Mimi Shodeinde x 设计 | 平淡而诗意

英籍尼日利亚艺术家兼设计师Mimi Shodeinde将她的作品描述为“艺术美学与建筑学科”的平衡行为。其作品体现了运动的诗意。这位自学成才的家具设计师于2015年在伦敦创立了她的室内设计和家具工作室

Minimat Designs

。她从多种影响中汲取灵感，通过蜿蜒流动的形式创造出平淡而诗意的设计。她的家具、灯光和物品都受到她感兴趣的事物的影响，包括自然、旅行和航空。她的风格不拘一格，流畅、精致、实用，但力求为每个项目注入自己的个性。

A balancing act of “an artistic aesthetic with architectural discipline” is how British Nigerian artist and designer Mimi Shodeinde describes her work. She is work embodies the poetry of movement.The largely self-taught furniture designer founded her London-based interior design and furniture studio, Miminat Designs in 2015.She draws from multiple influences to create designs that are prosaic and poetic through a sinuous fluidity of form.  Her furniture, lighting and objects are all influenced by the things she is interested in, including nature, travel and aviation. Defying categorisation, her style is fluid, sophisticated and functional but seeks to imbue each project with a personality of its own.

Shodeinde的设计巧妙地将工艺与创新结合在一起，打破了形式与功能之间的关系。她的作品通常被描述为艺术与设计之间的裂缝，她的设计类似于诗歌，其中有木材、金属和皮革。以Oscar系列为例，它简洁地代表了她作品的视觉语言。Oscar椅子由油彩红木制成，由优雅的曲线表面和摆动曲线组成，似乎在运动中被冻结。同样，Oscar灯柔和的曲线捕捉到形式的流动性。对Shodeinde来说，家具是一种艺术表现形式，她对此充满热情。

Shodeinde’s designs skillfully dovetail craftsmanship and innovation, breaking down the relationship between form and function. Often described as objects that lay in the crevasse between art and design, her designs are akin to poetry in which wood, metal, and leather take shape. Take for instance the Oscar series, which succinctly represents the visual language of her body of work. The Oscar Chair, crafted in oil-stained mahogany, is made up of elegant curvilinear surfaces and whiplash curves which seem to be frozen in motion. Similarly, the gentle curve of the Oscar Lamp captures the fluidity of form. To Shodeinde, furniture is a form of artistic expression, one that she is passionate about.

当被问及她的创作过程时，Shodeinde称其为“流动多于固定”，并补充道:“我的思维方式让我有无穷无尽的灵感。我想你可以把这些叫做微观影响，我似乎记得某些旅行，某些场景，某些配乐，它们点燃了我的小火苗，然后变成了大火。我一直对艺术、音乐和建筑很感兴趣——我睡觉和醒来都在思考设计，这就是我的一部分。”从她的尼日利亚传统到音乐，甚至是历史人物，一系列的兴趣和好奇心贯穿了她的工作。

When asked about her process Shodeinde called it“more fluid than fixed”, adding,“The way my mind works, I have endless inspirations. I guess you could call these micro influences, I seem to remember certain trips, certain scenes, certain soundtracks, that spark this small flame that turns into a larger fire. I have always been interested in art, music, architecture - I go to bed and wake up thinking about design, it's just a part of who I am.”A range of interests and curiosities informs her work from her Nigerian heritage to music to even historical figures.

Shodeinde的灵感部分来自于她自身的女性气质。她回忆道:“我喜欢女性的身体及其流畅的形状，我发现自己被曲线和任何有机流动的东西所吸引。我认为女性的身体有一种与生俱来的蜿蜒和优美，这无疑也在有意识和潜意识中影响着我设计的雕塑形式"。

Part of Shodeinde’s inspiration stems from her own femininity. She recounts,“I love the female body and its fluidity of form, and I find myself drawn toward curves and anything that flows organically. I think there’s something innately sinuous and graceful about the female body and that definitely consciously and subconsciously influences the sculptural form of my designs too.”

Shodeinde从很小的时候就对设计充满热情，她的作品集展示了她所拥有的关怀和专业的工匠态度。她认为，由于我们使用、接触和互动的一切都始于设计，因此它必须处于可持续发展的最前沿，因为它影响着我们的日常生活。作为当今最具个性和思想的设计师之一，Shodeinde的作品颠覆了人们对功能设计的期望：既女性化又野兽派，既轻松又优雅。

Shodeinde has been passionate about design from a very young age, and her portfolio showcases the care and expert artisan attitude she possesses. She believes that since everything we use, touch and interact with, starts with design, it must be at the forefront of sustainability as it informs our daily lives. One of the most individual and thoughtful designers working today, Shodeinde’s body of work subverts the expectations of what functional design is: at once feminine and brutalist, relaxed and elegant.

Q1：请描述一下你的作品。 

Describe what you make.

Mimi Shodeinde：

我设计家具、灯具、雕塑品以及室内空间。我的雕塑设计作品旨在打破形式与功能之间的关系，让艺术与设计相互交融。我的作品将艺术美学与建筑规律完美结合，我所创造的空间体现出一种轻松的优雅。

I design furniture, lighting, and sculptural objects, as well as interior spaces. With my sculptural design pieces I aim to break down the relationship between form and function, allowing art and design to intersect. My work dovetails an artistic aesthetic with architectural discipline and the spaces I create embody a relaxed elegance.

Q2：请描述你的作品所能解决的问题是什么？

Describe what problem your work solves?

Mimi Shodeinde：

我的家具作品具有雕塑感，弥补了市场对融合创新与工艺的当代宣言作品的空白。我的作品力求探索传统的手工艺方式，并与主要位于英国的一小队工匠合作。这使得我的作品独具特色，将雕塑般的现代感与古老的工艺相结合。

My furniture work is sculptural and bridges a gap in the market for contemporary statement pieces that merge innovation with craft. My practice seeks to explore traditional ways of craftsmanship and I work with a small team of artisans primarily based in the UK. This makes for quite unique pieces that combine sculptural modernity with age-old techniques.

Q3：您的设计过程是怎样的？一件家具在你的脑海中是如何开始的？或者当你设计一个新空间时，你的出发点是什么？

What is your design process? How does a piece of furniture start in your mind? Or when you’re designing a new space, what is your starting point?

Mimi Shodeinde：

我不会说我有一个设计过程。实际上，我从一切事物中汲取灵感。无论是建筑、自然还是音乐，所有的东西--我知道这听起来很荒谬，但所有的东西都能激发我的灵感。我会有一个想法，然后让它在我的脑海中沉淀一段时间，可能是一天，也可能是两周，让这个想法完全结晶。一旦这样做了，我就会把它写在纸上：我开始画草图，如果有兴致，我会用纸片、蓝胶、铝箔或身边的任何东西制作小模型。

I wouldn’t say I have a design process. I pull references from everything, really. Whether it’s architecture, nature or music, everything – I know that sounds ridiculous – but everything really inspires me. I would have an idea of something and I will let it sit in my head for a while – it could be a day, two weeks – so the idea fully crystallises. Once I’ve done that, I then take it to paper: I start sketching, if I’m in the mood I’d make little models from bits of paper or Blu Tack, or foil, or whatever I have around me.