Pepe García
1. Please give us a brief bio of yourself and your background.
I
2. What made you become/why did you choose to become a product designer?
I wasn't in the search of my profession, but my profession found me. I don
3. Tell us more about your business/company, job profile, and what you do.
CuldeSac is one of the most multifaceted studios of the Spanish outlook. Internationally recognized, it was founded in Valencia in 2002 as a small creative space. Back then, it was driven by the ambition of exploring, sharing knowledge and talent to grow within the local market. Nowadays, after 20 years of projects carried out inside and outside Spain, it has consolidated its role as a strategic and design company. Through an interdisciplinary approach, CuldeSac develops ideas and explores alternative routes to deliver outstanding design.
4. What does “design” mean to you?
Design for me is
5. What’s your favorite kind of design and why?
We love those projects that push the visible limits, that make us
6. To you, what makes a “good” design?
Good design for us is a complex exercise of simplicity. Is not about
7. Describe your design style and its main characteristics.
As a collective, and regardless of its scale and scope, we define each new challenge with our own methodology: The CuldeSac Method. A formula that incorporates strategic conceptualization and the sum of interdisciplinary visions in each phase. This approach is nourished by an open space for exploration and experimentation, an ecosystem where the union of different profiles multiplies and empowers the team, allowing us to offer innovative and disruptive solutions.
8. Tell us about your design process.
When we approach a new project, we don't focus on its future
9. Do you think your country and its cultural heritage has an impact on your design process?
Spain is fortunate to have an artisan background that has encouraged us to think qualitatively when we design. Spanish design is ingenious, and a bit of a hustler. In most of the local companies the production capabilities are very limited, so you must creatively turn that limitation into something powerful and this is how a designer becomes an
10. Congratulations! As the winner of the 2022 NY Product Design Awards, what does it mean to you and your company and team to receive this award distinction?
We feel very honored to be recognised with such a great distinction. This award not only puts our project in the international industrial scene, but also confirms that we are following the right path and delivering meaningful design to improve people
11. Can you explain a bit about the winning work you entered into the 2022 NY Product Design Awards, and why you chose to enter this project?
F SolidPod is an ergonomic applicator for a rechargeable line of natural gel and shampoo bars made from recycled materials running a durability of 10 years. The beauty of this project is not its fine and functional aesthetic, but its potentiality to generate a reduced carbon footprint and become an alternative solution to the excess of single-use packaging in the cosmetics industry and personal care industry.
12. What was the biggest challenge with this project?
When our client Freshly Cosmetics approached us with the need of developing alternative solutions to tackle the growing concern of the excess of single use packaging, we initially struggled to understand how to address the right approach. We didn
13. How has winning an award developed your practice/career?
We are very fortunate as a studio. Over the last 20 years our design has been recognized by international top awards. Being distinguished is an extra fuel that pushes further and encourages us to be braver; but the best prize is to see real people using our designs in their daily lives. This is for us the most significant treat.
14. What are your top three (3) favorite things about our industry?
1. The courage, the audacity that certain clients have to face the uncertainty of the unknown.
2. The idea, the vision of permanent improvement, evolution and optimization.
3. The ability to transform the business and their brands through a strategic design process.
15. What makes your country specifically, unique in the design industry?
In the last years, Spanish design has strongly hit the international scene, both in quantity and quality. There is a new generation of fearless designers whose education and vision transcend our own frontiers. Fortunately, Spain is recovering its traditional enterprising spirit
16. Where do you see the evolution of design industry going over the next 5-10 years?
The international crisis we went through over the past two years has accelerated the digitization of all economic sectors: what would have happened in 5 years
17. If you were a student entering this industry or an aspiring NY Product Design Awards submitter, what advice would you give them?
I would advise all students to always trust their gut feeling and keep trying. There is no easy way to succeed. Success is always about the journey and how we commit towards our final goals.
18. What resources would you recommend to someone who wants to improve their skills in the design industry?
I would recommend never losing the
19. Tell us something you have never told anyone else.
Innovation is an internal exercise. A permanent effort of improvement to achieve our best version and not settling for what we are; acknowledging us as our best design, a design that needs to keep improving and polishing it over time.
20. Who has inspired you in your life and why?
Inspiration is nothing but an active way of looking at everything around us, a lively attitude that pushes us to be alert on what
21. What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?
There isn't such a thing as "success". Success for me is about nurturing true motivation to help grow a creative spirit. Having a creative spirit doesn't mean going ahead of others, but ahead of oneself. Creativity is not a crowded marathon; it is a solitary race where motivation and satisfaction are internal and personal. You have no brakes, limits or restrictions beyond your own personal ones, and each successful project is a reflection of your personal greatness.
