Our Marketing & Design Intern, Hannah Gray, had the opportunity to talk with some of our Speaking in Species artists. In this Q&A, Hannah learns about Richard Prisco's use of mixed media in his furniture.
Why do you do what you do?
I teach industrial design and furniture design because I love furniture, putting things together and building things. I want to pass that on and inspire a love for building furniture…
Do students’ ideas ever influence your work, or do you ever bounce things off of them?
I’ll have a student work with me sometimes if there’s a detail problem, we’ll discuss it and determine what the best solution might be.
How do you decide which materials to use? What makes you decide to combine mixed media?
For this piece in particular (points to Out of the Blue) I wanted to work with cast glass, and figure out how to work with that into a bench. I enjoy making benches. A lot of my work has to deal with the blending of materials; for me, the question is how can you put steel, metal, concrete, wood, and maybe another material, together in the best way.
How did you get to where you are right now?
It’s been a long road. My undergrad is in industrial design so I did a lot of product design and civic design. I always enjoyed the fabrication aspect of it. At the end of the day, I like checking off that I designed something that will be produced and enjoyed by many. The reward came from fabricating something by hand, and making something that will actually last. That’s pretty much how I switched to furniture design.
Anything else you’d like to add?
This is a great show. Brent did a great job. It’s an interesting and diverse group of work, and it’s great to be here.
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