John Whitmarsh started his artistic career as a photographer, but after finishing film school, he promptly shifted to sculpture. “I’ve been creating things with my hands,” he states.
Nowadays, Whitmarsh’s sculpture work is characterized by a desire to blur the line between what is made by nature and what is manmade. “It’s flattering when folks think something is obviously generated when I really sculpted itself,” he states.
Continue reading for Whitmarsh’s unique spin on design now, and how he keeps a company without compromising his artistic message.
Designed to leave openings shaped like curvy and winding roadways, Whitmarsh created this wall mosaic using asphalt salvaged from demolished roadways. The piece is large — 6 feet by 10 feet — and has been installed in an architecture and engineering company in Phoenix, Ariz..
Q: How did you begin in product design? What makes you enthusiastic about this particular area of design?
A: I really got interested in sculpture after college. I wished to work with each substance I could get my hands on — plaster, fiberglass, ceramic, metal, wood, etc.. It’s the process that I enjoy the most, not just the final result.
Developing dimensional wall sculpture is excellent since the creativity can really run wild with all the possibilities for different textures and patterns. It isn’t controlled by needing to be practical like a table or lamp — its aim is to inspire and promote conversation.
Whitmarsh constructed this sculpture from salvaged building wood and steel pipes. The piece is 9 feet high, but is 50 feet broad, stretching out over an whole length of the construction.
Q: Where do you see merchandise design heading in the next 5 years? What type of themes and instructions do you think would bubble up?
A: A lot of it seems to be driven by substance innovations. As substances are made stronger, thinner, more translucent, more elastic, etc., they create new design possibilities. Consumers will say, “I did not understand a dining room table might be that thin,” or “I did not understand a concrete wall might let in that much light,” or “I did not know cloth be powerful.”
With this year’s Dining By Design event in San Francisco, Whitmarsh surrounded his tablescape with an 8-foot-tall weapon of charred wood. Whitmarsh burnt the wood, and then connected all the pieces to create the wall.
Q: What do you think is the most significant thing for designers to remember?
A: The thing that I try to remember is to be honest and also make things that I like personally. Overthinking something or believing in terms of what other folks may like is a recipe for failure. I make drawings and samples, then get feedback to narrow down what is working and what’s not. If my thoughts get taken down, I know I can come up with some thing else. I try to stay as egoless as possible.
Whitmarsh built 2 of these custom salvaged wood walls at an office building in San Francisco. Each wall is 11 feet by 15 feet, and can be made completely from salvaged shipping palette wood.
Q: How do you balance your artistic needs with the needs of consumers?
A: It’s challenging because paid jobs aren’t always the kinds of things you would do for yourself at the studio. However, I think differences in strategy between client and designer can create fantastic synergies. Working under time and budget limitations almost always yields good results, however unpleasant it may be at the moment.
This colorful piece of wall art — inspired by the boats at the San Francisco Bay — is made completely from authentic transport containers, cut into small tiles. Rust, scrapes and decoration in the original containers have been left undamaged.
Q: Exactly what are you trying to say with your own designs? Where do you see your own line going in the next five years?
A: I wish to create work that is visually engaging on an emotional level — something that you can not take your eyes from but aren’t quite certain why. I love to take materials from context to make the viewer question what it’s made of and how it was constructed.
Whitmarsh has always loved the look of woven materials, especially when a weaving is made with substances that aren’t especially pliable. This wall sculpture is made from luan doorskin, wrapped round steel studs. The setup is at a microfinance office in San Francisco.
Q: What are some of your favorite new design trends?
A: I really like the visual contrast of rough, unrefined elements brought with polished, sophisticated environments. The restaurant 25 Lusk at San Francisco is a fantastic example, with its high-polished surfaces constructed into a rough brick construction.
Same notion is true with blending technology together with antiques, like having a flat-screen monitor framed onto a centuries-old wooden frame.
Q: What are some of the new favorite product lines?
A: I really like the cast gypsum panels by Modular Arts, especially the Wade design for its organic symmetry that appears so effortless. Also, Viro Fiber’s woven wall panels. I love the Italian porcelain tiles that look like linen or wood.
Q: What designers (both present and past) inspire you?
A: Steve Tobin, Anish Kapoor, Roxy Paine due to their freestyle riffs on organic forms. I truly adore Andy Goldsworthy’s work (who doesn’t?) . I’ve happened upon some buildings in San Francisco that are really uplifting — the Oriental Warehouse by Fisher-Friedman Associates, 355 11th St. by Aidlin Darling, Kokoris Home by Jensen Architects.
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