The words of Jacob Kilsgaard
- I am sick of designers trying to impress by standing out. It often results in ugly products. Keep it simple…
This was my starting point, having worked with colorful, overdesigned products for several years as a distributor in the optical business. It is still my motto: Keep it simple.
I have known Henrik Bonnelycke and his designs since 1999– always liked the clean lines and minimalistic expression he produced. As I see it, it takes courage to design something extremely simple – and is often a greater challenge than to confuse the crowd with colors, twists, bows, flowers, and angles…
Henrik and I speak the same language – we share the same taste in design; frames, cars, watches, architecture… – our working relationship is easy and together we are productive. We are good friends and I have tons of respect for him. This is why I love working with him. It is a privilege to work with a friend.
The ”keeping things simple”- way of thinking also translates into the way I prefer to do business. From the very beginning I explained the KILSGAARD-concept in details. If you don’t get it, you’re not the right one for us – whether you’re customer or sales rep – of course – how else would it be?? We give a great service to our customers, anything is possible, but it’s a 2-way street – you scratch my back etc… – and it’s working. We have happy customers and are proud of them. I consider all of them as fans of the concept. Without them, it wouldn’t work. They share the same passion as we (KILSGAARD) do. They get it. It takes time to understand this product and concept, it takes an effort to learn how to work with it, as it does with many product these days. Competition is changing and we have to do great – everytime. Not just designwise but in all aspects of our business – we would rather be late than introduce a product that is 90% finished. Now you know.
The KILSGAARD family getting bigger. We have a great team of both employees, reps and distributors
Since our launch in 2008 we are now all over the world – getting bigger but keeping in mind not to get too big…
I am proud…
No bullshit – just passion and aluminum
I am sick…in so many ways…
I am sick and tired of manufacturers, agents, advertising companies, accountants, bankers and yes designers and many more who claim to know what good design is… they even claim to know “the trends” ?!?
Many obviously know a lot about what is in fashion, or in other words: what has already been designed and brought to market !
Many obviously know a lot about business, turnover and leads !
BUT frankly, I do not know of any good, descent designs that came out of a spreadsheet or indeed what has already been designed and marketed.
Very few know anything about trends and even fewer anything about how to capture the core of trends and turn them into descent, new and most importantly – into their own design !
But Jacob Kilsgaard does !
I have known Jacob ever since he was a student in The Business University, not that I was a student there. I know him from his night and weekend job in my favourite café at that time – so much for my knowledge!
Already then Jacob “recorded” what he saw, heard or in other ways experienced – although he did not seem to learn from it or use it in any way.
Time has proven me wrong !
When Jacob first introduced his idea of manufacturing, marketing and selling his own series of frames, I thought YES !, here is an opening to nurse every little detail of a fashion-function product – my next thought was, I hope he has not been “infected” from the over decorated, “fancy-cake” looking glasses he had been trading for some time.
Fortunately, those “fancy-cake” designs was Jacob’s reason to choose another path…
The thing is, a basically good design can cope with anything from fashion colours to flowers but fashion colours, flowers and other “pull out of the hat tricks” can not make up for or indeed rescue a poor design.
Jacob realized that before he started Kilsgaard Eyewear – “no bullshit, just passion” is his chosen words and that influences the intire Kilsgaard company. That and Jacobs “gift” to capture trends, makes our cooperation really exiting and without bullshit.
Clean cut design and minimalist expression is to design what salt is to an egg – but it is also merely words.
MINImalistic design is really MAXImalist design work…
Maximalist in the sense that every single detail has to be taken extremely good care of, if not the whole (minimalist) design will expose itself as being primitive or even poor.
Actually I will argue that good design is merely a chain of well proportioned details, put together in the right order !
That was way too many words, what it all boils down to is:
I am proud that all of us at Bonnelycke MDD, is designing for my good friend Jacob – together we are doing well – we are doing Kilsgaard’s “own design” !
Which, by the way, has already now given Kilsgaard 2 international design awards – the iF award 2010 and the RED DOT 2010, both for best product design…
I am proud…