Friday Five with Thom Fougere

Thom Fougere impressed us with his 2015 collection at the end of the year after only having founded his studio that Fall. The designer, based in Winnipeg, Canada, studied architecture at the University of Manitoba before switching gears to furniture and product design. In 2011, at the age of 24, he was appointed Creative Director of Canadian furniture design brand EQ3 where he led the company’s rebranding initiative that saw the products, graphic design, photography, interiors, and design of the store, all transformed. Thom’s stool was just featured in EQ3’s Assembly Collection that debuted at the 2016 Interior Design Show and his 2016 Collection debuted at the Stockholm Furniture Fair. In this week’s Friday Five, the young designer gives us a look at what keeps him inspired.

1. Nils Frahm – solo
This is an album that I’ve been listening to a lot of since my friend of the same name, recommended it to me last year. The album was released, as Nils Frahm explains, on a self created holiday in order to come up with a reason for its release. The album is available via pianoday.org for free download.

Przemek Pyszczek, Playground Structure (Grid), 2015

2. Przemek Pyszczek
My time spent at the University of Manitoba studying architecture overlapped with Przemek, and I’ve been keeping a close eye on his work ever since. His steel sculptures, reconstructed from children’s jungle gyms, are especially striking and inspiring. His two dimensional work, based off embellished facades found in Poland, also can’t be missed.

Photo by Thom Fougere

3. Grandparents’s Outdoor Chair
This outdoor chair, photographed here in the backyard of my grandparent’s house, was the first piece of furniture, or even design, I recall appreciating at a young age. I remember finding both the comfort of the chair, despite it’s hard minimal surface, and the minor surface embellishment along the seat especially striking. The sturdy construction lasted over twenty years of harsh prairie winters and summers. I now keep one of the chairs in my studio.

Charlotte Perriand with Le Corbusier’s hand, holding a plate by way of a halo, 1928

4. Charlotte Perriand
I’ve always been a fan of Charlotte Perriand’s work and am currently making my way through her autobiography. Her insights, and involvement with Le Corbusier and Sori Yanagi and particular nuanced approach to design, is resonating with me and impacting on my own process and practice.

5. Canadian Design
I’m excited to be taking part in EQ3’s capsule collection EQ3 Assembly alongside a group of young, talented Canadian designers. I think the Canadian design scene has some great momentum at the moment, and I’m excited to see where this takes us in the coming years.