A conversation with Jasper Morrison

Jasper Morrison is one of today’s top designers. He started his journey to success in Berlin – and Brakel. The design for the FSB 1144 door handle collection was one of his first works to go into series production. It’s no wonder that the handle is now on show in the retrospective ‘Jasper Morrison. Thingness’ exhibition hosted by Berlin’s Bauhaus Archive museum from 22 March 2017. In this interview, the British designer talks about his time in Berlin, the tough learning experience he took away from his collaboration with FSB and why he loves disappearing between continents.

Berlin plays a special role in your career. You lived there for one year in the 1980s and studied at the University of the Arts. You showed your work at the ‘Some New Items for the Home, Part I’ exhibition in the daadgalerie in 1988. What does it mean for you to have your work on show in Berlin yet again?

It’s a good feeling to return to Berlin with an almost complete look back on everything I’ve done in the last thirty years. I’m pleased to be showing in the Bauhaus Archive. I often visited there as a hopeful design student.

How have your time in Berlin and the experiences you had there influenced your work – possibly even to this very day?

I see Berlin as the city that really shaped me as a designer. Of course, London and Milan played their parts, but Berlin had such an energy-charged atmosphere at the time. And it was through this special environment, enclosed by a wall, that the city became such a more intensive experience for a young designer just soaking up the inspiration and vibe there.

Very early on in your career you worked with FSB on a new handle design. How did that come about?

I had designed a handle for an apartment in London and had it produced for an interior design project commissioned by the apartment owner. This handle appeared in an article in Domus, an Italian magazine, which really was the first boost for my career. That would have been in 1988. Jürgen W. Braun, who was the Managing Director of FSB at the time, read the article and asked me if he could manufacture the handle. I had no clue what FSB was, but it wasn’t long before I realised that this was my first chance at industrial series production of my work.

As a young designer, how did you find working with FSB on an industrial product for a door handle series?

Honestly, it was really quite difficult for me, even though Jürgen Braun was the most friendly client one could ask for and he was always encouraging me. The original handle was created by welding a narrow S-shaped handle to a cylinder. There was a concave recess at the end of the cylinder, where the thumb would naturally fall. The problem was that the standard FSB rose had a smaller drill hole diameter than the cylinder, which meant the cylinder needed to be made smaller. But that would have made the cylinder too small. I worked hard on the solution to this problem, but the result never had the elegance of the original design. It was the first tough lesson on the parameters that industry can force on a designer.

Do you still like the FSB 1144 design and concept now?

When I started my work on the 1144, I was warned early on of the issue with the rose, and the design came together without any major problems. I still think it’s a good handle today, and I have it in my own house. Every time I open or close a door, I’m glad that I delivered such good work with that design!

Later in your career you coined the term ‘Super Normal’ with Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa. Do you see a connection between this concept and the FSB 1144?

Handles are everywhere and ordinary, we use them so much and they are often an anonymous thing. Exactly. I think the 1144 was probably my first Super Normal design. I took the shape from a drawing of a handle of a horse-drawn carriage, which I found in an old catalogue. It seemed to be the epitome of the gripping shape.

Am I mistaken, or is the idea of coming up with something new not so important in your work?

Yes and no. It’s certainly not the most important thing. But I have always thought that a new design should have something fresh and even surprising to offer – even if the inspiration for it comes from something old. But the design should also be both individual and simple. I didn’t come up with the concept of Super Normal until about 16 years later, but the 1144 was instinctively Super Normal.

How do you keep developing new products and furniture for a market that seems to be so oversaturated?

Oh, that’s easy. Things don’t have to be new so much as better. Dieter Rams taught us this, and it’s a very important point that has catastrophic consequences if a designer ignores it.

There are some companies with which you have collaborated over a longer period of time – like Vitra, Punkt or Flos. How important are these types of relationships to you?

There are quite a few relationships like this and they are all extraordinary. It's exciting working with a new company from time to time, but the trust and understanding that I have with the companies I've been collaborating with virtually since the beginning are practically unbeatable.

You recently published a touching book entitled ‘The Hard Life’. It’s about everyday objects from rural, pre-industrial Portugal. How important are ‘side projects’ like this?

I used to teach, until one day I realised how bad a teacher I was. Writing books is my way of giving something back to the education system. As a student I learned so much from books, and I find a lot of joy and inspiration in writing new books.

You also often take photos of objects and situations in everyday life. How much does that have to do with your work?

It’s an integral part of the process, an extension of my visual memory that helps me express new things. There is no output without input!

One final question: is there an object, a useful thing or piece of furniture, that you have not yet designed but would love to?

The things I am asked to design constantly surprise me and are more interesting than what I would consider to be a good project. I prefer to wait and see what lands on my drawing board!