SUBJECT: CARLOS JIMENEZ
We have a heritage in Industrial design and will always have an affinity for the practice. We are pleased to feature Carlos Jimenez. We came across Carlos’s work and were drawn to his approach, it’s akin to the core tenets we practice when creating objects. Carlos has a natural talent for creating well-balanced emotive forms that evoke a visual rhythm, with an emphasis on execution and detail.
Originally from the small agricultural coastal town of Almería, in southern Spain. Carlos is an artist first, he wanted to paint, he loves photography, and discovered a passion for Scandinavian design during his college years. Pursuing design has allowed Carlos to live and work in Sweden, Vienna, and Copenhagen. Creatively, Carlos blends a hands-on artisan sensibility with a Scandinavian Design approach and can move seamlessly between a variety of methods and mediums.
It goes without saying, we will always look forward to seeing what Carlos will do next!
THE OBJECT: ROTRING TRIO MECHANICAL PENCIL
It has a full metal body, It's 138mm long and 10mm in diameter. It weighs around 24grams. It was a gift from a dear friend when Carlos headed off to College in Malaga. And it remains a primary tool in his creative arsenal to this day.
CARLOS
This pencil has three different mines inside (0'35mm, 0'5mm, and 0'7mm). The numbers are written on the top of the pencil. There is a gravity selector system, so whichever size is held upright is the tip that comes out when you push the top button down. “So it is almost magical haha.”
CARLOS
I’m big on traveling, meeting new people, experiencing cultures, and different ways of thinking. Thinking about the different moments I experienced while traveling with the pencil I ended up recalling an experience that made me consider many things that, until that time, I never thought of before.
DESIGN AS A COMMON CULTURE
In 2012, Carlos set out to refine his Scandinavian design skill and went to Sweden to study during his last year of University. There he met people from many different places, from several countries and from varied parts of Spain.
CARLOS
I became really good friends with people from Basque Country. Basque Country is an area in northern Spain where there was a big conflict during my childhood. A large part of the Basque population was seeking independence from Spain. It was quite violent for many years. This made big parts of Spain opposed to all people from Basque Country, without considering whether they were for or against this movement. The conflict ran from 1959 to around 2010. The worst and most violent years were while I was a child. We were aware of the conflict, however, as a child, this was not in my thinking every day.
One day in Sweden, and having fun with my friends from Basque Country, one said something like “I would never have thought that I would have friends from south Spain”. Obviously, he was thinking back to a way of thinking, that was dominant for many years. Likewise, people from the rest of Spain were thinking in the same way they were. However, I never thought about this until that moment. To me, it sounded quite nonsensical, but it made me think about how easily we can become preoccupied with ourselves and this can make us not interested in knowing different cultures, people, or points of view.
An insight that made it very clear to Carlos just how connected vastly different groups of people and ideals can be through study & practice of design.
CARLOS
I recall getting a better understanding of how connected the world is through design. It brought us all together with something we all had in common.
BE YOURSELF
CARLOS
I grew up in a very small Mediterranean coastal town, Almería, in southern Spain. When I was fifteen I had to move with my parents to another place. Over the years, I went back to Almería every summer, visiting my childhood friends. Somehow, from summer to summer things were changing a lot back home. I can say that whenever I returned to my new town, it was like pressing the “pause” button. But of course, life kept going in Almeria. Visiting a year ago, I was expecting to find everything the same as last summer however, the local people, my friends, we're all changing and evolving and I was too. These changes become much more apparent as you are coming of age. As you get older there's less change year to year. I'd say being yourself means being comfortable with who you are when things change from who you were and where you used to be, to who + where you are now. I now have friends all around the world and I know that I can meet them once every 5 years and things should be pretty much the same between us.
POWER OF PASSION
CARLOS
When I was around 5 years old I walked to school every day, and on the way to school, I always passed by a painting school. With the oil paint smell, they always had the door open. I remember wanting to go in and start painting there every day. However, the teacher told us that I had to be at least 8 years old to be able to go because of the toxins. I kept trying to go and, finally, when I was 7 they let me inside, I was hooked! I continued going there until I was 15 years old. Sometimes you don't find the things you're drawn to, they find you. And perseverance is always a good practice.
WHAT’S SOMETHING PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT CARLOS, BUT YOU’D WANT EVERYONE TO HEAR?
CARLOS
Being from a small coastal town....... this may be hard to believe, but actually, I’m not a big fan of the beach.
Another thing most designers wouldn't admit...that I will, I'm a big sports fan! I’ve been playing a variety of sports for many years. I was on a handball team, I played basketball and then I moved on to volleyball. For many years I was also playing tennis. And, of course, like almost everyone living in Spain, I have played a lot of football, haha. But, apart from playing different sports, I’m also a big fan of watching sports on tv: from football or basketball to even curling haha. And, of course, I'm always excited for the Olympics.
ABOUT Carlos Jiménez is a Spanish designer from Almería, Spain, where he is currently based. For more than 8 years Carlos has worked on and been awarded for varied design projects including product design, furniture design, lighting design, interiors, transportation, graphic design, and branding. Born on the Mediterranean coast, however, he fell in love with the practice of Scandinavian design and always tries to combine both sensibilities.
More info: carlosjimenezdesign
