Year of the Dragan

Radu Dragan.
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As mentioned, we are finishing the building of a new convention centre in Jeddah. We are also working on a private villa, and a hotel in Kuwait is on the cards.

How sophisticated is interior design in this part of the world, would you say?

Sophistication in its sense of refinement is not wealthy (even if it is not necessarily un-wealthy).

Rather, it is a conceptual problem. In practical terms, it means a perfect mastering of details. As far as I can see, there is a frantic search for modernity here in the Gulf. It is as if, with the almost unlimited means that you have, you are trying to push design to its limits.

But is society prepared to assimilate this very rapid change? I thing that sophistication will be reached only when the social psyche perceives this futuristic design not only as an exterior sign of wealth and power, but as an inner dimension of its own weltanschauung [a comprehensive view of the world and human life].

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How does this compare to France, where you are based?

There are very good architects and designers here in France, with a very interesting conceptual approach. Unfortunately, design is a collective approach and it needs considerable financial support. In France, we have a competition system which makes it rather difficult to obtain a public commission, where the financing is still considerable. It is certain that today the Middle East provides much more opportunity for architects and designers than Europe does.

What are the greatest challenges currently facing interior designers?

Technology is changing our world very quickly. We must assimilate it and integrate it into our work, but the problem is that these transformations are happening too fast for our minds. We are not able to understand most of the things around us (for example, I know few people that are able to fully understand how to work not only a computer, but even a washing machine). Increasingly, we are users, not makers, and how can we shape the world if we don’t understand it?

What is the most important piece of advice that you can give to students looking to work in the design field?

As a French anthropologist recently said, the younger generation wishes not to work, but to create. This may seem like a good thing, only I am unable to see the difference between the two. I am afraid that work is viewed less and less as a positive value in our modern society. And design, as I have said, is not only about a good pencil or even computer. I think we must teach our students a sense of labour that our modern society seems have lost.

Is there a type of interior space that you haven’t worked on, but would like to? And is there a country that you would like to work in, but haven’t yet?

It is difficult to say. After almost 30 years in the business, I have worked on many types of architectural and interior design schemes.

Maybe I’d say that I would like to have more liberty in my design choices, and more trust from clients. A good design is born only when an intelligent designer meets an intelligent customer. Last but not least, I would like to work more on contemporary design.

However, if there is an architectural programme that I never touch, it is the sky scraper. I am not a fan of high-rise buildings, but they are evidence that our modern cities must develop in a vertical sense if we want preserve land – and the vertical sense is fascinating because it is almost metaphysical. Also, I have never designed a museum. A museum space dialogues with singularities, when all other programmes do it with multiplicity.

As for a country where I would like to work, the world is very uniform today, and, concerning our cities, design is largely responsible for this. This makes the world smaller and more familiar, but also more boring. I am, as with many people today, a citizen of this smaller (and more accessible) world, so I think I could and would like to work anywhere.

And I have found the search for modernity here in the new Middle East quite fascinating.