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To
sit down and write one’s own design philosophy after years
in the profession was a new experience. I had never consciously
thought about it before as solutions just seemed to flow from
my intuitive, but rational approach to meeting design challenges.
In order to identify a driving force in my work I looked back
at projects over the years, and to more recent ones, and identified
that they first and foremost reflected the function of the product,
whether it be visual identity graphics, yacht interiors or architecture.
The aesthetic qualities were there but they materialized, almost
by osmosis, when the functional prerequisites were first addressed.
From about age six I made model
boats - later messing around in boats, building, sailing and
racing them. When one deals with the aerodynamics of sailing
and yacht racing you soon realize that anything that is not
purely functional or essential to efficiency and high performance
must be eliminated. As with nature, yachts teach you that
real beauty of form is born out of pure function and this
was an early lesson and a guiding principle in my approach
to design. Essentially this is what separates design from
the visual arts and what makes it harder, and to me ultimately
more rewarding and relevant. It is this approach that has
allowed me to make a seamless transition across into various
design disciplines and to be constantly challenged by new
and varied tasks – creating innovative solutions that
are driven by rational decision making but executed with an
intuitive essence that is often hard to define.
Bret de Thier
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“There is nothing, absolutely nothing,
quite like messing around in boats”
-Toad, from Wind in the Willows
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