distress, gave us her views on curvy kitchens. I felt more comfortable here, I have designed and fitted 6 kitchens. Although, looking back, they all ended up looking a lot like new fronts on the kitchen we had just taken out.

So, what has this rambling taught us?

The difference between a designer and a mere mortal like me, is, that they have a gift which cannot be learned from a book. In addition to constantly updating their knowledge of the latest materials, styles, colours, techniques, trends, legislation etc. they have an artistic eye. While there are people like me in the world, there will always be a demand for designers. By the way, I have found a use for my colour wheel. Its great for stirring my beige paint.

Editors Note

John, as you well know, I call the damsel in distress card whenever I can. It makes for a fun and easier life. If you would like to chat with John then come and join us all on Twitter, we really do have quite a laugh. Design is one of my passions. I design the interiors for my own property renovations. I have friends that call me in every time they want to re decorate their flat. We spend hours pouring over paint and colour charts, only for them to paint it off white, beige or pale yellow. Im giving up now. There comes a time to throw in the towel  John, don’t despair,you are not alone!

You can find John where he is gainfully employed in a non design capacity – Crittal Windows or you can chat ‘live and direct’ in the wonderful world of Twitter. Just click here to follow him.

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