Jake Oliveira Studio (Web Exclusive)

Medium/Technique: Industrial Design – furniture and lighting

Location: Toronto, ON

Website: https://jakeoliveirastudio.com/

Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/jakeoliveirastudio/

Spire light, designed by Jake Oliveira Studio for Boyd Lighting. Photo by Tegan K Studios.

1. How would you describe your art and artistic practice?

As an industrial designer by trade, the bulk of my practice revolves around lighting and furniture. I find myself drawn to the human scale of everyday objects naturally. At Jake Oliveira Studio, I try to juxtapose drama and the unexpected with architectural refinement and rigour. When resolving a design for fabrication, often the easiest method strips the soul of the idea. That’s where problem solving and clever engineering comes in.

In my practice I try to chase down balance and originality in contrasting shapes. This means I’m inevitably turning each form over obsessively as I create it. That weathers the idea, polishes the edges, and often leads me to a revelation in what function it is naturally suited for.

Left to right: Designer Jake Oliveira testing a Spire light prototype, photo courtesy of the designer. // An inspiration image and sketch for the Spire light, by Jake Oliveira Studio.

2. How did you first get into furniture and lighting design?

I was lucky to be raised in a raucous Portuguese-Canadian household where debate and expression were encouraged; so the dinner table was both a proving ground, and career foreshadowing. My grandfather was an electronics repairman for Sears, and my great-aunt’s husband was a woodworker. Since they were in a multi-generational household, there was a small room by the laundry closet with all the dangerous tools a kid could dream of (which I absolutely tinkered with at too young an age).

Later in life I attended York University & Sheridan College’s now defunct Bachelor of Design program (YSDN). At the time, I thought graphic design was the reasonable career path as I played in bands and wanted to design album artwork. I did not have the chops. By chance, I took an environmental design class and learned 3D modelling around the same time that I was learning about industrial design as an option. The rest is history. I became obsessed with the discipline and spent the rest of my studies focusing solely on that.

3. Where do you find inspiration for your work?

Inspiration is tough to pin down because there isn’t one well that I always go back to.

Sometimes inspiration strikes by noticing a detail in nature or the built world, and then searching for the ways that silhouette is reflected or mimicked in other matter. Other times I deliberately seek out art that feels unfamiliar to me, whether that’s a medium, movement, or era, because it is fertile grounds for discovery.

In a lot of cases inspiration and creation are as separate as they are equal to me. I’m often most inspired by things that I can’t do, and so those interests rarely find their way into my work. However, that’s exactly what inspires me to pick up the sketchpad or paintbrush and do my part.

Left to right: Detail image of the Lily chandelier designed by Jake Oliveira for Boyd Lighting. // Strut chair, designed by Jake Oliveira for A. Rudin.

4. As a designer, you often work with other artists or makers to bring your ideas to life.

Can you walk us through your creative process, from initial idea to sourcing materials to

the physical act of making?

My ideation process is basically reversed because I don’t benefit much from a traditional “wall of inspiration” looming over me. Instead, I dedicate time to exploration and research by front-loading my brain with visual stimuli before taking all of that input down. I start gesture sketching and usually I’ll register a gut feeling about a form or an idea that I’ve drawn when I don’t know if I love or hate it; that tells me there is something worth exploring. Then I’ll go back to all the visual stimuli and excavate what could have influenced me, and try to resolve my forms in a new way.

When an idea is formed, I sketch at 1:6 scale or larger to ensure every curve is rendered exactly as is natural to my hand. I photograph those sketches, and then build them 1:1 in 3D modelling. Then I prototype, do material tests, wire lighting, the works. One of the best parts about my job is that once an idea is fleshed out, I often get to collaborate with other makers to scale up the production of the design beyond my first builds. I may be in an Oakland hot shop collaborating with glassblower Steve Parcher, in Colorado working with the artisans at Boyd, or I’ll find myself working in a sand-casting foundry in Ontario.

Jake Oliveira holding a model of the Strut chair. Photo courtesy of the designer.

5. You're very deliberate about promoting and highlighting Canadian design across the

broader art and design industries. Why is that so important to you?

I think Canada has an overwhelming amount of art and design talent and a lot of what makes the scene here unique gets lost in translation, or it gets packaged and homogenized to be palatable for export.

Our country is only 159 years old, so it’s very young in the grand scheme of things. That means that most people here have direct ties to their family heritage, cultural inspiration, and geography. I’ve always felt that what makes Canadian art and design the most interesting is its layering of experiences. We don’t force everyone into one mold. It’s the same reason I feel strongly that we have the best food in the world in Toronto. There’s both authenticity, and fusion (food or otherwise), these differences are in dialogue constantly and it makes things exciting.

6. In what ways do you use your practice to push conventional boundaries?

Existing in the industrial design space, there is a constant playful war between “function” puritans, and “form” evangelists. I find myself sitting somewhere in the middle of both arguments. I’m fascinated by building things in an efficient way so long as the beauty isn’t sacrificed. I like to take materials like porcelain, glass, or textile and manipulate them through playful engineering. The goal is always to do something dramatically different while honouring the materials’ beauty.

7. Tell us about a favourite piece or collection you’ve created and why it’s so memorable.

My favourite thing I have ever designed is my wife’s wedding ring. Most of the details are angled and situated in a way that only she sees them on the day to day.

In terms of the studio’s output, my favourite piece is always the one I just finished. In lighting I’m proud of the refinement of the Nest Lighting Collection and its two pieces of blown glass, and in furniture the Tortue Mirror and its use of domestic ash wood. I’ll be releasing several new lights this year that I was lucky to tease in Paris at Paris Design Week. One is a new take on a table light that I’m really excited about.

Left to right: Sketches by the designer for the Nest lighting collection, produced by Boyd Lighting. // A sample from the Nest lighting collection with sketches. // Nest pendant light, designed by Jake Oliveira Studio for Boyd Lighting. All photos by Michael Nieland.

8. What have you encountered in your career so far that readers (or other artists and

designers) might find surprising or unexpected?

By nature of working in industrial design I’ve learned an overwhelming amount about intellectual property, and how artists can and should protect themselves from the things that go bump in the night. Art has always existed in concert with its patrons, and in most instances those relationships are beautiful and fulfilling. However, naivety to the reality of the “business of art and design” doesn’t help artists. I spent years neglecting that aspect of my creative career because it felt transactional. In reality it’s very empowering to understand and protect your worth.

9. In what ways do you hope your own practice continues to evolve?

Within Jake Oliveira Studio, I’d like to continue to explore new typologies. I’m very eager to do a tile collection. I get a ton of joy out of designing lighting so I want to continue to do the unexpected in that realm. I’ve also put a lot of my effort into launching and growing Ourse, a new Canadian furniture brand that I co-founded with Jason Henderson. We manufacture everything in Canada from domestic materials, and we produce the designs of Canadian designers. I get asked often how I’ve wound up having other companies wanting to produce my work; so now I’m trying to do my part to build the type of business I want to see more of in Canada.

Tortue mirror, designed by Jake Oliveira Studio for Ourse. Photo by Trina Turl.

10. Pay it forward -- tell us about something or someone our readers should know about.

I’ve been obsessed with the output of the musician Obongjayar for the better part of six years now. In my mind he’s like a modern day Prince. His vocals rebound from ethereal and androgynous to gruff and militant. You can start with the music video for "I Wish It Was Me," or the tracks "Just Cool," "Message in a Hammer," or "Born In This Body."

In the design space, I’m also constantly inspired by the designers whose work we have

produced through Ourse (shout out to Jonathan [Sabine] and Jess [Nakanishi], Juliette [Mondoux] and Sharlene [Sharlene Dupont-Morin], Thom [Fougere], and Nicole [Marion]!). I feel really lucky to be creative directing for the brand and making sure great design gets the eyes it deserves.