Design Inspiration: Gonçalo Campos of WEWOOD

INTERVIEWED BY Malibongwe Tyilo

WEWOOD is a Portuguese furniture joinery, founded in 2010, that prides itself on combining the creativity of talented designers and craftspeople. The role its design director, 29-year-old Gonçalo Campos plays in driving this craft-centric vision cannot be underestimated.

In past interviews, he has always stated that his greatest sources of inspiration are the materials themselves, the processes that they go through, and the skills of individual craftspeople. We caught up with him to pick his brain on design, craft and WEWOOD.

What attracted you to WEWOOD?

WEWOOD is a very interesting brand because of the specific limitation of working with solid wood. This is a challenge I had never faced and having this constraint is useful for digging deeper and exploring what has not yet been done. As design director I’m in the rare position of being between the company and the designers we collaborate with. This gives me the privilege of understanding, helping and learning from both sides. Also, the incredible heart and ambition of the WEWOOD team has made it a challenge impossible to refuse.

Is there a particular craft that you are especially inspired by at the moment?

What fascinates me most about craftspeople is their knowledge and experience; all the solutions and processes they find to create an object. They often understand everything about a product, starting from how the material is sourced and processed to the building and finishing. This deep knowledge of the material and techniques and its drawbacks and possibilities are what impresses me the most. Right now I am still amazed at woodworkers and how they instinctively understand the behaviour of the material and its limits.

You’ve also mentioned that humour is an important part of your design aesthetic. How do you actually translate it into your pieces?

Humour is a very attractive feature. It creates a link and an emotion that is hard to match. There is no conscious way in which I try to include humour in my work, but it often comes from reframing problems and finding unexpected solutions that help make it more unique and surprising.

For designers that are just starting off, what is the key piece of advice you would give them in order to ensure that they maintain and sustain a strong design signature?

The best advice is to not over think. Develop your work until you are absolutely happy with it. Understand that it takes time and dedication and that there is always something more to learn and to improve upon.

If you had to choose three items that you feel are the perfect representation of your aesthetic from the WEWOOD range, which items would you pick?

As time has gone by, the brand has developed and found its place, so I think the products that best represent WEWOOD’s aesthetic are the most recent ones:

• The X2 Book Shelf is a versatile product that can shift its shape to adapt to the user’s needs

• The extremely functional Scaffold Sofa carries a great amount of storage space

• The Skarpa Sideboard perfectly showcases the company’s know-how and level of excellence

Visit wewood.eu for more information and to view the full collection.