DESIGNER OF THE DAY

Designer of the Day: Jobe Burns

Whether designing key components of a major sporting event’s creative identity or envisioning residences from the ground-up, the London local Jobe Burns stretches his imagination to the limit in order to infuse his work with spirit and character. The founder of up-and-coming design company ORBE was recently tapped by Parisian brand côte&ciel to create a diffuser for its new signature scent, a 3D-printed statement piece whose otherworldly silicone-and-ceramic form wouldn’t look out of place atop an altar in an alien temple.

Whether designing key components of a major sporting event’s creative identity or envisioning residences from the ground-up, the London local Jobe Burns stretches his imagination to the limit in order to infuse his work with spirit and character. The founder of up-and-coming design company ORBE was recently tapped by Parisian brand côte&ciel to create a diffuser for its new signature scent, a 3D-printed statement piece whose otherworldly silicone-and-ceramic form wouldn’t look out of place atop an altar in an alien temple.

Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.

Age: 27

Occupation: Artist, creative director, designer.

Instagram: @_jobeburns and @orbe____

Hometown: Walsall, Birmingham, UK.

Studio location: East London.

Describe what you make: I essentially make sculptures. Abstract, spatial, habitable, and usable sculptures. Everything has a spirit and a character.

The most important thing you’ve designed to date: Nike x Hackney Half Marathon in 2019. This consisted of a full running kit, finisher medals, an ergonomic stretching space suitable for all ages, and the start/finish gantry. It was a fairly large project that in total had to service approximately 25,000 people. A big shift from creating small-scale items, it allows your imagination to be stretched beyond its current limit.

Describe the problem your work solves: Anything to convenience or improve our experience. Basically making continuous solutions to multiple problems. At the beginning of every project, collection or series, I always ask myself: “how can we communicate and improve the experience we have with this?” Materials, form, texture, tone, delivery; all systems of design to service the human!

Describe the project you are working on now: A design company called ORBE. It’s a living idea making furniture, objects, homewares, and soft goods for everyday use. Essentially fulfilling the needs of anyone who is moving into or around the city. 

A new or forthcoming project we should know about: I’ve designed and developed (still developing) a residence for a musician. It’s a full-scale redevelopment and expansion of a 17th-century farmhouse. We’re two years in, hoping to be wrapped by the end of 2022, but you know how these timelines go! 

What you absolutely must have in your studio: No pessimism, curiosity, coffee, wall space, and music.

What you do when you’re not working: It’s a difficult question to answer as I don’t see it as work, I experience my life as one adventure that relates back to my output. I like to speak ideas with friends over dinner, I work out in the mornings, and I spend most of my time at the studio. I just got back from Madrid and New York, which were focused on work but were amazing! I enjoy sports a lot—both winter and summer sports—but unfortunately I haven’t been able to go skiing/snowboarding in a few years.

Sources of creative envy: Jacque Fresco, Steve Jobs, Virgil Abloh, Carlo Scarpa, Tyler, Kanye, James Turrell, Carlo Bugatti, Richard Serra, André 3000.

The distraction you want to eliminate: Fake news.

Concrete or marble? Concrete house with a red marble sink!

High-rise or townhouse? Townhouses in London.

Remember or forget? Remember the good ones, forget the bad ones..

Aliens or ghosts? Aliens all day!

Dark or light? Soft light.

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