The Crit #16: Nina Tolstrup
What projects do designers consider their greatest successes, and which designs do they regret having seen the light of day? The Crit, a podcast from Disegno, is here to reveal the truth!
Each fortnight, Disegno’s editor-in-chief Oli Stratford invites a leading designer to Kef Music Gallery to review their own work. Our guest reveals what worked best; what failed; what pushed their career to new heights; what feedback most shaped their practice; and what they feel needs to be redesigned.
At the end of each episode, to complete their crit, they’ll be asked to give themselves a grade for their career to date: fail, pass, commendation or distinction.
It’s a design-school crit, delivered every fortnight! Subscribe to the show here, or sign up wherever you get your podcasts from.
Episode #16: Nina Tolstrup
Nina Tolstrup, one half of Studiomama, is our guest this week, sharing her insights into her design work with partner Jack Mama across small-scale living, hacked wooden pallets, and new cutlery typology.
Having trained at Paris’s ENSCI-Les Atelier, Tolstrup worked across trend forecasting, design management, photojournalism and marketing before beginning her practice as a designer. Having founded Studiomama in 2ooo in east London, the studio now counts the Serpentine Galleries, Vaarnii, Ottolenghi and Fritz Hansen among its clients, working across spaces, objects, furniture and more.
From the excitement and challenge of designing for student accommodation, to the role of humour and wit in creating objects that last, Tolstrup tells us about her complex route into design, as well as her enduring interest in localised production and distribution.
Listen to the episode to hear Tolstrup review her career to date, from £10 plans to make furniture from pallets, thwarted ambitions for a new way of eating lunch, and her long-running interest in micro-interiors.
Show Notes: Nina Tolstrup
Best design: Pallet Project
Worst design: Bio-Plastic Cutlery Tool
Most successful design: 13m2 House
Most impactful feedback: “Just try it”
Dream design: A furniture system for small space living
This episode of The Crit was recorded at KEF Music Gallery London.
The Crit’s graphics were created by Leonhard Rothmoser.
The Crit’s music was created by Yuri Suzuki and Team Suzuki.