The Designer Magazine
The Art of Design
Versatile designer Philip Watts’s output takes an artistic lead, with products and interior schemes that manage to fulfil as well as function
Philip Watts Design is a creative design and build company founded 15 years ago and has established a range of products, manufactured on the same site as the design studios.The company is known for its portholes, staircases and bespoke design and build projects for bars, restaurants, clubs and offices. The porthole design has been especially important for the business, with more than 50,000 units sold to date. A graduate of Nottingham Trent University, last year saw a retrospective exhibition of Watts' work in which a selection of his designs was displayed at the University.Professor Terry Shave, the Head of Visual Arts in Nottingham Trent University's School of Art and Design, said: “Philip Watts is such an individual. His work - which encompasses the domestic door handle to the epic staircase - is always distinctive, witty and uncompromising. He thrives in the detailing of his designs that make them so special; his quirky individualism is easily recognised. “His work is inspirational for new designers and eye opening for those interested in contemporary style.”
DESIGNER: What is your own background as a designer and what (or who) have been the greatest influences on your design outlook so far?
PHILIP WATTS:I first trained as a furniture designer and product developer, then branched into interiors. I believe that products are influenced by flow: natural forms that often blend or merge into a machine aesthetic - think fish meets robot. Interiors should have a narrative and, like all good anecdotes, a punchline if possible.
DESIGNER: The work of your studio appears to be very wide-ranging – how would you describe you and your team's specialties?
WATTS:We have three areas: Interior design – mainly for bars and restaurants; our product range, which we create in our Nottingham workshop; and bespoke installations which include bars, staircases, furniture and sculptures.
DESIGNER: Which products/designs have been your most successful?
WATTS:Our porthole for doors is our most successful and best known design. It's a double glazed stainless steel fire rated door window kit and has seen worldwide success for a number of years. In 1997, we invented the fire-rated porthole kit for a door. Prior to this, designers wanting a nautical vision panel would have to go to a ships chandlers and buy a ship's porthole which then required adapting. This was rarely successful and never fire tested.
DESIGNER: What's the most unusual commission you've had to date?
WATTS: Casting a man's feet in aluminum as a birthday present for his wife.
DESIGNER: Your staircase designs in particular straddle the fine line between ‘art' and ‘design'. Where does the inspiration for these designs come from and to what extent to you believe the two disciplines can go hand in hand?
WATTS:Our staircases are overtly art-based. They're sculpture first and foremost, the fact that you can walk up them is almost secondary. They are routed in the expressive and the aesthetic as I believe this should be the function of a centerpiece.
DESIGNER: What emerging design trends have you identified – are clients' tastes changing and in which ways?
WATTS:We are in reductive times due to a combination of economic, environmental and political factors, which has had a tangible effect on design language. I believe that clients and consumers are looking for high perceived value and are avoiding obvious extravagance and consumption. A new belief in craftsmanship is the future.
DESIGNER: What projects are you working on now and how do you envisage your work developing in the future?
WATTS:This year we have four new interiors for Yo!Sushi and a couple for Bistot Pierre. Product-wise there will be two new launches at 100% Design in September and at the end of February we will have completed our biggest ever installation in Birmingham's Custard Factory - a five story sculpture punctured by three glass bridges.
Philip Watts Design: www.philipwattsdesign.com
