An Interview with Jake Coan, of Jake Coan Design
Jake Coan in his studio.
After graduating Bard in studio art, you moved to the city and took a job working in robotics. How did you make your way to robotics?
You know, it was just one of those things. I had some other jobs, I was a gardener, I worked at a violin shop. And the robot thing, it was kind of random, I just had a friend who worked there and and he said there was an opening, and I applied. I’m not interested in the topic of robotics as a subject, but I love electricity, and I love mechanics, and I love designing stuff. I love working with my hands, and I also like working with kids, so it ended up being like a perfect job, and I did for a long time, and I loved it.
That's awesome, did that help you figure out how to wire all of these [lamps]?
Yeah I wired them, I’ve just been interested in that since, forever. I kinda just taught myself, my dad taught me a little bit, the robot stuff, it was really basic, simple circuitry, and I mean they definitely inform each other.
When thinking about making lamps, I can’t help but think of Edison tinkering away in his shop. What is the process of incorporating the science of light into designing your pieces?
Totally, I like to think of myself or as a Nicola Tesla [LAUGHTER] but I definitely feel like a mad scientist more than I feel like an artist a lot of the time. I mean, by necessity I have to learn about like, you know, the circuit boards and the, science-y aspect of that just out of necessity, but I’m also really interested in harmonics and resonance… it’s something I think about a lot, objects and light, and material science…and also just tinkering and playing… yeah I learn a lot just through playing.
The lamps you have online are very beautiful an I noticed what appears to be wood to create curves and I really like that dichotomy. When it comes to shape and materiality, what inspires you?
Umm, yeah, uh, so that piece that you’re talking about, they’re actually bamboo window blinds, I make these pieces that are like these matchstick bamboo woven things that kind of like twist and they’re sort of sinewy and organic, and that form was just determined by the properties of the material. It’s a really interesting material because it collapses in one direction and then it bends in the other direction, so if you put a diagonal tension on it, it creates these solid 3D forms that, I guess what appeals to me is that you can make these forms with very little coercion of the material. It’s like what the material wants to do, so I try to listen to the materials and treat them how they want to be treated [LAUGHTER], like, this paper, you know, it’s very fine, and rather than worrying that it will be crinkled up, I just crinkled the whole thing because it just wants to be crinkly, you know? [LAUGHTER] It also wanted to rip but, who knows, I’ll have to fix that, but uh, stuff like that, and then, in terms of form, I’m inspired by nature. Yeah, some materials I love would be rice paper, brass, I’ve been getting into working with titanium wire, which is a really satisfying material, obviously, you know steel and what not, but natural plants are really satisfying to work with, and then live plants. I haven’t made an actual light with it yet, that people have seen, but maybe one day.
Are there any materials that you’d like to work with but haven’t yet?
Yeah, there’s a lot of materials that I want to work with gold, gemstones, other crystals, wool, tungsten, glass, uh yeah, there’s so many things.
Amazing, so light itself, quite literally changes how we see things so it affects color, mood, as a culture, we have what seems to be an infinite amount of idioms that pertain to light, “out like a light”, “seeing the light”, “bright idea”, symbolically, light has been used countlessly in religion and literature. What are your feelings, thoughts, opinions about how light affects us?
That’s a great question, I could go on about this topic, but I think light is doing two things simultaneously: one is delivering information, and the other is providing emotion, for ambience or mood, and its always doing both, light describes space, but in doing so, it’s also coloring reality too. It’s not just like a direct translation of reality it’s coloring it, so it’s interesting like light, makes you ugly or beautiful but then also light is the food for plants and we eat plants and, so light is our food, and light is like, light is heat, light is the signature of matter in the universe, and so in that way everything is glowing on some level, you know, but on a practical sense, I think, light is just the best tool for setting energy of a space.
Any advice for people who want to work with light? Like lamps or anything creative?
Oh wow, well, if you want to work with light or lamps, I mean, just do it [LAUGHTER]. I don’t know, But I would say advice for people who are making things in general would be just be kind to yourself, take breaks, take rests, you know, and when you’re excited about something, share your excitement with people, that’s why I’m here, I’m feeling really excited about what I’m working on and when yo can share that with somebody like, it doesn’t really matter what it is is that you’re actually making but like sharing that excitement is really important so I would, when you’re excited about something, don’t wait on it, just share that excitement, yeah, I think that’s my advice.