embryo alight

Design has been part of his life since he was a young boy, says Ebrahim Assur, one of Design Indaba’s 2013 Emerging Creatives and final-year student at Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Loving the playfulness of his Boomerang lamp, we sat him down to find out more.

When you were little, what did you think you would grow up to be?
A builder of some sort, like of houses and cars.

Your Embellic lamp is intriguing. Tell us more. 
It was inspired by the word “birth”; I wanted to incorporate the idea into my work. While researching the various types of births, I came across the process of metamorphosis. And so the Embellic lamp was born as a metaphor for the birth of life.

Do you work according to a plan or inspiration?
Both. Sometimes something inspires and intrigues me more than a product that I had planned to design. For example, my Boomerang desk lamps were inspirational pieces, while the Ellano lounge chair was a planned design.

What do you dream of designing?
I would love to design high-quality, multifunctional products for everyone, everywhere: from furniture, electronics and everyday products to one-off designer pieces.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
Owning my own design studio, happily married, travelling the world. Designing great products and building my creative studio, the EB brand, step by step.

• 076 451 6169, ebi_assur@yahoo.com