The Crit #2: Bethan Laura Wood
From career highlights to design nadirs: The Crit, a new podcast from Disegno, invites leading designers to pass judgment on their own work!
Each fortnight, Disegno’s editor-in-chief Oli Stratford sits down with a leading designer to speak about their career and help them to interrogate their own practice. Over the course of each episode, they’ll tell us what worked best; what failed; what pushed their career to new heights; what feedback most shaped their practice; and what they feel needs to be redesigned, and why they’re the best person to do it.
And then, at the end of each episode, they’ll be asked to give themselves a grade for their career to date: fail, pass, commendation or distinction.
It’s a design-school crit, delivered every fortnight! Subscribe to the show here, or sign up wherever you get your podcasts from.
Our second guest on The Crit is Bethan Laura Wood, accompanied by Wilma, photographed with show host and Disegno editor-in-chief Oli Stratford.
Episode #2: Bethan Laura Wood
Bethan Laura Wood is our guest for the second episode of The Crit, joining us in the studio to explore her interest in craft, ornament and detail.
Working across furniture, lighting, installations and textiles, Wood has become renowned for her sensitive and complex use of colour and pattern, layering up different elements in her work to create cohesive, beautiful final designs.
Heavily influenced by travel, craft traditions and vernacular aesthetics, Wood’s work often responds directly to a particular site, place, making or making technique, creating editioned work for Nilufar Gallery and international museums such as NGV. She has also produced commercial designs for CC Tapis, Moroso and Valextra among others.
Listen to the episode to hear Wood review her work to date, from toothpaste-inspired handles and explorations into the aesthetic potential of laminate, to feminist salons and the importance of learning how to edit.
Show Notes: Bethan Laura Wood
Best design: Kaleidoscope-o-rama
Worst design: Entwined light
Most successful design: Super Fake or Toothpaste
Most impactful feedback: If you carry everything, it ends up being nothing
Dream design: A dog bed for Wilma
This episode of The Crit was recorded at Uncommon Holborn.
The Crit’s graphics were created by Leonhard Rothmoser.
The Crit’s music was created by Yuri Suzuki and Team Suzuki.