Scott Garcia
Telling a story through furniture
Furniture designer, Scott Garcia, admits he has a unique and somewhat unusual approach to designing furniture, taking his inspiration from consumer behaviour, accidents and imperfection.
"Rather than focussing on form and function, I'm more interested in portraying ideas and narrative," says Scott. His collection of chairs and tables blur the boundaries between traditional furniture design and sculpture.
"My 'process chair' - part of the Process Collection, dealing with consumerism - is made exactly like a normal wooden chair, but the back leg gradually morphs back into a bark-covered branch with a leafy sprig 'growing' out of it."
The 'process chair' aims to tell the story of the furniture's origin, reminding us of where it came from and the processes involved in transforming it from a tree into a chair.
Scott has two other collections. His Embedded Meanings Collection comprises concrete tables, embedded with a range of antiques such as lace, candelabras and lamps. His Accident Collection uses aluminium and other liquid metals, which are poured at high temperatures, forming 'liquid accidents'.
Taking a leap into the world of business
Scott studied furniture design and sculpture at Edinburgh Art College, and says he'd toyed with the idea of starting up his own business, but felt slightly overwhelmed by the idea and didn't really know where to start.
That all changed when he was accepted onto NESTA's Starter for 6 programme. "It was really reassuring to meet so many people who were in the same boat as me. When you're starting out, you feel like your out on your own a lot of the time, so being part of a group of talented people was a huge motivation.
"I'd never even seen the most basic business model in my life. It was a real revelation - and it made me realise that I really wanted to design furniture, but not necessarily make it.
"NESTA treated me like a real professional. I felt like I'd learned the same amount of stuff in six months that would've taken me six years of making mistakes to learn."
Carving out a niche
Scott's collections have already earned him a Young Professional of the Year award; places at prestigious exhibitions, such as 100% Design, 100% East, and Designers Block; and coverage in a variety of international design magazines and books.
He hopes to build on this success by evolving the prototypes in his collections into sellable pieces - starting with 10 aluminium Accident tables, which his Starter for 6 grant will go towards.
"We awarded Scott a Starter for 6 grant, so he could test the market and scale-up his unique and innovative furniture designs," says Starter for 6 Leader, Jackie McKenzie. "We truly believe he has what it takes to make a huge impact on the market."
Written: August 2007
Individual:
Scott Garcia
Programme:
Starter for 6
Discipline:
Furniture design
Location:
Edinburgh
Funding:
£9,000
Year funded:
2007