Today’s post was supposed to be published ages ago but life got in the way. Anyways, I’m super excited to finally have you read my interview with Andrey Grishko and Shay Nifusi. These two are two of my favorite young industrial designers and I’ve been eyeing them ever since they graduated in 2013.
Shay’s graduation project made me believe in industrial fairies. Seriously, the guy knows a thing or two about pure minimalism and refined styling. And Andrey? He knows a lot about how to get things done. To actually get them to work in real life and not just on paper. I guess you can call them an industrial dream team. With each new project, I can easily sense from miles away that they are the ones behind it. It’s crazy to think that with only two years under their belt, they established their own unique and spotless handwriting.
Okay. Now that you know that I’m obsessed with everything AndreyAndShay, I’ll be leaving you with these two. I’m sure you gonna love their creations as much as you’d love these two fun and bright humans.
– www.andreyandshay.com
I’d love to hear about your journey, how it all began.
We met on the first day of the first year of our design studies at the Industrial Design Dept. at Shenkar College. Andrey approached me (Shay) and said: “Hi! I’m Andrey” and I replied “Hi! I’m Shay”. Best friends since that moment.
Where do you live, what do you like about it and how does it affect your creations?
We both live and work in Tel Aviv. Really loving it. The best part of it is that it offers us a large range of professional craftsmen, workshops and raw material importers. Plus, We love the cities nightlife and, coffee places and great food.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of being an Israeli based designer?
The world is starting to get really intrigued with Israel’s (Or better yet, Tel Aviv’s) culture just now. It’s good because it puts us in somewhat of a spotlight.
I’d love to here about the collaboration between the two of you. How does it work and who does what?
We really do everything together. We try not to play a role. But, if we can cut it roughly then Andrey likes doing lots of the mechanical engineering jobs and I like the styling and shaping areas. Andrey likes to carefully plan all his moves and do everything right the first time. I do everything ten times. We work differently and that’s how we turn every stone along the way to get to the best result with our designs.
What led you towards opening your own studio right after finishing design school? Did you consider working for others first?
AndreyAndShay has been happening since 2011. We like making things together and pushed ourselves to design products during after school hours as well. When we graduated college we both worked for different design studios, believing it can make us more professional in the mass production field.
What makes you different from other Israeli designers?
Actually, Being “Israeli designers” is not something that keeps us busy. There is no code for what Israeli design means. It’s done here in Tel Aviv but we don’t think about it when we shape things.
Which materials do you work with?
Everything that comes to hand.
I’d love to hear about your work process.
Hmmm… I think it’s different with each projects. There are times it’s engaged by a manufacturing technique that we play with and other times it’s by an idea that pops in our mind and we discuss it sketching lines on a piece of paper. It’s always accompanied with lots and lots (literally- mountains!) of mock ups.
What does a normal day in your life look like?
It depends on the project status. It can be a day of producing the products by ourselves, making mock-ups in our workshop, working on the computer or biking around town looking for the right manufacturers for our designs.
I was blown away by your graduation projects. Can you share a little bit about the story behind them?
Thanks! We really wanted the outcome to be the real product (not a model of). It made us create new ways of producing brushes, stools and lamps. We’re both very pleased with how things turned out.
Is there anything in particular that fuels your creativity as designers?
The cocktail break during lunch with our friends in the studio ;)
What about some web sites and blogs that you visit when you’re in a need for a boost of creative inspiration?
Lots of style oriented tumblrs and Instagram users when we need to take our eyes up from the table. At the moment, we’re into Elliot Tebele’s Instagram (@fuckjerry). So Funny!
Are there any up and coming designers that you like at the moment?
Almost anyone who graduates from Switzerland’s ECAL.
What was one of your biggest lessons learned since starting out?
Hmmm…
What do you find most rewarding about your career?
We do what we love. What more can a person ask for?
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
Still waiting for it.
Israel’s best kept secret?
No secrets here. It’s all out there.
What are you working on right now?
We’re currently working on a restaurant with our friend Tomer Botner, the man behind Florentine Kitchen Knives. Can’t really talk about it yet but we’re working on everything that’s going to be out on the table. We like having Tomer as a such close friend and enjoy mixing business and pleasure with him.
What’s next? What is your dream?
We aim to work with the companies that we look up to. Basically, to keep on doing.
And finally, please share with us something nobody knows about you.
Shay is very superstitious and Andrey has a black cat ;)
