Introducing: Furniture Designer Vytautas Gecas on his innovative work

Fresh out of his MA studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven, Lithuanian furniture designer Vytautas Gecas has many an innovative idea to share and he intends to get them out there via the medium of furniture design. His projects thus far have been conceptually sound and brilliantly executed, demonstrating complex ideas with the subjectivity of design at the forefront.

His creations include a bench constructed from tubes so as to always be dry in the rain, a desk composed from a series of separate object-specific segments which can be made bigger and smaller as you fancy and the coolest clothes rial we’ve ever seen. Hear more from the man himself below…

Where do you work?

I’ve just graduated from my masters studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven, so the environment of the academy has been my workspace for the last two years, and it was divided between a quiet place and a noisy place. For the research, concentration and inspiration I work at home, in the library and in the student space, for some peace and quiet! 

My more fun and significant time is spent in workshops. This is where things start to happen and where I use most of my energy. I like a “hands on” approach towards design, so I like to spend time in workshops and start building things quite quickly.

I’d like to see my own studio established following the same ideas. The quiet and the noisy have to be close to each other, as its important for me to be able to materialise my ideas early and quickly.

How does your working day start?

Every day is a new adventure, but some of that routine more or less repeats itself. I start with exercise, which opens my eyes and gives me energy to start the day – I’ve never drunk coffee in my life. I have a hot shower, which is one of the things that motivates me to get out of bed early in the morning, and breakfast, then I check my social life on the internet and try to make my plan for the day.

How do you work and how has that changed?

The last two years have been a time of real discovery. I can’t say my working methods have changed from one thing to something else as they have been in constant development since I started studying, but they have been clarified into something that I think fits me. 

I’m inspired by domestic environments and ways of living; kitsch, failures, mash-ups, decoration and contrast. My approach towards design is influenced by cinema, contemporary art, music, literature, psychology, craftsmanship, rituals, history, irony… Not only by design itself.

All of these random aspects define my field of interest and my day to day routine. I like to tackle design through the process of making, as I believe design is led by intuition. I crystallise the final concept through building and experimenting.

Where would we find you when you’re not at work?

Socialising with the rest of the world! At the cinema, at gigs. Cinema history is my passion – I spend a lot of time watching and reading about film. I’m excited to hold a camera in my hands, too. I always have ideas about how my designs could end up in front of a camera.

My second passion is 1990s New York rap music. I like biographies, interviews, stories, movies, documentaries and everything related to it. I’m hoping to use it in my designs and future projects.

Would you intern for yourself?

Yes. Not now, when it’s a bit more clear for myself where I am and where I want to be. Then, of course. It would be fun!