‘I think design is very close to art’

In 1996, design consultancy Priestman Goode launched an innovative new steel coil radiator, Hot Springs, onto the market. The product is now part of a permanent exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art. But it is also one of the best-selling radiators in the UK and Europe, and accounts for 10% of the company’s turnover. Does this make it art? Paul Priestman thinks so. While most designers are loath to call themselves artists, the founding Director of the award-winning company thinks there is something to be said for a product which is aesthetically pleasing on the one hand, and functional on the other.

‘I think good design is very close to art, because it is something you have to fall in love with,’ says Priestman. ‘For people to buy something, they have to desire it, to want it. I think if it works on a number of different levels, it’s all the more pleasing.’

‘Take away the money and the commercial aspect,’ he adds, ‘and then you have art.’

Although its roots are in product design, Priestman Goode is one of a number of companies branching out into divergent fields – in this case, environment and transport. The company has designed Marks & Spencer’s Autograph stores and the new Virgin Trains, fitted out Virgin Atlantic Upper Class and created the first-class interiors for the massive Airbus A380, the world’s largest aircraft. Oh, and the London-based team are working on Heathrow’s new Terminal Five as well, not to mention planning a whole new transport system for the capital.

It’s hard to imagine the new fleet of Virgin Trains as works of art, but having said that, as a result of this brief, Priestman Goode’s train designs are touring the world as part of the Design Council’s Great Expectations exhibition, currently in Australia.

The fact the company won the £1.9 billion contract from Virgin Trains was unusual, Priestman explains, considering transport designs are more often than not carried out by the manufacturer. But in this case, the brand employed the designers directly – a move which is an example of a consultancy service helping to create, reposition or drive a brand forward.

In the case of Virgin, the company inherited a tired fleet of trains when it took over West Coast and Cross Country franchises. Fiat and Bombardier were contracted to replace the rolling stock, but Virgin was not entirely happy with the interiors that were proposed by these manufacturers and hired Priestman Goode in 1998 to stamp the company’s unique brand identity onto the vehicles.

While the Cross Country trains went into service about a year ago, the latest of the new high-speed tilting fleet, the Pendolino, is expected to hit the tracks later this year. Priestman Goode was responsible for designing exterior features, including the aerodynamic nose, and everything from seats to kitchens and menus on the inside. The result, says Priestman, was a consistency of detail throughout.

The challenge with designing a new fleet of trains or aircraft, Priestman notes, is in predicting the next 20 or 30 years of technology and taking customers’ changing needs into account. So where do you start when asked to predict the future of aviation?

‘I suppose we are always looking to the future and trying to move things forward,’ Priestman explains, adding that it’s more about materials than predicting trends. ‘You can’t be too cutting-edge, it has to be quite classic. So we design things that are hopefully going to be timeless – and then also think about how the product can be updated over its life-span, so it doesn’t have to be a disposable item.’

Designing the interior of Heathrow’s new terminal – which, when completed, will be the largest building in Europe – is among the company’s expanding portfolio of large-scale contracts. Transport for London also has the Priestman Goode team ‘future-proofing’ for it, to devise a transport system incorporating the river Thames as a possible new transport route using catamarans. On the other hand, the company is still winning awards for smaller designs, like a fold-out knife block, a nifty invention allowing the block to be cleaned more easily. Simple ideas like these that are the best, according to Priestman, who admits to loving the ‘mind-bending’ process of commissions accompanied by a tight design brief.

‘If it sells well, then it is successful,’ Priestman asserts. ‘That’s the other aspect of design – if it doesn’t sell, then in my view, it is not well designed, it doesn’t work.’

But what about smaller, one-off experimental products, I say, reminding him of Priestman Goode’s ‘Soft Fan’ – a fan with blades fashioned from fabric which won the ID magazine award for Product Design. The fan never reached production, but don’t designs like these function to grab attention and garner further commissions?

Certainly, Priestman agrees, admitting the fan was a bit of fun. ‘We’re always coming up with new ideas and trying to interest people in them. It is important to keep fresh. If you are constantly working on these very limiting areas, then it is good to have a bit of fun every now and then,’ he says, adding that in this case clients loved the idea, but asked the consultancy to design completely different products.

If ‘good’ art or indeed design comes down to the passion of the creator and admiration of the beholder, Priestman, it may be argued, has found the right balance. But he makes no attempt to define himself. He just loves his work. ‘I’m very “into”, and very passionate about design being accountable, about being effective. And I really enjoy the projects which do have quite tight design briefs.’

For more information on Priestman Goode, visit the company’s website, www.priestmangoode.com