Was able to catch up with an amazing local based Vancouverite designer: Talia Cohen for an exclusive A.D.F.M interview.

Thank you for accepting the interview with A.D.F.M. You have a great body of work and an interesting design background, can you tell the readers a bit about yourself?

I am a South African born Israeli Industrial Designer, who passed through Missouri, Rhode Island, lived in New York and settled in Vancouver. I’ve worked with various companies such as Unilever, General Mills, and Nissan. I also have a very fat pug named Dave who heads client relations.

What made you want to become a designer? What influenced you? What is your inspiration?

I’ve always seen design as the practice of making connections and processes simple, intuitive, and elegant. It’s not an easy thing to achieve – and that challenge has always been attractive.

How and what got you started in art?

I drew from a very young age, I was very shy so would often have a pencil and paper to hand so I could sit in the corner of the room and not have to talk to anyone. Sadly, that oftasen still happe

As a designer, I thought it was interesting that your education and experiences really reaches out to all kinds of design from technology/UI design, advertising, branding to product/packaging design. Did you see yourself mastering all those when you were in school?

Intrigued by process and interactions on an industrial scale along with social and economic pressure that guide decision-making processes, I intentionally chose to study Industrial Design and Economics in hopes they would result in developing an effective foundation for a design career. I cannot say it was all completely planned though.

Most Canadian Art and Design institutions tend to separate those two into Communication and Industrial Design. What was your schooling like doing a combination of both 2D and 3D work?

Design is a process of connecting and engaging a user regardless of the medium. It’s equally important to connect on a visual and tangible level, as it is on a spatial or even auditory level. Separating the entities and developing each in a vacuum is counter to the reality in which their resulting products will be experienced.

Having worked and lived in different countries and continents, how do you see opportunities for young designers to grow in the Canadian Market. Do you think it can compete well with other places?

Competition is not as important as differentiation.

You wear so many different hats in the industry, what do you like doing when you’re not doing work?

I love good food, family and travel. Trite I know. I used to fight competitively for the National South African Judo team for many years and still sometimes train… but your body can only take so many years of impact.

What are the plans for the future? Any future projects?

I am a firm believer in allowing your future to evolve on it’s own accord, while remaining an active participant in it.

Art, Design, Fashion, Music, what does that concept mean to you? How do you see them intertwining with each other or you seem them in their own separate wholes?

They are invariably linked and cannot be separated; it would make for a dull world to assume otherwise. 

To see more of Talia’s work or to get in contact with her, check the links below

www.tacnstudio.com

taliaco@gmail.com