Your name: Carl Sriber.
Company: Director, Mother of Pearl & Sons Trading
Your latest design or project: Copper architectural door furniture and accessories
What inspires you about your industry: The opportunity to be involved with bringing world class products to our market .
How/why did you choose the medium/format you work in: I have a passion for detail. Door and cabinet furniture was the unsung hero of design. It is a fascinating world that involves dealing with producers/manufacturers with real integrity on the one hand and designers who appreciate this.
Who are three people that inspire/excite you:
Not in any particular order:
1) Graham Chant, uncompromising. (Chant Productions, New Zealand)
2) Walter Gropius, visionary. More relevant today than ever.
3) Gandhi. It’s all been said.
What is your creative philosophy: Bringing craftsmanship together with the organic nature of raw materials to create design and products that will endure.
What does the term ‘Design Hunter’™ mean to you: I imagine it relates to persons chasing down ‘good’ design. What is good design? I think of the Shakers, the sect for whom carpentry is devotional work. The raw material is considered sacred so their chairs are hung on ‘shaker’ hooks when not being used. Nothing must be wasted, leading to minimalist design, exploring the nature of the material. They are attributed with ‘inventing’ the circular saw. Shaker style is much bandied about. I hope we are all getting it!
What is your favourite…
travel destination: Home. Watsons Bay. O/S Florence
hotel/place to stay: Hotel. Oberoi Grand Kolkata India. Guerrando and Isabela’s home in Florence
periodical: Classic Boat Magazine
luxury goods company: Armani
value for money company: Fersa. Luxury hardware who we have the privilege to represent.
design classic: Walter Gropius ‘Bauhaus’ lever by Fersa
new design: Not so new, but arriving at the Sydney Opera House still thrills.
type of chair: Austrian bentwood. For the economy of raw material and the physical and apparent lightness.
meal: King fish slabs coated in Cajun spices, pan fried in butter with a bottle of Pol Roger, 50 nautical miles out from Lord Howe Island on the way home on my old wooden boat Suraya.
restaurant: Mario’s in Fitzroy Melbourne
drink: Crown Lager
bar: Cruising yacht club of Australia. Amazing setting.
gallery/museum: V&A London, Museum of Sydney
book: Moby Dick
item in your studio: My original model boat collection. Built by shipwrights and raced on Sydney harbour.
Artwork: Nike in the Louvre.
Artist: Modigliani, since I was very young
piece of technology: My boat
