Time's A Healer - Q & A With Kev, the leader of the Condie Crew
Hello, Howdy, Hi There. We thought it might be interesting ( hopefully it is!) to read a little about the Condie journey so far: what inspired it, who’s behind it and what it’s all about! This is a short but sweet interview with the leader of the condie team, Kevin Callaghan. Kevin is an established artist, he completed am MA at the Royal College of Art in 2013, he has a BA from The Crawford College of Art and a Master-craftsman from the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland. He has a multi-disciplinary approach to his practice. Kevin currently lives in Glasgow where he completed a residency at The Glasgow Sculpture Studios. Kevin has a small but mighty team who help with to keep Condie going, so every time you buy with us you are supporting a little team of big dreamers a brief intro:
Dotsan - A 3D Product Designer specialising in work for marketing, 3D printing and manufacturing. Based in Glasgow who has been working with us to help develop a number of concepts using pure computing wizardry, we just don’t know how he does it!
Alice’s Illustrations - Alice Brown, also based in Glasgow is gently peddling away in the background of Condie, taking care of design jobs, brainstorming new marketing ideas and dreaming up ideas for the future.
A few questions we put to Kev:
What inspired the Condie journey?
Condie was inspired by a commission I created in a bar in Cork City, consisting of 8 large scale origami birds I produced in stainless steel, When I moved to London to do my Masters at The Royal College of Art I was commissioned by Dais contemporary for The Bluebird restaurant in Chelsea to develop a large series of Condies for the entrance to the Lobby of the upstairs restaurant.
Tell us about the process of making the wall hangings?
Condie wall pieces are laser cut in aluminum, I then fold them, all made of one piece of aluminum. The next stage is to sandblast them in order for the etch primer to hold on the surface of the piece. After that, they are primed and sprayed with Condie’s ever-expanding choice of colours.
What have you learned from this venture?
Ever since I was commissioned in London in 2014, I always saw a great idea to develop a creative business and expand on new products. Back in 2017, I started Condie, I certainly made a few mistakes, and it's only in the last year that I have really seen the potential of it manifesting. Starting off small and letting word of mouth about Condie seep into conversation over time and accepting this waiting game as part of the creative design process is something I have learned a lot from.
Where do you see Condie Design in 5 years time?
I would like to see Condie selling in Europe and the USA, with a bank of products focused around the natural world. I’d love to see the Condie team expand and continue to enjoy the young creative business and the creative exchanges that come with that. I have to say, It’s very enjoyable making these art pieces, I really love it!
What has been the biggest source of inspiration?
Nature is a huge source of inspiration, I'm also really interested in color and how you can play with colour combinations.
What have been the toughest moments to overcome?
I think getting the work out there and learning how to keep on top of social media, has been the biggest learning curve. When you start to do that better and focus on what you want to say, you can for sure see a difference. Things just take time.
Interview with Kevin Callaghan, Founder of Condie Design. @CondieDesign
Q’s by Alice Brown - Illustrator / Graphic Designer @alicesillustrations