Your name: Dan Cox
What you do: Director Commercial Interior Design at Carr Design
Your latest project: Norton Rose Brisbane
Who are three people that inspire/excite you:
1. James Murphy, founder of DFA Records and frontman of LCD Sound System
2. Olafur Eliasson, visual artist and genius manipulator of light and space
3. Thom Browne, progressive men’s designer who’s going to save the suit from extinction
What is your favourite…Car/bike/plane/boat model: The Volkswagen Tipo 181. I fell in love with this boxy convertible on a recent trip to Bali. Lightweight, amphibious, it’s definitely a case of form over function.
Chair model: Almost everything created by French furniture-designer Jean Prouve. I love his confident industrial, aesthetic.
Residential space: 5th Avenue Penthouse by Joseph Dirand
Commercial space: Bathing Ape Shibuya
Decorative product: The Font Clock by Sebastian Wrong for Established & Sons, a simple idea that wakes you up to a different face every day.
Functional product: KitchenAid Stand Mixer is classic and robust, makes fresh eating quick and easy. An essential instrument to a cooks kitchen armoury.
Handmade good: Frency + Mercury, a Tokyo-based eyewear brand, makes the most impeccably-detailed frames.
Mass-produced good: Lego is a toy I enjoy now as much as when I was a kid.
Meal: Pulled Pork with Crispy Crackling
Restaurant: Cumulus Inc has the best coffee and casual dining experience. Dangerously located next to our studio, it’s often my first choice for a Friday night drink. Andrew McConnell is a genius.
Drink: Campari and grapefruit juice is sweet, tart and summery
Bar: Siglo for local European-inspired sophistication, The Cock in New York for total holiday debauchery
Item in your studio: The Eames Aluminium Group Meeting Chair offers hours of comfort in style
Piece of technology: Laptop and Smartphone gives freedom and flexibility. I would be chained to my desk otherwise.
Historical figure: Alexandre Gustave Eiffel’s famous Parisian tower challenged all preconceived ideas of beauty. Ironically it’s now one of most loved and recognised structures in the world, and has even inspired the lyrics to a favourite Pixies song: “They didn’t want it but he built it anyway.”
Fictional character: Hannah Horvath from Girls, uncomfortable brilliance.
Vice: Tequila always seems like a good idea after a few beers.
Virtue: Affability juxtaposed with competitiveness
What does the term ‘Design Hunter’ mean to you? My design ideas go well beyond the pages of a glossy magazine, design book or blog. An exuberant hunter-gatherer, my creative intuition is drawn from the world that surrounds me. This might be a conversation, a gallery exhibition, a spectacular meal, or a shop to my local high street. Travel, both local and abroad, gives me the opportunity to discover innovative architecture and designs from many different cultures. My experiences therefore offer an incomparable library of information to draw inspiration from.
