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I was always fascinated by objects, taking them apart discovering what was inside and how things were put together. This curiosity and slightly destructive side led me to eventually study design in Sweden. Finding a perspective that satisfies my own rationale is why and how I design, it has to feel right not just look right. I find inspiration from nearly everything that I see, hear and do.

Each design starts with a drawing of the archetype. That’s the common starting point for all my work. After that I start to break down and rebuild the elements while trying to discover and establish a theme and rationale for the work. As soon as I have the rationale then a combination of instinct and analysis gets me to the final design.

I want to add something to an object that expands its story, that adds to its dialogue. Finding new stories and vocabularies that surround the object provides my will to design.

I first made contact with Mitab during the 2014 Stockholm furniture fair at the concept MiPitch with Marcus Torstensson the designmanager at Mitab. It wasn’t the conversation about design that I expected. We ended up discussing almost everything but furniture; symbolism, instinct, football, mythology… plus other topics now lost to time. We have talked a lot more about furniture since, but this first conversation about all these different subjects was an interesting and wonderful way to be introduced to the company.

There’s a beauty in simplicity when matched with quality production but that needs a lot of attention to achieve. Mitab really take the time to make sure they get it right.

PRODUCTS BY JOHN ASTBURY
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