Rising Star: Philip Kramer

Kramer Design first blipped on our radar at Cape Town Furniture Week 2023 with a trio of vastly different objects. Who designs a light, a table – and a speaker? Philip Kramer, that’s who.

WORDS Steve Smith PHOTOS Supplied

In a purposely low-lit enclave at Cape Town Furniture Week 2023 was an otherworldly panel – part wall lamp, part gateway to Xanadu. Philip Kramer’s Gradient light wasn’t just mesmerising to look at; closer inspection revealed exceptional build quality with beautifully assembled LEDs within a sold walnut frame. Next to that was a metal coff ee table called Merge, which looked like a camera aperture – and next to that was a hi-fi speaker also bearing the Kramer Design logo.

While the light and the table sat more comfortably within the CTFW exhibition (his light won the New Design Award for lighting at the inaugural CTFW x VISI awards), the speaker was a different story. Called “Open Baffle”, it featured a black woofer in the middle of a cream-coloured cabinet, with a massive horn tweeter perched above that. It gave off a strong retro-futurist vibe – of someone in 1930 imagining what a speaker would look like in the distant 2020s.

From a design point of view, it was a pretty disparate – though intriguing – combination of items; minimalist, techy and a bit retro all at once. In hindsight, and having seen the work he’s produced since, Philip’s idiosyncratic approach to design is starting to pull focus. Think Commodore 64 computer meets Atari game console and Japandi minimalism. I don’t think we’ve ever been more intrigued to ask…

How did you become a designer?

“When I was growing up, I was always taking things apart and ‘modifying’ them. My dad was hands-on, putting up shelves and things like that, so I think at an early age I was dimly aware that your environment is highly changeable – if it doesn’t suit you, you can make it suit you. That mentality was simmering away in the background.

“I studied to be an animator, but in 2008 the stock market crashed, so I was out of work. I started DJ-ing full time. Then I ran a recording studio – Phantom Sound – for a few years. When my flatmate at the time told me he was moving out, and asked about the furniture (all thrifted), I told him to take it. I wanted to try making a table that fi t the space.

“People were immediately more interested in my first attempt at a dining table than anything that was happening at the recording studio – and since I’ve always liked to make things, I began to pivot towards that.

“Beyond that, I’m self-taught. I watched a lot of YouTube videos, and I just tried (and tried… and tried). Acquiring a sense of design alongside the physical skills came fairly naturally. Anyway, if you zoom out, it all factored into it, in one way or another. Shelves, speakers… that’s definitely not an accident!”

Describe your aesthetic.

“My aesthetic is soft and approachable; if anything, it really leans on the look and design of old computers and old electronics. It can also be quite brutal, but I don’t think those ideas are mutually exclusive. The Open Baffle speakers in particular are Brutalism to me, but when you play music through them, or introduce colour, and they get softer. Speakers can easily have a ‘hard’ feel; I try to counteract that. Art Deco creeps in as well, especially when I look at the Gradient light. It wasn’t an intentional nod, but if I look at it, I can see it.”

What is “good” design?

“Usability is very important. Putting a switch in an aesthetically pleasing place that makes it inherently difficult or frustrating to use – even if it’s slight – that’s a hallmark of poor design to me. Making something that you know how to use, but a client will not – that’s bad. The number of tables I’ve seen that are so delicate that their owners are almost afraid to use them is absurd. You need to be able to insert yourself into the mindset of a person who isn’t privy to the deep inner workings, and just wants something beautiful and functional.

“I think a lot about the user experience. I’ve learnt the hard way that if you make something complicated and hand it over, you are on permanent call to fix it if it breaks. Keeping maintenance and repairability in mind is crucial. Making something that needs to be destroyed to be repaired is the true mark of a fool. I would know!”

What inspires you?

“I’ll start by saying that I very seldom intentionally look at design in a formal sense. I don’t page through books of chairs and tables and lamps, or anything like that; I don’t consult online references such as Pinterest. Everyone is different, but if I saw an ‘answer’ there that someone came up with, I would immediately feel like the ‘problem’ had been solved – and I would get stuck mentally.

“Looking at endless chairs in the pursuit of designing a chair is insane to me. I like to keep my eyes open, and find little details or ideas or things that interest me organically in the world – like if I’m watching a movie and I see a combination of colours (the Gradient light colour scheme came from a scene in a fi lm); or if I find something in the trash; or I watch an old man on YouTube make a boat; or I walk past a building (the Shutter light references the Victorian house I grew up in).

“I stay vigilant. I think about what I personally want or need or feel is unavailable. I wait until something irritates me or feels inadequate. That, to me, is design thinking. Between those experiences and approaches, all of which are ‘natural’, I never run out of ideas or things I want to try.”

What interests you outside of design?

“If you look at the work, it’s all in there, for better or for worse: vintage computers; video games… I enjoy rock climbing; I run a small film festival with two friends called the After Hours Film Festival, so movies and movie theatres are important to me. I still DJ sporadically – and I still love it. Otherwise, the driving force in my life is making things. I’d do it regardless.”

Which of your pieces is your favourite?

“I don’t want to cheat here, but it really is difficult to pick a favourite. One is the Quiet cabinet, which had such a long, troubled gestation – to the point of nearly being totally abandoned and sold for scrap. It was ultimately saved by exactly what I described above: I was taking a walk one day, two or three years after I’d fi st made it, and the way to alter it suddenly occurred to me. Then Danilo (the client) suggested the colour based on his CI, which I was initially sceptical about – but now it totally worked.

“The other favourites are the Gradient light, which I like as a pure design object that went through multiple revisions; and the Open Baffle speakers, which are a bit of a turning point for me in terms of ‘makeability’. It’s something that works very well, looks good, and is specifically made to be reproduced. It uses so many processes, digital and handmade. It’s very futuristic to me.”

Who has been your biggest local and international design influence?

“Locally, I find the work of Jordan Bailiff and Rupert Green both interesting and idiosyncratic; and James Mudge has a kind of understated consistency that I like. I’d be remiss not to mention other people whose work doesn’t fi t the mainstream design category – like Jack Dower (who makes the most beautiful surfboards, and photographs them beautifully too – I don’t surf or have any extra interest in the topic); and steel bicycle frame-maker David Mercer, who is an incredible craftsman.

“Internationally, I fi nd the work of Love Hultén and HAND HiFi to be in alignment with the kind of thing that I do. And I like the products made by Analogue – they were truly at the vanguard of modern design (as pertaining to video games); and I was inspired when I saw their products years and years ago. I have a lot of respect for people who do and make things, and I’m not sure how they are done or made when I look at them. That’s an important benchmark for me. Everyone I’ve mentioned I believe has formidable skills – both in design and in execution.”

Any new designs currently in the works?

“I’m working on a new top-of-the-line loudspeaker that I think will be truly outrageous when it’s finished. I have multiple new lights, a stackable metal shelving unit, a keyboard… Loads of different things coming up. I’m trying to round out what I consider to be weaknesses in the lineup!” | @philipdkramer

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