DESIGN TALK
Design Lead Great design requires design leaders with a vision to evolve and transform
Industrial design has had an important role at Gorenje since the very beginning. A pivotal turning point came in 1971 with the establishment of a Design Centre by Ciril Cesar. In the years to follow the Centre saw a number of strong, visionary leads take his work forward and leave their own individual marks: here Janez Smerdelj, long-time Head of Design at Gorenje, and Lidija Pritržnik, Head of Product Design today.
The right approach is to explore several possible scenarios at the early stages, where no ideas are rejected without first being evaluated. Lidija Pritržnik
How did you come to Gorenje? Who invited you to take part in the various Gorenje challenges of the day? Janez Smerdelj: Having completed my studies in the USA, where I graduated at the Cleveland Institute of Art, Department of Industrial Design, I returned to Slovenia in 1973 to join the Iskra design team. When I received the gold medal at the 7th Ljubljana Biennial of Industrial Design Jože Herlah, assistant to the general director Ivan Atelšek, invited me to come to Gorenje – and I was happy to 32
GORENJE LIFE STYLE MAGAZINE
take up the challenge. This is how I joined the Gorenje and remained a dedicated Gorenje designer for more than 30 years. Lidija Pritržnik: Already during my studies at the high school for design I worked at the Design Centre several times, both within the framework of the school’s work practice and during holidays. During my studies at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design I was a Gorenje scholarship recipient. This year marks 14 years since I started my apprenticeship with Janez Smerdelj; and four years
since my appointment as head of product design. What are you thinking, seeing, when you design something? Who do you design for? Lidija Pritržnik: When I design I look for inspiration from life and people – in my mind or on paper I create “personae” that will use and experience this product. There is no single person that would be a permanent source of my design inspiration. I’m surrounded by