Product Designer and Founder of Eugenio Hendro Design Studio
Design Anthology Award 2021
@eugeniohendro | www.eugenio-hendro.com
What’s the most common request from your clients during the pandemic?
The most common request was to produce new furniture collections with their own branding aimed at the domestic market. This is interesting because for the last five years it has been difficult to penetrate the local manufacturers, who’ve had a market overseas, to produce original products. They have been comfortable being the producer of white labels for other brands. The pandemic has turned that around. Manufacturers from Solo, Jepara, Jakarta and Cirebon contacted me because they were preparing to create their own brands with their original designs.
The second most requested was products with local materials like teak or mindi wood and residuals from processed wood. It is interesting because all of a sudden there is this new playground for us designers to explore.
What kind of products will be trending in the future?
Local products with good designs created with higher awareness of the environmental impact. And nowadays our industry is more welcome to local designers. Some products now have more environmentally friendly packaging. Still a few, but it’s growing.
How do you anticipate these trends?
The pandemic actually brought a lot of positive impacts to the furniture industry. Suddenly everyone asked for material, technique and colouring explorations. That’s heaven for designers. It’s like everyone wants to underline the local energy with a new spirit. I’m happy because when they create a product, they don’t always refer to europe and America anymore. Instead, they refer to our identity and our creative skills, something that we have.