Design Guild Mark discussions with Charles Byron

A couple of months ago we sat down with Maria Gomez, one half of Byron & Gomez, to find out about her history in design and what inspires her.

This time it’s the turn of Maria’s partner in design, Charles Byron, to be put under our proverbial spotlight as we ask him to spill the beans on what makes him tick.

Who is your design hero?

It would have to be Dieter Rams. I’m very much in agreement with ideas that good design is less design, stripping away the unnecessary till your left with the essentials. That designs should be honest and unobtrusive.

When did you first decide you were going to be a designer?

I’m not sure I really ever made that decision. At first I was more interested in the making, which was something I decided to do or something I had always done to some extent. My love of design snuck up on me.

What was your first big break in the industry?

It’s a slightly different side to the industry, but I was awarded the Bespoke Guild Mark for the Log Stack Cabinet (pictured), a piece I made as a student back in 2015.

What was the first product you ever designed?

It was actually the Aphelion console that just received the Design Guild Mark. I had designed other pieces of furniture before but they were all one-offs that were mostly commissioned. This was the first piece we (Byron & Gomez) designed with production in mind.

What do you enjoy about being a designer?

It is immensely satisfying to have something you conceived become something tangible. Those moments when a project comes together are what keep me designing.

What is the most frustrating aspect of your job?

Sometimes you have to accept that a design has hit a dead end. It might be something that you have invested a lot of time and energy in to, a concept that seemed quite promising at the start but never really became what you imagined it would be. You have to know when to bin it and start over. Those are difficult moments.

How do you get in the mood to design something?

It varies, sometimes I just turn things over in my head in idle moments until an idea becomes more defined. It might be weeks or months before I even put pencil to paper. Other times an idea pops in to my head and I have to stop what I’m doing and make a quick doodle before I forget. After that, it’s just a case of sitting down with a sketchbook and some music and developing the idea into something more refined.

What influences you?

I’m sure that everything I see and hear must influence me to some extent. Ideas can come from all sorts of places. Often Maria and I misunderstand an idea that one of us is trying to explain to the other, which leads to something new. Sometimes an ambiguous drawing that leaves room for interpretation will influence two people in two very different ways.

Is there a product you wish you’d designed?

There are plenty of design greats that I admire but I find it impossible to wish I had designed them as they are too much a part of the fabric of the design world that influences me to imagine that I had designed them. There is something about Tom Raffield’s Gwelsen Screen that I find hugely appealing. It’s such a simple but effective idea that I can’t help but wish I’d thought of it first.

Byron & Gomez were awarded a Design Guild Mark in 2018 for the Aphelion Console Table for Benchmark. For more information, go to www.byronandgomez.co.uk.