What inspired you to found Tak Design, and how do you ensure your products stand out in the crowded surface design market?
I had an opportunity to learn about materials while working as an interior designer at gpstudio in London. As I spent more time designing spaces, I was fascinated by how you utilise different materials to create a space. It is like cooking. You would need a lot of ingredients to make great spiced curry, but on another dish, you only need a few great ingredients to cook amazing pasta.
Material plays a huge role in interior design, and I found my huge interest in the power of materiality, especially how each material calls human senses in different ways. After many experiments with different materials, I established a material-led practice called Studio Neutraal (now: Tak Design & workshop) to explore more about materials in design. We tend not to focus on standing out in the design field, but on creating unique material that is well-crafted with quality materials such as pure indigo dye and other earthy pigments. In this way, we believe our work can be seen by like-minded people.
Can you delve into the specific techniques and creative processes involved in developing terrazzo surfaces at Tak Design?
Terrazzo was created by Italian artisans about 600 years ago who used marble stone. They had a lot of small pieces of marble stone waste on the construction site, so they started to make something out of them. It is born as a sustainable material, and at Tak, we follow the same principle.
We always look for any waste associated with our natural dye terrazzo. In our recent project, we found some construction waste on-site and decided to use it for a kitchen worktop mixed with our natural dye terrazzo. As a result, we reduce some waste from construction sites. Being open-minded and flexible is very important during the design development stages. This would lead us to a good collaborative way of working with materials and other businesses.
How does Tak Design balance the creative aspects of surface design with the technical challenges of producing bespoke products?
In my studio, it is all about testing and making and repeating the process to finalise the design as well as the technical side. We find the right moment during the process when the colour scheme and terrazzo patterns are of a high standard.
Design-wise, marble terrazzo is quite tricky as we cannot control 100% how a marble pattern comes out. Yet, our biggest challenge most of the time with bespoke projects is making bespoke moulds. Each project requires different sizes and shapes. However, there now exists an instant mould-making machine invented by Mayku. This helps sample mould-making much more easily for smaller projects.
This year (2024), we are working on a housing kitchen worktop project in London. It is the largest project we ever received, so size-wise it is a challenging one. Yet, this kind of challenge allows us to learn new knowledge during the work process, so we are excited to work with new bespoke projects.
How has the transition from working in traditional interior design roles to focusing on surface design influenced Tak Design's view on the future of interior spaces?
New materials bring unique textures and colours to the design field these days. It really inspires me to think about what kind of space can be created with them. Personally, I would like to design an interior space with sustainable surface design where you can feel nature, or a sort of relaxation atmosphere.
Maybe, we can call it a well-balanced space. For example, in Japanese traditional houses, there is a room called “Chasitu" Tea Ceremony room. It is usually constructed with a tatami mat, natural plaster walls, and quality woodwork.
Translating traditional design into a modern version with new surface materials is an interesting challenge for me.
