Lovely Pigeon has become Tom Pigeon and although I’ve interviewed Lovely Pigeon founder Kirsty before, I thought it was time to interview her again alongside husband Pete, who has now joined the team. We talked inspirations, the importance of hard work, and of course favourite colours!
What’s the most important thing to know about you?
Kirsty: We make simple crafted objects for people to enjoy
Pete: I’m quite boring – I’m not sure what’s most important, but I have a tendency to come across as a little intense. So it’s probably important to know that I’m quite nice really!
When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?
K: Something sporty
P: A designer
And now?!
K: A designer
Pete: Still a designer!
How did you first get into designing and making?
K: I studied a very generic design degree which made me a bit of a jack of all trades, then I worked in the fashion industry, design retail and art and design education. I set up Lovely Pigeon whilst still teaching art at the local high school and took the plunge into full time designing around four years ago. Pete joined the company a few months ago and Tom Pigeon took shape from there.
P: I did a foundation course in my home town of Liverpool that I loved but it put me off going to university for years. Then after a string of supermarket jobs and failed businesses I finally went back to university to study design, met some great people and together we decided we should set up a really good product design agency as we didn’t think there was one in Liverpool at the time. This was the start of Uniform which is now one of the leading design agencies in the UK.
What inspires your designs?
K: My surroundings. We live and work in a small fishing village on the East coast of Scotland. I am inspired by the colours, shapes and angles in the local harbour, ice cream colours and type from fishing boats and travelling fairs. I also love midcentury design, Scandi style, flea markets and traditional crafts. So quite a lot inspires me on a daily basis!
P: I like the constraints of a brief as I think that design is really a process that responds to a set of conditions. So generally all the stuff that comes with the brief inspires me. When I do go off on a tangent, I’ll tend to write my own brief – at least in my head. That said, I’m a bit of type geek. And of course I’m inspired by other designers – I tend to like pretty minimal stuff.
How do you overcome creative block?
K: It doesn’t happen that often, I have so many ideas in my head of things I want to do!
P: I don’t get it either. If I follow a process, the creative bit just follows on from the rest.
Talk me through your design and making process from initial idea to final product?
P: We don’t have any particular rules about how we work or what we do, but over time we’ve developed some principles that guide us. We follow a simple process that starts with us getting inspired and informed. If we’re working to commission we’ll do as much research as possible, speaking to people, understanding the opportunity and then establish a set of insights that forms the basis for the rest of the project and establishes the project direction. Then I’ll look for inspiration that builds on the insights.
We work through loads of ideas, experiment and test things out until we reach a clear route that we, and anyone we’re working with, are happy about. We refine it, question it, play a little more and eventually finalise our detailed design. Because we make a lot of what we design, the next stage usually involves us turning our design into something you can touch or hold. Often we’ll make it ourselves in our studio in Cellardyke, or we’ll work with other people who can do stuff we can’t to get it made. We normally sell the things we make and at that point we talk with our customers and listen to what they say and the process starts again.
We try to keep our work simple, getting rid of anything that seems unnecessary, until we’re left with something that feels right. It’s part process, part intuition – and it changes from project to project. We think it’s good to make the most of materials and processes and making stuff makes us happy. So does working with other people who really know and care about their craft. All this means we’re always trying to better understand our process and improve our work, which helps to ensure its quality and make it affordable. We really care about what we do and the people we do it for. Whether we’re talking to our customers, supplying our retailers or designing for our clients, we make sure we listen and do our best to make people happy. We think that it’s worth trying to make things better and our work is designed to be enjoyed.
I think what I have noticed over the last few years is that I’ve been designing now for so long that most of the process has become quite intuitive.
What is your favourite part of the process?
K: Drawing, collecting inspiration, sampling with new materials.
P: I like the process itself as much as the elements of it. I have a great deal of faith that if I follow the process then it will all come out fine. But I guess I like the ideas the most, closely followed by the detailing. Although sometimes nothing beats actually making stuff.
What’s your favourite tool?
K: I have a love-hate relationship with my metalwork file.
P: I really like Illustrator – in fact I am an Illustrator geek. But I get fed up sitting at a computer all day – so probably my pencil.
Describe a really good day and a really bad day in the life of Tom Pigeon.
K: A good day starts late and ends early with a long lunch, ideally some kind of meeting to make it feel like I did something, and maybe with some wine in there too!
A bad day is print coming back wrong – that is always quite stressful, or dealing with shouty people.
What are you most proud of?
K: I am really proud of how the Pigeon studio has grown and developed over the past six years. We are so lucky to be working with some of our favourite retail and gallery spaces and developing exclusive projects for some really exciting people and places.
P: I’m proud of what we achieved at Uniform and that all of us who set it up are still friends. Getting nominated for Designs of the Year last year felt like I’d left a bit of a mark somewhere, but I find it difficult to take pride in awards as they’re not something you can control or affect. I think I’m proud of the fact that I keep taking risks, trying new things and most of the time, I get away with it.
What advice would you give to a new designer?
P: There are a few things that are really important: You need to know who you are and what you’re about – you need to have some values as these will help you to make decisions, so take some time and work out what it is you do and what you want. I think where you study makes a big difference, mostly for the connections into the industry – it’s worth taking the time to find out where your design heroes studied or if they’re connected to any courses. You need to have self-belief and ambition, but you also need to be able to listen and learn. I learn something new almost every day at the moment. Finally, I think if you’re enjoying it, it shows… but make sure you put the hours in too – whatever the job is you need to work really hard if you want to get somewhere great.
Why was it important for you to take part in London Design Festival?
Living on the East Coast of Scotland, doing LDF once a year feels like a great way to connect with the industry as a whole on a global platform. I always meet really interesting people and there’s loads of great opportunities.
And finally, what’s your favourite colour?
K: Too tricky, it changes on a daily basis. Today it’s green.
P: I don’t have one… I like white but I don’t think that counts.
Further reading for the especially geeky: