Page 22 - Designing Ways 257

INTERVIEW Adam Court

Interview with Adam Court

OKHA

DW-When was it founded and where do are irregular, sort of random organic
you operate now? How has it expanded? movements as well, and it's about
Adam: definition. We have a tendency to want to
OKHA was founded in 1997, in Cape define everything and put things in boxes,
Town. Over the last three years we have and I'm actually celebrating ambiguity,
expanded massively overseas, we have put celebrating the fact that it defies definition.
a lot of effort into stimulating the overseas It's quite humorous in a way.
market. We started about three years ago,
now we have 14 design gallery showrooms DW-What are the materials that you have
that represent us overseas. Really amazing used and why?
showrooms in Dallas, New York, Atlanta, Adam:
LA, Paris, London, Perth, Sydney and Timber, massive solid slabs of timber, all
Warsaw. naturally fallen timbers, and I've kind of

DW-What is your philosophy on design?
Adam: Ambiguous collection
I really like substance, weight, mass.
You know, I like things to have a sense
of permanence. This kind of table, the
structure of it, the mass, the volume of it.
100 years from now it's still going to exist.
I really believe in longevity. To me good
design has longevity. Fast design isn't for
me, and sustainability is really big part of
our standards.

DW-What is the inspiration behind the
Ambiguous forms collection?
Adam:
Ambiguity is the fact that the shape
itself is ambiguous. Is it geometric? Is
it organic, because it is actually? If you
look at the shape of these tables, there's
a lot of geometry involved. Then there

Ambiguous collection

Ambiguous collection Ambiguous collection

22 Issue 257 • dw