Twelve Questions: Simon James

Simon James found what he loved doing at an AUT course. Photo / Chris Gorman

Simon James is one of New Zealand’s most acclaimed furniture designers, whose company Resident is now exporting designer furniture and lighting around the world. Twelve years ago he was working in a cafe to fund his fledgling design business.

1.What was the first piece of furniture you made?
I always had an interest in drawing and architecture and graphics. I'm told I kept my toys in neat piles when I was a child and now I see my son Archie doing the same thing and it freaks the hell out of me! Under our house in Devonport was a big space where I spent many hours exploring and tinkering in an old workshop. Towards the end of secondary school I made my first piece of furniture which was a set of drawers. I decided to put a fish tank on top of it, the drawers collapsed, the fish tank smashed and it flooded the house.

2.What was Devonport like in those days?
It was very different to now. There were all kinds of people living there, a poet next door and lots of craft-based workers. We spent lots of time surfing, swimming and fishing. We caught whitebait by the Devonport Wharf. We were always on the water, taking overnight excursions on dinghies to places close by, or heading out to Great Barrier whenever we had the time. Life felt uncomplicated. My best mates when I was 5 are still some of my best mates today.

3. Were your parents into design?
Um no, not really. My dad was involved in fastenings, had his own distribution business. My mum worked after they split up, when I was nine or 10. I lived with them both - a weekend with one, week with the other. At one stage they lived only eight houses apart. Mum was always renovating houses, she still is but drawing was really something that I just loved.

4. How did you know you could make a living out of it?
I didn't at all. I just believe in doing things you really enjoy and so I went to fine art school but struggled a bit there and after a year went to AUT and did spatial design. I worked with (designer) Matthew von Sturmer during the course and just knew I'd found what I loved. When I first started Simon James Design I would work in a cafe in the mornings and then do this in the afternoons. That lasted about 18 months before I made this my fulltime job.

5. Does furniture really matter?
I'm realistic about what we produce. Most people spend their lifetime with their butt on it. It's just furniture but if it improves a space or improves your environment, I think it's valuable. I think design should be affordable but yeah, it's relative. When I think affordable I think in terms of a dining table that might be $3500 but that in theory should last 15 to 20 years and more if it's looked after. From that point of view it's value for money.

6. You've got a toddler and another baby on the way: has becoming a dad changed the way you design?
I've noticed little things, like corners of tables. Archie learned the hard way with a table at home. He smashed his head a few times. Now perhaps there are a few more rounded corners on things.

7. What do you want to teach your own children?
To learn by exploring, to not to be afraid of a challenge and to respect others. Enjoy the outdoors and how to fillet a fish. I put Archie on my back and took him fly fishing last weekend which was awesome, but I had to watch the back cast.

8. Does New Zealand have its own style, do you think?
I believe so. Because of our size we are a nation of design-makers which brings a craft-based influence to what we produce. We are not fooled by gloss and tend to appreciate honest materials. We're quite understated. I think we're pretty refined in our taste actually.

9. How do you switch off from work?
I start thinking about design the minute I wake up and when I go to bed Monday to Friday but I've found it easier to switch off on the weekend. My sister and brother and I are restoring an old 50s bach at Sandy Bay which is pretty much off the grid. No cellphone. I can fish and surf there. I do get stressed about work but the weekends off have really helped. I think it's important for creativity too.

10. Have you ever doubted your own abilities?
Absolutely. I struggle at times, coming up with ideas or making something we think is good. But I'm a lot more comfortable with mistakes now than I was five years ago. Some of our better work has come through initially making a mistake. Three of us came up with this idea of creating a lighting system that would connect by magnets and the electricity would pass through the magnets too. But it failed miserably. We'd invested a lot of time and a bit of money in it, and our first release in Milan was coming up really quickly so we decided we should keep the hexagon shape but simplify it and just make the light. Now it's one of our best-selling pendant lights.

11. What kind of a consumer are you?
I normally know exactly what I'm looking for, I don't shop often but when I do I don't procrastinate. I would rather spend a little more buying something that I know is going to last than something for the short term. Half of the items I buy now would be online.

12. What is bad taste to you?
Anything that's over-complicated. There's beauty in simplicity. When people try and put as much as they can into a space and each piece is barking at you, that doesn't work. Not everything has to be a statement. That said, there's no such thing as wrong, really. It's all just opinion.