Tom Chung – industrial designer
“I’ve always been super interested in objects and taking things apart and fixing them”
A peek inside Tom Chung’s studio! We talked about his passion, entrepreneurship and the future.
“Hi, my name is Tom Chung. I’m an industrial designer from Canada who’s been living in Rotterdam for 3 years now, and this is my studio.”
If you were allowed to make or reshape only one single object for the rest of your life, what object would that be?
“I would have to say, thinking about the home as a total object because I’m super interested in like built-ins and this kind of thing, so maybe like a living pod of some sort.”
Where does your passion for design come from?
“I’ve always been super interested in objects and taking things apart and fixing them. So I think that’s how I started getting into design.”
Did you always know you wanted to be a designer?
“No, I was going to go into engineering first, but then I didn’t have good enough grades so I went to art school, and that was a very good decision I think.”
How do your personality and your designs come together? Do you work with specific core values?
“I think most of the things I design are really simple, come together in a pretty smart way, and I try to design with sustainability and a long-lasting lifespan in mind. I’m not sure how that reflects my personality, but I would say that that’s what I try to do in my work.”
What inspires you?
“I’m inspired by everything that I experience, so just walking around, looking at pretty mundane things, but then also going to visit museums. And I’m also super inspired by the work of my friends and seeing what they push themselves to do.”
What’s your best advice for future designers?
“When I talk to younger designers, I try to encourage them to be entrepreneurial and not just try to emulate the existing sort of structures of how design studios operate.”
What does Kees De Boekhouder mean to you?
“I think having an in-person accountant as well as online software is super useful. It keeps everything up to date and it means that I don’t have to worry so much about organizing my bookkeeping. I can focus more on the creative.”
