Location : London, UK
Profession / passion : Product designer
Instagram : @tinoseubert

One Day is an ongoing project sparked by the Covid-19. In the days of isolation we would like to focus on what we do best; bringing people together. Read more about the project here.
We will be posting one new day of someones life every day until we run out of contributors. See our instagram stories to experience these peoples One Day in action.

A text, song or film that everyone should experience : Demolition (also the Soundtrack is fantastic)

What is the story behind your profession/ passion?
Even though my parents both had rather non-creative professions working for a big electronics company, they made sure that my creative side was nourished from a very young age. I was drawing, painting and making things non-stop from my earliest memories.
My mum sent me to an additional arts class twice a week after school in the next bigger town. My dad probably helped me develop my technical skills. On the side he was always repairing TVs, Radios and other electronic devices in the garage and I would often help him with the repairs and solder things.
Probably when I was about 13 I figured out what Design was and meant and that’s also when I figured out that it was what I wanted to do in life. When I was 19 I moved to Bolzano in Italy, where I did my Bachelor in Design (and later for one year in Paris as part of an exchange). After graduating I moved to Berlin and worked there by myself for a year before moving to London to do my Master in Design Products at the RCA. And that’s where I have been living since.

How has the current situation affected how you work?
It has. I have lost some projects, but so far it hasn’t been as bad as expected (knock on wood). I’ve also been able to start working on some own projects, I’ve been carrying around in my head for a while.

What is the most inspiring text you read recently?
I recently re-read Death in Venice by Thomas Mann. It was just so fitting in this current situation.

Your greatest achievement?
Still to come.

Define what beauty means to you.
Beauty for me is what excites the senses and to excite me it needs to be unusual.

Function or form?
I think they should work together. If I could choose only one, then it would be function.

Analog or digital?
Digital should support the analog. That’s how I use it in my work.

Describe a smell that brings back memories to you.
I actually have a crazy story here. On my way home from school I always walked past a bakery, which sold cinnamon triangles. They had a very distinctive smell and once in a while I would get myself one. About 15 years later, when I was walking on Kensington High Street, I noticed exactly the same smell and it took me back to my childhood. I walked into the passage leading to the tube station and found exactly the same bakery (which had become a chain by then) selling the cinnamon triangles. I treated myself with one.

What traits do you treasure in other people?
Patience, because I don’t have much of it

Quality or quantity?
Quality.

Who do you miss?
My grandma

How was your spiritual and religious upbringing and how did it shape you?
I was brought up Roman Catholic. I hated it so much that I rebelled when I was 14, officially left the church and became a convinced atheist.

When was the last time you learned something new and what was it?
I’m just trying to teach myself Turkish

Have you actively chosen to live in the city/town you live in?
I came to London to do my masters and was planning to leave the moment I graduated. 8 years later I am still here.

How do you relax?
I relax when I sleep. I hardly ever sit still otherwise.

If you were forced to sit still for one month straight without pursuing your current profession, how would you spend your time?
I would say I’d go travelling, but then that wouldn’t count as sitting still. But as I said in the previous questions, I hardly ever sit still.

Should calm come from within or be facilitated by the environment?
It should come from within for sure, but the right environment can make it easier achieving that.

Lastly, how do wish to see this current situation have a positive impact on our lives?
I wish it did, but I think as humans we are very good at forgetting and going back to old habits.

One Day : Tino Seubert - Product Designer