When inspiration takes shape
PROCESS | PROJECTS | EXHIBITIONS | LECTURES | PRESS
From Art to Design
Design, spanning from practical industrial design to emotive art, is a complex constellation rather than a linear spectrum. While industrial design delivers mass-produced items, art stirs emotion through aesthetics. Bridging these extremes are three pivotal pillars: radical design challenging conventions, studio craft emphasizing individual creativity, and practice-based research propelling intellectual rigor.
Three types of objects
There are three types of objects: functional and rational aligned with the Bauhaus school, romantic and metaphorical like Starck's (in)practical juicer, and those we treasure because they inexplicably make us remember. Those that solve, those that opine, and those that represent. Those that have characteristics, those that have concepts, and those that we permeate with our memories.
Two types of furniture
"The imitation of antique furniture symbolizes aspiration and the imitation of modern furniture symbolizes status. Generally, the first is in the home and the second in the office, sometimes one or the other in both, and rarely the reverse".
What is a designer?
After so many years of designing and teaching, I decided to start another project, bringing together all of the lessons, comments, texts, books, videos and other information that has served me to be a better person and, as a consequence, a better designer.
Interview by Rosanna Robertson: Purity of Concept and Artistic Integrity in the work of Joel Escalona
Mexico City boasts a vast array of materials and methods of production, and Joel Escalona has the critical eye and singular vision of the artist – and the combination of the two results in objects of great beauty and character which sit comfortably on both sides of the form-function divide. In fact, Escalona notes that often, for him, “the function is just an excuse to make an artwork – the chance to make an idea into something.”
What is happiness?
Happiness is an abstract term, meaning different things to different people. Everyone has preconceived notions of what happiness is and how they can achieve it. Happiness is more like poetry than science or math. That's why there is no algorithm for achieving it, but we can compare concepts to understand it, practice it, and achieve it.
The Commercial Value of Design
In an article published by McKinsey, the authors point out that value design must encourage analytical leadership, it must be trans-discipline or rather trans-departmental, it must happen at all times and it is better if it merges the digital world with the physical one to enhance the experience of the entire service.
AI VS Designers
After doing some exercises with DALLE where the result is something that I would have liked to have drawn, I get the question: could artificial intelligence replace designers at some point?
Balance review by designaholic.mx
En este episodio, JD y Alex analizan ‘Balance’ por Joel Escalona diseñado en 2018. A través de materiales y procesos con distintos pesos estéticos se crearon 10 piezas que desafían las leyes del equilibrio partiendo de un mismo concepto.
designaholic.mx
In this episode, JD talks with Joel Escalona about his beginnings and how from an early age he was already making noise on the most important stages of the design world. Joel also shared how his vision of design has changed over the years.
Design Manifesto
As you can see, I like rules, order, and lists. Because there are things that are important and there are things that are not, and it's good to write them down to remember them. Now more than ever, we must focus on things that deserve our attention.
Manifesto
My father taught me three things very well: first, perfectly organizing a toolbox (an activity that everyone in my studio must do at some point); second, greet everyone when you arrive somewhere, it's a matter of education and humility; and third, rigor. My father knew very well how to teach me the meaning of rigor through example and compliance with rules.
Montblanc Magazine: Joel Escalona - Design inspired by People
For Joel Escalona, the world is a place of unlimited inspiration. A tad. a pan: You will find everyday products like these in the portfolio of the Mexican designer. Why? Because it's people that inspire him - and given there are over seven billion in the world, that makes tor quite a number of inspiring subjects, and an even higher number or possible ideas. How can ideas help people? This is one of desian's most fundamental questions.
Sketch therefore prototype
Sketches are quick, timely, inexpensive, disposable and plentiful, have a clear vocabulary, have a constrained gesture and an appropriate degree of refinement, are ambiguous and more important “suggest & explore rather than confirm” — sketches don’t “tell” they “suggest”*