Page 77 - Lighting Magazine July 2018

dEsigNEr spotlight
When considering colleges, Asher Rodriquez-Dunn avoided fur- niture design at all costs. He pursued Industrial Design at the Rhode Island School and
Design (RISD) and, low and behold, the rst required course was an introduction to woodworking. A stubborn Rodriquez-Dunn helplessly found himself gravitating toward furniture design for the rest of his RISD career and started his own company in 2010 under the brand name Studio DUNN.
“My Dad gives me a hard time to this day, saying I could have saved a lot of time and money if I’d only joined him in his basement woodshop sooner,” Ro- driquez-Dunn says. “I think I resisted because that was his hobby. I wanted to nd my own.”
Born and raised in Michigan, Rodriquez-Dunn identi ed as a creative from a young age. His parents noticed this as well and allowed him to explore as many a erschool, weekend, and summer programs as possible. He tried a bit of everything – ceramics, charcoal drawing, apparel design, automotive ren- dering, printmaking, jewelry, glasswork, and textiles – with mixed results.
“As a kid, if I didn’t pick it up right away it was frustrating to me,” he says. “Luckily, I’ve grown out of that. I thrive on learning new things and now have a thirst for it. I’m always looking to understand how things operate and wonder how I can utilize their unique processes in my own work.”
When it comes to design, Rodriquez-Dunn turns to his sketchbook and journal, which he says are one in the same. The book holds private thoughts and emotional responses, many of which are the kernels for new designs, and others that never see the light of day because they’re too impractical or outland- ish, like a Rube Goldberg invention. With a design style described as Mid-Century Modern, Rodriquez- Dunn uses his journal to create pieces that are both contemporary and nostalgic in form, material, and colors.
“Mid-Century Modern is a term I associate with 1950s manufacturing techniques that made con- temporary and curvilinear forms accessible to the masses,” he explains. “My grandparents owned a bit of furniture from this time period and I found the design language simply fascinating. By using the techniques of today, I feel I bring those historic forms to fruition.”
In addition to paying homage to designs of the past, Rodriquez-Dunn says his largest source of
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