Furniture Designer Mark Grattan on the Art of a Statement Piece

Rip & Tan: Tell us about your path to furniture design. What led you to launch VIDIVIXI?

Mark Grattan: My path to furniture has always been led by intuition. I am romantic by practice. I’ve never looked for comfort where comfort is found. I’m the type that finds comfort in taking risks and pushing limits. I instigate life and play a little bit with my fears.

The birth of VIDIVIXI was an accident in 2014 and my departure from VIDIVIXI in 2022 was also an accident. I stepped down as creative director about one month ago and it feels exciting. I now represent the former VIDIVIXI collections independently under Mark Grattan while creating a path towards deeper expressions and new bodies of work.

Rip & Tan: What would you say is the creative force driving your work?

Mark Grattan: I’ve seen purpose in a new way. I have an audience now and much of that audience I hope includes black children. I protest and hope to build more awareness around the lack of diversity in the design industry. 

Rip & Tan: From concept to execution, what does your design process look like?

Mark Grattan: My design process is not a straight line. It is stop and go and I am learning not to force it. I experience “writer’s block” often. Especially if I do not give myself space between collections.

The process must start with a buildup of experiences; for example travel and exploration. It cannot be out of professional pressure because I do not do well with urgency. I am very strict with myself regarding authenticity and new ideas.

If I am going through a design process most likely I’ll stay away from social platforms until I’ve come up with solid directions. Otherwise, the abundance of information attempts to muddle my ideas. 

Rip & Tan: Who are what are your main sources of inspiration? How does Mexico City influence your designs?

Mark Grattan: Right now my inspiration is being triggered by my trip to Brazil this winter. I’ve always had a crush on Tropical Modernism found in Brazil. My iconic bed design is called “Docked en Rio” designed in 2018. It’s funny, I’ve never traveled to Rio de Janeiro or any other part of Brazil until recently and I am currently bewitched by it all. I am plotting a long-term arrangement. I’ve already started taking Brazilian Portuguese language classes.

Mexico City is abundant with all sorts of inspiration. I am persistent in developing new ways to communicate creatively. It’s important to reconsider again and again where and how I draw new inspiration. Mexico City for me at this moment is a beautiful city for which I call home base and nothing more.

Rip & Tan: How have you seen the world of furniture design shift over the past few years?

Mark Grattan: No one knows how to make anything with their hands anymore and designers aren’t getting dirty like they used to. Processes are computerized and everything is so extremely efficient in the sense that you don’t really need to know how anything to put it together. It doesn’t make sense to me.

Design is something you have to experience in real life with failures, cut fingers, and missing teeth in some cases. I’m beating around the bush—I think the industry is heavily saturated with garbage. 

Rip & Tan: In your opinion, what makes a piece of furniture timeless?

Mark Grattan: It’s like you think you’ve seen it before but it looks like it’s from the future all at the same time. It is the use of a subtle material application, lack of trend or fad—full of richness and depth. I am looking for warmth in material, most likely these materials are natural resources or ideas and patterns that bring me back to my roots.

It can be a recipe of inconspicuous details that remind me of my home as a child paired with dusty details of a chair I photographed from a flea market in Berlin. Timelessness is encapsulating many movements and their stories.  

Rip & Tan: The work you create fuses form and function seamlessly. How do you aim to strike a balance between these two elements in your work?

Mark Grattan: It’s because I put form before function. In design school, we are taught form follows function. In my world, function always comes last.  

Rip & Tan: What does living well mean to you?

Mark Grattan: Having the space and time to enjoy a good workout followed up by a steam and sauna on a daily basis is living.