Design Connections 10x10 will return this year on Tuesday 19 September, showcasing a selection of the best emerging design talent in the UK. We caught up with speaker Thor ter Kulve to find out more about her practice. 

Hi Thor, tell us about yourself. . .

I'm a Dutch product designer - I came to London to study Design Products at the RCA where I graduated in 2015. I run a design studio in London, (Limehouse at the moment). My practice is very diverse; I teach, work on larger scale interiors project in collaboration with Adam Blencowe and design and make products that challenge the use of personal environment. Contemporary designers of my generation seem to be all rounders and quick adapters. I'm very much a maker and therefore my (shared) studio is also more workshop than office. The products I design usually originate from observations and personal experiences, through prototyping and further on exploring manufacturing techniques I find shapes and solutions that fit my use.

What are you working on at the moment? 

At the moment we are a week away from the London Design Week. Together with Adam Blencowe I'm showing a series of products that originated through commissions for private clients in residential settings. This series includes a suspended divide, a shelving system and a series of benches. Everything needs to be on at the Future Heritage show within a week so were tying everything up at the moment.

What impact do you hope to see through your work? 

A lot of the things I design are comments on the use of space whether in the private or public sphere. A tree can be an object to explore with the right steps, your workstation can be flexible and used everywhere. I see furniture and products almost as tools to explore our surroundings usually playful sometimes on the edge of what is allowed utilizing aesthetic quality to get away with it.

Tell us about something you’ve seen that’s inspired you recently? 

I was looking at the Brixton prison a while back, the whole building is covered in a red net almost like an unintended Christo and Jeanne-Claude sculpture. The reason this was done is probably due to prisoners receiving 'deliveries' by drones. I was touched by the super low tech solution to such a high tech 21st century problem. You might expect signal jammers or programmed defence drones. But sometimes the best solutions are cheap and super simple even in a over complicated world.

To hear more about Thor's work, join us at 7pm on the 19 September on Facebook as we livestream the whole of Design Connections 10x10 from Second Home.