A&W Audi Mentorpreis 2012: Benjamin Hubert

Back in January Benjamin Hubert was awarded the A&W Audi Mentorpreis 2012. Presented in conjunction with the A&W Designer of the Year Award the Mentorpreis can in many ways be considered as being the “Young Designer” category. The interesting aspect of the A&W Audi Mentorpreis is that the winner is nominated by that year’s A&W Designer of the Year. So in 2012 Patricia Urquiola.

After the award ceremony we caught up with Benjamin for a quick chat; however, we very cleverly managed to lose the interview, and only recently re-discovered it. Hence the delay.

A graduate of the Industrial Design and Technology programme at Loughborough University, Benjamin Hubert first crossed our radar when we saw his “Spinning” lamps for &tradition at CODE10 in Copenhagen: a product that caught our attention on account of its simple, uncomplicated elegance. As an object it doesn’t do very much but has a form and a presence that just makes you feel good about yourself and the world around you.

In addition to &tradition Benjamin Hubert currently works with an impressive roster of international manufacturers including De La Espada, Cappellini and De Vorm who produce his genial “Pebble” series and “Pod” chairs. In April his entry “Juliet” won the Poltrona Frau Centenary Armchair contest in Milan and has since been taken on by Poltrona Frau.

Back in January we spoke to Benjamin Hubert about the A&W Audi Mentorpreis 2012 and his carear path until now. Or until “then”, to be perfectly correct…..

(smow)blog: Firstly congratulations on the award, how did it come about?

Benjamin Hubert: I got an email telling me I’d won the prize…

(smow)blog: …so you didn’t even know you were in the running?

Benjamin Hubert: No. Which is actually quite nice. With most awards you do know in advance, because people want to make sure you’re at the awards show, and so you kind of know what’s happening. But here it was an email out the blue from A&W telling me that Patricia had nominated me and that together with Audi they had selected me and would I like to accept it? To which the answer was of course yes! And it’s just really nice to know that Patricia appreciates the work we do. And so all in all it’s very nice.

(smow)blog: If we understand the situation correctly you used to focus on more “industrial” projects and then later started doing more furniture….

Benjamin Hubert: The studio was started in 2007 and the first three years or so was principally working for other studios while developing my own projects at weekends and evenings, before in 2009 / 2010 I bit the bullet and gave up the day job as it were to concentrate on my own projects. Initially that was mainly lighting and then gradually came more furniture and now we work across a wide range of products from fashion accessories to lights, furniture and onto small installations and bit of art direction. And I think that’s what’s so great about design is that you can move across different disciplines.

(smow)blog: And so was the plan always to set up your own studio, or….?

Benjamin Hubert: No, not all! I had aspirations of climbing the corporate design ladder, if there is such a thing, and becoming director of a company and all those things. But I think it was when I graduated and showed my graduation work at a few exhibitions and visited Salone Milano, that all really opened my eyes to an industry that I wasn’t really aware of. Obviously I knew there was an industry there, but I wasn’t really aware just how big it was, how many possibilities it offered and that was something I think I just fell in love with.

(smow)blog: And presumably now given the roster of companies you work with, you must be learning ever more?

Benjamin Hubert: Yes, all the time. Going to the factories and the workshops and seeing the people actually making things is the most rewarding aspect of the whole thing. And the best companies to work with are the ones who are open to new ideas and new ways of thinking and who, for example, will introduce us to a new material or we’ll present them something new and they’ll be receptive to the idea. That’s how the best projects develop, in co-operation with the producers and the workshops.

(smow)blog: Final question and coming back to the A&W Audi Mentorpreis, Oscar Zieta, your predecessor as winner, is in the current Audi advert. If they ask you, are you available?

Benjamin Hubert: Sure, as long as they don’t ask me to do anything ridiculous. Why not!

The Pebble series and Pod chair by Benjamin Hubert for de vorm. Here at Neue Räume Zurich 2011

Our first experience of Benjamin Hubert's work. Spinning for &tradition at CODE10 Copenhagen