A Wider Look Into Life and Design: An Interview with Adriana Rodriguez, International Network & Design Director for Camper

Interviewed by Solveig Jahnke, Head of Communications, Estonian Academy of Arts
What brought you to Estonia?
I met two people from Estonia during the past three years. One was a designer (Marit Ilison) who was a finalist in the Hyères Festival in France (Camper sponsors the festival), and she had studied in your school. I was quite intrigued because the work was really, really good.
Another one, Mirja Pitkäärt, I had met in London. She was doing her Master’s at the London College of Fashion. She came for interviews at the Camper office in London for the international workshop that we organise for the best students and junior designers around the world. Her work is amazing. The way she was using leather in her accessories was totally different from what I’ve seen before in other schools. The way she was treating leather was new for me, as I had never seen it in another student’s work.
I was intrigued by the fact that these two people were cool and their work was really different. So I checked out the leather art course on EKA’s website. I wondered, What is this about? It’s not only accessories; it’s leather art. What are they doing there??
Can you explain a little bit more about what specifically intrigued you? What was so different about Mirja’s work?
The way she was using the leather — it was applied more openly into more things (bookbinding, for example, is part of the course). There was a connection between the items and the accessories she was designing. It was all the techniques taught in the course – leather art, accessory design and bookbinding – that she applied to the accessories she was making. This was one of the things for me. And also, they were not only accessories. It was a more open way of using leather in any kind of thing or product. It was not only shoes, bags — there were a range of different items. After meeting her, I checked the programme out on the website, and the title and the mix of bookbinding and accessories seemed interesting. I wanted to know more about it and come and check it out myself.
How long have you worked for Camper and what is your background?
Six years. I studied fashion design in Milan, and I studied and worked there for 5 years before moving to Spain where I started working for Camper.
What do you think of Estonian leather art and design, now that you’ve been here for three days? What are your impressions?
After the meetings and interviews with the students, I was gladly surprised. Not only about their leatherwork, but the conversations we had together. We had super smooth, interesting talks. Must be something cultural, of course. The hands-on aspect that I found in this school – which you don’t necessarily find in other design schools – is one of the strengths of this leather art department. Of the people I’ve met, 80 percent have good skills in making, not only sketching.
But how can you apply this sort of hands-on ideology or technique in the world of manufacturing? For instance, Camper is a large company and you have a lot of customers — how do you make that connection?
The link between this leather art course and Camper is actually quite close. Camper has extensive knowledge about shoemaking that started in the 1800s, before Camper even existed. It’s a family business, so shoemaking has been part of the family’s life since then. There is a very strong relationship between making, hands-on craftsmanship, know-how. This connection was also one of the things that brought me here. If you know how to treat the leather… It’s a material that is alive; it’s not like textiles or other materials.
The key thing for me is how they can mix leather with other technologies, how they use it in other fields and mix it with other materials, because the future is not just leather. We have to know how to bring it to another level. At Camper, we are keen on investing and working with innovation and technology (3D printers and new materials development, for example). This is why a collaboration between us and the school could be very interesting…
How big is your design team?
We have around ten or eleven designers who came from national and international schools. We have designers from Spain, the Netherlands, Japan, the Czech Republic and Poland. The headquarters are in Mallorca.
What sort of opportunities might open up for the students and young designers Camper is interested in?
Normally my visits to schools are not strictly related to a job vacancy at Camper. What we do is build up a creative network which allows me to follow the work of students and recent graduates. Whether they are first year, second year or Master’s students, I can connect a gap in the team with the talent. Of course, it’s not only about talent. It’s also about where we have a gap — whether it’s more sophisticated, more sporty, for kids, accessories, etc… Also, the gap can be completely different from one year to the next, so I have to keep in mind all the profiles from the students and designers I interview and understand how to place them.
I spoke with professor Lennart Mänd earlier, and he said you also picked one of the students out of the box, so to speak. What in his work caught your attention?
The staff in the department didn’t know me before I came to school. They had pre-selected some students for me to interview who could give me an idea of what the department is about. But I saw the work of this guy (Lauri Linev) on the shelf of the exhibition and it caught my attention. His approach to design was different, and somehow I felt a great sense of humour in his work. Although he tries his best when making his products, he is really just a thinker, not a maker. He is a brain, someone who can be on an art direction team, building up concepts for somebody else to develop. These kinds of students struggle at school because they also have to make things, but if a teacher realises the potential he can become unique and fabulous.
How did you discover him?
I saw his collection of caps on the wall during the school exhibition and asked to meet him. By the way they were made, I thought they must have someone smart behind them. Someone who is clearly not good at making but comes up with a super cool solution must be someone who has a good brain. So I said that I wanted to see this guy the next day and they called him in. He came with a bunch of weird sketches and a mock-up cup. I told him he needs to find a better way to communicate what’s in his mind. He has an amazing brain, but not everyone can understand what he has from those sketches. It could be a video or photography, but he needs to find a professional yet personal way of showing his world. But his brain is really, really amazing, and that’s difficult to find.
What sort of advice would you give to young designers and people who are creating their own brands? How do you build a worldwide company?
When I meet people who are ending their studies and thinking about creating their own companies or brands immediately, I usually suggest they start by getting experience somewhere else (unless they have lots of money or a strong, clear project). I think it’s really valuable to gain experience first. Not because you don’t want to make the mistakes on your own, but because it’s interesting to see someone else’s process. The same as when you see people who work for one company forever. It’s interesting to mix the knowledge from one company with another and then make your own. As for a designer’s work, the main thing is to be personal. There is a huge contamination of blogs and websites, and people are obsessed with looking at what other people are wearing, the whole celebrity and hipster thing… I am totally fed up with this. When I travel – and even here in Tallinn – I can see people dressed in the same way as people in Korea, where I was last month. This is a little bit depressing. I wish young people would be not scared about looking different and doing their own things in their own way. People in Estonia cannot feel the same as people in Brooklyn. You have to have local things that you can bring into the world now and not just be copycats. It’s important to be personal and unique.