Michelle Lynne 0:00
Music. Welcome to design for the creative mind, a podcast for interior designers and creative entrepreneurs to run their business with purpose, efficiency and passion, because while every design is different, the process should remain the same. Prepare yourself for some good conversations with amazing guests, a dash of Jesus and a touch of the Woo, woo, and probably a swear word or two. If you're ready to stop trading your time for money and enjoy your interior design business, you are in the right place. I'm your host. Michelle Lynn, you
Michelle Lynne 0:50
Hello everybody, welcome back to the podcast. This is Michelle Lynn, and I am looking forward to introducing you today to our guest, Ben Russo. He is an award winning lighting artist and luxury product designer based in Hove in the UK, and I'm just looking forward to digging in and hearing his story and sharing it with you and providing some inspiration and possibly even some new resources. So Ben, thanks for being here.
Ben Rousseau 1:18
Hey, Michelle, thank you so much for having me. It's lovely to be here. How are you today?
Michelle Lynne 1:23
I'm fantastic. I'm fantastic. And I have had the opportunity to check out your website, which we'll share with our listeners later in our conversation. But I am so curious to understand how you have How did you get here? How did this creative journey begin? Because you seem to have your fingers in art and in lighting and in like, sculptural pieces and just all the things,
Ben Rousseau 1:47
yeah, yeah, I suppose makes sense to start at the very beginning. And I was actually at once. I was born in Australia, but I grew up in England in a place called Colchester, which is England's oldest recorded town, and we had this 2000 year old castle that we'd visit on school trips every year. And as a kid watching the skateboarders in California and things, you know, it's like, as like this old castle, oh, just as it didn't appreciate it, but I had a kind of burning desire to shape the future. And I remember the early James Bond films, the early Star Wars films as a kind of young kid with an imagination and a kind of almost desire to escape this old town and this, it's beautiful back now as an adult, but you know, as a kid, cobbled streets and castles that you just see every year, you're kind of like, I've got biggerpoint.
Ben Rousseau 2:41
Yeah,that's it. I knew I'd always had ideas a big kind of ambition. And it was those early James Bond films that these beautiful interiors that a guy called Ken Adam designed. He designed the gold finger house, the doctor, know, these early 1970s houses which had this really futuristic, beautiful look. One of the houses was featured, the John Lautner house that's down in Palm Springs. Very beautiful, way ahead of its time. And that, for me, was like, what, these are the things I want to do. You know, it's like, far away from old castles as it could be. And one thing I think, from the Sci Fi film, there's a there's the use of lighting, like the Darth Vader walking along the polished black floor and these tunnels with lighting. And I just I knew that lighting was a powerful thing. And I went and studied film special effects and model making. That was where, after my kind of first art and design course I did for After leaving school, I really was hands on. I really loved making things, playing with things. Had a great imagination, but it was the making, the tactile, touching materials, assembling things the way a machine left a kind of grain and metal. There's all these beautiful things that I just I really was attracted to, and so I did this model making, course, but the model making industry was on its way out. It was all going into computer design, and I just wanted to be hands on. And it was at that time I actually moved then into product design. And I was designing furniture for nightclubs and the little gigs that we're putting on at university. And I realized then how lighting could change a venue, crummy Student Union, yeah, very cool lighting suddenly really changed an atmosphere. And then as I started doing some interiors, and it became a secret weapon, is the wrong word, but it became a magic ingredient in my work, and whether that was using lighting to enhance a texture on the wall or and so the more for 20 odd years, I've been really working across many areas in the world of design, from exhibition stands, commercial projects, residential interiors, making artworks, furniture had my own. Lighting collections. I have art collections, and I've been lucky to have some very supportive clients. So I've got a really broad collection of work, but what you'll see on my website is this kind of umbrella of how everything's held together on this relationship of lighting. So whether I'm designing a chair, like you'll see now, this is one of my chairs. This is actually called the California chair, but it's got these ribs of metal, metal tubes. And if you look at it from various angles, you get these lights and shadows and highlights that almost look like a shell, or is something quite organic, but it's very dramatic with the way that the lighting looks on it. So in the daytime, when the sunlight shines through, it's a very open, lovely feeling chair, but you get this kind of feeling of protection and a cocoon, and it feels very cozy. The lighting is considered at the very beginning of everything I'm doing. One of the pieces behind is a timepiece, and that is a time piece that tells the time using patterns of building light. It is quite high tech and innovative. And I want my work to have this I want my work to move us into the next generation. I talk about history, and I respect history, but I'm very much about how we can move advance forward and improve our lives and have a connection. So a very long winded answer for you, but that's my story, no, but
Michelle Lynne 6:26
I think that so many of so many of our listeners can understand that, because as creatives, it's not just seeing things, but it's like putting your hands on it and making sure that the texture works. And while we're dealing with more of the fabrics and the finishes, it's still, it's the same thing, because it creates an emotion, exactly.
Ben Rousseau 6:47
And that was the bit that I suppose I missed, is that there was a, there's always been an emotional connection that I can feel. Sometimes I can see very easily when I put the lights on, I'll turn to an interior and dress it in a certain way for a certain period of time, or a time of the day. Wow. I can see that connection. I can see that delight. And I actually even have on my website, you know, I set up the business to light up people's lives. I love nothing more than to see that connection with my work. It, you know, I want to excite people. I want people to be like, Wow, that is beautiful and enjoyable. The time piece is it's about I want people to have a connection. I want people to actually appreciate living in the moment. So I encourage people to just stare, stop and stare and watch the seconds pass. You know, I know people have never been so busy in this day and age, but actually having a few seconds to yourself is actually so important.
Michelle Lynne 7:46
Oh my gosh, it does it just recenters you and it's and we don't stop often enough to just do nothing. So sometimes counting back the seconds on a beautiful timepiece, it feels like a luxury Absolutely yeah, so we're okay. So y'all when you're gonna have to go check out a lot of Ben's work, because it's not something that can fully be described through a voice, per se. So I want to ask you, Ben is where, where do you get your inspiration? Because, like, the pieces are unique, yeah.
Ben Rousseau 8:17
So I suppose you know, when I mentioned the James Bond reference, if you imagine some of these James Bond houses with these kind of amazing gadgets, and, you know, it's a lot of my clients are the guys that want these cool gadgets. And I've made TV screens with a leather panel that slides down at the press of a button. And, you know, the lighting details come on, and it's, there's a bit of theater and drama about it. And, you know, I want that kind of storytelling where people can have this, oh, wow, you know what? What's happening, I'm going to be entertained, and it's experienced. And I with the Bond film reference my work, I think sums up quite nicely. Would it fit in a Bond villains house, for instance? So does it have to be the villain? And it doesn't have to be the villain. And I think, you know, in the olden, olden day films, it was always the villain that had the crazy house. I think I've just got used to saying that. But
Speaker 1 9:18
these are good guys too. I They're
Ben Rousseau 9:21
all good guys. Yeah, they just like watching the the the old films and pretending they're bad guys. But, but it's this modern, futuristic take, like I'm designing now how we could live in the future. You know, I'm trying to take us forward, so I'm creating modern furniture and modern interiors and the modern artwork that most people probably haven't thought about. And when I'm designing an interior, I want to push people's boundaries. I want to introduce them to new things that they're going to be slightly out of their comfort zone, but then they fall in love with it, and wow, we because when you design with lighting, it's incredibly. Hard for someone to imagine how beautiful or how great a space is going to feel with the lighting or and I do create a space and with in the world of interiors, we can design a house in daylight, because that's one time of the day. And then there's other times of the day where artificial lighting is needed, and different seasons, and there's very different treatments of lighting, and I want that to be really considered and really beneficial. And it's sometimes hard for people to understand those benefits before you've showed them. My best clients are the ones who've I saw something at someone else's house. It was the most amazing thing. And then
Michelle Lynne 10:40
you'd have to sell them on the you have to sell the concept. Which brings me to how do you convey it to your clients? Because you're right. As interior designers, we can show them a sofa and share with them the fabric that we're going to use on it, the specific upholstery, and they can imagine that, but the lighting is completely different because you're setting scenes. Yes, throughout the day, it's not just going to be one vibe, per se. How do you how do you convey that? Is it? So
Ben Rousseau 11:11
there's a number of ways of doing things, and I if a client of mine is designing an interior, a full home, for instance, then it's a kind of a bigger investment. And I would recommend we've got some digital lighting control, because there's so many more things that we can do, and usually we can do that, I would use something like a Lutron system. Lutron have a very good showrooms that you can take a client to, depending on which city you're in or where you are. You as a designer, you can take a client there show them how certain levels of lighting would work, and with your renderings and drawings, you can set light levels, you can set color indexes. There's a lot you can do in this day, and it just depends on how much the client wants to pay to get a really, real list. And normally, a customer would probably go, You know what? I take your word for. If they've seen another project I've done, then they've sorted into the idea, because that's the thing that actually has brought them to me. And then it's, how can we make that work? We know what you're going to do is going to be amazing. So it's, there's, it's a bit of an easier task. But when I'm trying to sell the lighting into a whole interior, I have to go through those stages of showing them a showroom, let them play with some equipment. It's not
Michelle Lynne 12:25
that dissimilar from what we do. It's just a different a different material. Because you're right, you have to show them that this is how it works, and this is how it's going to feel, but it's going to be custom to your space, and not necessarily the showroom vibe or whatever the case may be. Yeah, it's interesting. I was probably making it a little bit more complicated than it is, although it does take the so the importance of having a connection with your client is probably similar in regards to the fact that they're going to have to trust you, and they're going to have to going to have to know that you're going to listen to their wants and needs. But how do you form those connections with the people
Ben Rousseau 13:09
with them? So I think there's a usually, when a customer is coming to me, they've got a pretty good idea that they want to work with me, rather than it's, oh, here's five designers. You tell me who's the best one? It's, oh, we want to work with them. We want you to do. What we want to do is send something that we really loved. And sometimes it's okay, could you design a cool kitchen for us? Because we saw our friend's kitchen, it was amazing. And then you design the kitchen, they're like, oh my, we want the whole downstairs done. And then it's the downstairs, and then it's next, six months later. Can we do the upstairs? But the process is, I want it to be about them and their space, and it's like everyone knows that they've their tastes a lot of people. So I just I don't like brown or I don't like green. They know the things they don't like. So I try to kind of get out of them the things that I wouldn't suggest, and I'm not designing a house for me, as I tell them, it's like if you're giving me free rein to design a house for me, it might be very different to what you want, because my mind changes my ideas. I move through different tastes and but there will always be a really practical sense to it. And first of all, we work out, okay, is it a south facing garden. I do have the sunlight coming in from the daytime. Let's think about where we use it. Make sure that furniture is not going to be where it's too hot in the daytime, when it's sunny and but where you can use the light. And there's a there's a kind of space planning process, and that's what I call as like a normal layer that, you know, I would say every kind of interior designer should do naturally, and then from a lighting point of view, it's like, okay, well now where can I add the dramatic bits, the bits that I know they're going to go, Oh, wow. We hadn't thought about a light and a detail that illuminates the textured wall here that actually will always be on show, because in the afternoon, that's that wall is in the shade. You. And so ways of making features, but every project is budget driven, and we never have an endless Darn it. So you have to be clever. And I always say there's ways of doing things and making things more fun, but it is involving them. It's a collaborative process, and I want them to have as much input as possible. They're asking me to design it. So sometimes when people say, Oh, well, I want this and this and that, and it's okay, you can have that, and here's where I can add my expertise. That makes it another level. And yeah, and that kind of costs a certain amount of money. And if you want the fancy digital system, that can be quite a bit of money. And if we don't want them that money, we can do something clever in a few rooms that aren't so there's a bit of toing and throwing, and you have to get to know each other. But usually they know they want to work with me at the beginning. That makes
Michelle Lynne 15:52
it nice. So it's almost your job to lose at that point, your project to lose. Yeah,
Ben Rousseau 15:56
and I like to think it there. It's they understand what I'm trying to do, and I've done with a space, they've seen it. So it's not like I'm trying to sell it. It's they've proven it. That's already that, am I capable that bit answered. So then it's okay, how does that fit our what we want? And then so it's just putting those ingredients into a bowl and making sure that I'm listening to them, take on board what they want, and then me to then go away almost, and then get a bit creative and look at it. Challenge myself. Think. What would I do for fun? What would I do for make it a bit more show offy, what would I do if I want James Bond to come in and him to be impressed? Challenge myself, and then sometimes I can get a bit carried away and the customers, sounds brilliant. We want to rein it in a little bit, and that's part of the fun. It's like, Why hire me unless you want me to challenge you and do something interesting? I don't want it to be mediocre. I
Michelle Lynne 16:55
think that that mindset is key for designers and creatives as a whole. They're not hiring us to make it look like pottery barn. They're hiring us to make it look like their home on steroids.
Ben Rousseau 17:08
That's it. Yeah, I want it to be enjoyable, because I know it can be stressful, and you know when budgets move or there's a problem which inevitably, there's some certain things just go wrong in the world, whether it's for whatever reason, out of our hands. And you just to make it clear that there is going to be some of that, and make it fun so that they can and but just to talk to them, it's about communication, and it's just being honest and sharing things and saying and trying, can we push this? Can we go And if sometimes you get the husbands, oh, man, I love all this stuff and a little or the other way around, it's not always a there's there can be a bit of a conflict. It's just part of navigating, isn't it?
Michelle Lynne 17:53
And it's also being comfortable having those uncomfortable conversations, because there are going to be times when, like you said, something goes wrong, or the budget changes, or whatever the case may be, and you have to deliver some news that's going to be like, I know this is what you wanted, but you can't really afford it if you're bringing it back that way. For
Ben Rousseau 18:12
sure, I was going to mention a little story I did a project I fondly call the bat cave, where a customer of mine was after I create these illuminated bubble chairs, which are big hanging chairs with an engraving in and they light up and they're like art pieces. And he invited me to this basement under his house, which was three and a half 1000 square foot basement. He just built this huge house on top of it, and the wife was all right, I'm sick of the building work.
Unknown Speaker 18:39
How large was the basement, three and
Ben Rousseau 18:41
a half 1000 square foot. So, holy
Michelle Lynne 18:43
cow, that is what you said. Yeah, it's
Ben Rousseau 18:46
a big empty space, and all they had was the foundations for a swimming pool, a big empty concrete space around a spiral staircase and a Aston Martin DB four sat on a driveway that was about to be bricked up. And when I walked in, he was like, I'd like to have a bar here. And I thought, Okay, what's happening with the Aston Martin? And he was like, we'll break that up. And because it was on a driveway that lowered down into the house under the ground. And I was like, no, why don't we? Why don't we put that on show? Let's put some lasers around it. Because if we're sat here at the bar, we can sit and look at that in the laser beams. I was literally rattling crazy ideas, and he was just like, Yes, oh my gosh. And actually, what became with that was he then wanted to go completely crazy, and I had to actually rein him in to the point where, you know what, too many of these things just become a mess. And we're not trying to create a circus, or it's, there's a, yeah, we're too much. We're almost was a nightclub, really. You had all this kind of crazy artwork and stuff, and we put lasers and disco balls in, and it was a crazy project, but beautiful and it was, it's his taste. We had leather floor panels, and there's a few mixed pieces in there. We're. Probably wouldn't be my taste, but you know, it's, as I always say to someone, it's this is what that person wanted. And we had this fun time creating this amazing space. And it was almost like we were giggly teenagers going on. We could create this. And we put the lights in this strip, and we built this round room with marbled mirrored balls all over the walls. And describing it to someone, it sounds completely crazy, but it was a lot of fun. It looked very cool. You had the money to do it, and so it was a lot of fun. But the point of the story was he wanted to keep going more and do more and more crazy stuff, which would have then just become silly, and it wouldn't have worked as
Michelle Lynne 20:36
as a woman. This sounds funny, but one of the things that I was taught as I was growing up, is and I think maybe it was Coco Chanel that said this, like, you get fully dressed and then you take a one accessory off, because otherwise you're just too overdone. But here in Texas, it's the funniest thing. There are these women who have the big hair and the big red lipstick and the lots of eyeshadow, and they're just drenched in jewels and fur and stuff like that, like the total stereotypical but if you're just overdone, you're like an overdone grandma, like, you just need to tone that back a little bit. So I think it's the same thing. It's like too much is sometimes too much.
Ben Rousseau 21:13
Yeah, it is. But you also you have to politely say something it's hard to say to someone walking down the street, but as a client of mine, yeah, that we would come right now, we have to commit to which bits we're going to do and how it goes together. Because my vision, I have a I can imagine how it's all going to look together. And when I'm suggesting these ideas, I know how I'm going to do it. And the laser cage, we put it on a gloss black floor, which comes from the Star Wars film, exactly. And so I've got all these little nuggets of details that I want to use somewhere along the line, and then just most of them came out of the woodwork for that one. Oh, that is fun. But anyway, that was fun. Yeah.
Michelle Lynne 21:57
Imagine trying to bake a cake without a recipe. You kind of know what the ingredients are, but you don't know how to put it all together. After lots of hard work and trying different combinations, all you are left with is a sticky situation and a stomach ache. Babe, running an interior design business can feel exactly that same way. That is why I created the interior design business bakery. This is a program that teaches you how to bake your interior design business cake and eat it too. If you don't want to figure out the hard way and you want guidance to follow a recipe that has already been vetted, someone that has already been there and done it and will help you do it too. Then check out the year long mentorship and coaching program the interior design business bakery. If your interior design business revenue is below 300,000 or if you're struggling to make a profit and keep your sanity, this is the only program for you. You can find that information at designed for the creative mind.com. Forward, slash, business, dash, bakery, check it out. You won't regret it.
Michelle Lynne 23:21
So is so do you have a specific way as you're marketing yourself, that you differentiate yourself from other artists and designers?
Ben Rousseau 23:30
Yeah, and it is
Michelle Lynne 23:32
so much to you. There's so much to there
Ben Rousseau 23:34
is. And the lighting aspect is the kind of obvious thing, but there's also the level of the kind of engineering and the I have a real understanding for making and and engineering. And I use the, you go back to the James Bond thing, but the finishes and the the elements that things always look so futuristic is the way things made, the the materials on show. For instance, I have a big influence from the car customizing world. We grew up in Colchester, which is this little old town in England, but my dad had an old 55 Chevy Hot Rod, and that was a kind of rare car in England. But and I, we'd go to these car shows, and some of the American guys who'd come over, there's a guy, Boyd Coddington, who did these amazing, unbelievable hot rods, which the hot rod on steroids, but the engineering, the detail, the interiors and the way things were machined. I just, I geek out on those, that level of detail and beauty. And I want to put it on show, like the chairs, these are made by car roll cage companies. There's a there's a guy who makes my carbon fiber on my clocks, and he's an f1 engineer, and authentic, actual f1 and so there's a story behind the people that make a lot of my work. And I like. Learn from these people. If I've got an idea or a design, I would go and find the best people that I know exist and try and take them out of their comfort zone. And I have a lot of film prop makers, for instance, and they build props. And one of the guys that does my electronics, he used to he was building the robots for the Star Wars films. And so they're authentic guys that have these amazing skills. I'm trying to bring them into the interior world, to take them out of the films or the car world, or whatever, and they're entering a different world, but there's quite fun for them. But I learned so much from them, but I put it into the interior world. So the car guy who loves his chairs in his cars, I build a chair for him in his house that is made by amazing car customizers. And then there's a great story. So yes, it has a price tag because it's handmade by these amazing finishes. But the story means not many other people can say that, Oh, you know what that car builder has built my chair with Ben's design for the house. So
Michelle Lynne 26:01
absolutely, like, I give me a clock from the f1 master mechanic, yeah, hell yeah. Tell me in Yeah. But that, and when you get to that level of client, it that's also part of the appeal, is because nobody else is going to have just that and it does have that story behind it. Yes,
Ben Rousseau 26:20
absolutely. In terms of people can, let's say people can create expensive work. And I'm not creating stuff just because it's expensive. I create stuff with a beautiful detail and a beautiful engineered quality, and things that the throwaway mentality. Okay, IKEA has great, great design in it, but it's really designed to be thrown away in a couple of years. If you decide you've you're out of fashion with it, whereas I want my stuff to be held for years and passed down the family to like with a leather sofa or a leather jacket. When it's beaten up, the more beaten up it looks, the more kind of beautiful, and that exactly patinas, and those things are authentic, and they have a history that you think, you imagine the story, and you even the smells of leather that you think that's that leather has been around for 100 years, and it's just as beautiful. And, yeah, I want all of that narrative in my work, which sometimes I'm very lucky to be able to do that and have clients that will allow me to create these sort of things. But I set up that as my purpose is to give people these just unique things that are special for them. It doesn't have to be everyone else's taste or for any it's about I'm creating something for this person, and I want it to be the most special thing ever, and that they know that I put so much effort and work, probably too much, because I'm almost obsessed about it and the detail. And sometimes you go way beyond the I'm sticking to a budget, because your budget, but your own personal hours and stuff, you put those extra things in to just get it perfect or and as just, it's a lifestyle. I creative. I create the work I do because I love it. And, you know, I'm very privileged. If I won the lottery and I could do everything, I could do what I want, I would still be doing the creative stuff, because that's just what I live, eat and breathe and I'm interested in. So I'm it's not like I go to work every day, I feel I have a I'm blessed in that respect. But the way I use lighting, the way I've used the engineering and the people that I work with, and the relationships, it's all really very important to me to make these kind of special experiential either places or object. You know, if it's a chair like this, this chair has a it's a fake wolf skin chair, but it's super cozy. And for that right plate, like a ski chalet or something, just be the ultimate sit in and be cozy with your partner.
Michelle Lynne 28:55
And it has the combination of some of the futuristic shapes, but with the cozy factor.
Ben Rousseau 29:01
That's it. So it has to be, it has to be like I said, it's one of the now, where it's, it's taking us into the future, but it doesn't feel alien. So it's not like you think, oh, okay, this has just come off an alien spaceship or something. It's high tech and it's modern, it's but it's still got to fit in with other stuff, because people aren't ready in terms of this day and age. I'd love to design a crazy spaceship, but people be like, You know what? This is our house, and we're not quite ready to go there. Probably have no business if I did that.
Michelle Lynne 29:33
So funny story, I just so the house we just moved out of was the house that they featured in the show back in was it the 80s Robocop? Oh, amazing. And so it was the original smart home. It had been in Popular Science and stuff like that. But to your point, the home itself was so well designed that it looked futuristic at. The time, but the actual content in the home now, all the smart stuff that's obviously dumb now, but the architecture and the detail that they built it with, because the person who built the home was an engineer, and so just the quality goes in line with what you're talking about with your products, is that it's just so special and so unique. But it's such quality that it impacts people for, generate for potentially for generations.
Ben Rousseau 30:27
Sure has a timeless quality about it. Yeah, and
Michelle Lynne 30:31
our home had such neat details in it that you can see, I'm part of the Robocop scenes that still like it, the lighting, it just opens up, and then you have the scene that's set there. And it was very special. And I think that's a lot of what you bring through your unique pieces. The difference is that your stuff can go from home to home in a lot of instances with them, yes,
Ben Rousseau 30:56
and the timeless aspect that you're bringing into it is hugely important. So they have where I take inspiration. I absolutely love the 1960s 1970s that era of furniture and architecture, because there was something it was almost then so futuristic where, like the Jetsons cartoons and stuff, where they're imagining these kind of flying cars, all the bubble chairs and the kind of the futuristic things that from the 70s actually still look modern today. They look pretty modern today, and that's 50 years old and even older and but those forms, the curvaceous form of the bubble chair, is just something that is just beautiful, and it's organic. It feels it's not like you're in the womb or you're but it's something familiar and comforting. And as organic shapes are just they're always appealing, active and familiar. And you put them together with some okay, like this is a faux Wolf, but it's an it's a kind of natural looking fur, which, when you feel it, it's very cozy and soft and and I think with modern materials, everyone still loves woods and marbles and the things, when you bring those together with some more modern materials, like the certain metals, or even a Corian or something, these solid surfaces that's like
Michelle Lynne 32:17
the tension between it. So you have the chair that you have, it does. It has the more modern shape, but it's still very familiar. And then you have the materials that are the metal, but then you also have the tension of the the cozy fur. And I think that that's the quality that you bring and the vision that you bring, and that's a standard tenant in design, is to have that almost the masculine and the feminine in the pieces. Now tell me, do you Ben? Do you collaborate with other designers who might want your lighting expertise in their projects? Or are you just for hire by your clients directly.
Ben Rousseau 33:02
Yeah, I honestly have been lucky enough to do all sorts of projects. And sometimes someone asked me to help on the lighting scheme for a set an exhibition stand or something, and I help plan how the lighting is going to work, or it could be a stage or a production. And I'm I love working with people. I love means to learning from someone. Someone might have a, let's say, a residential project, or a boat or something that's, hey, you know what? I've got some ideas. I'm not sure about this. Can you bring something to the table? Or, okay, hey, I've got this project. I'm doing the interior for it. My customer saw your clock, loves the clock, but wants something to go with the clock, because you design something in the bar that kind of matches the clock. And there's always a means to I'm always open to stuff. It's I get excited by new things. I also, being honest, get bored very easily. So if I do the same thing, I'm not
Michelle Lynne 34:00
surprised. I've known you for a very short period of time on this podcast, and that does not surprise me. So
Ben Rousseau 34:05
I'd I'd welcome anyone that has the right and interesting kind of project. I'd be very open to hear that collaborating with people is fun. I'm still learning. I love learning from other people. Other people have great ideas, different techniques or different materials they like to use. I think it's a great part of what we do. All
Michelle Lynne 34:22
of this conversation makes me wonder, what did you go to school for?
Ben Rousseau 34:26
Why did I go to school? No, what did you study? I studied product and industrial design when I left my model making course after art and design. So effectively I left school, which we call school, at 16 years old. So I went to college to do an art and design course, which was like two years in a Colchester Institute, which was a lot of fun, but very experimental, a bit of graphic design, bit of fine art, bit of computer stuff. And that was that it was then I discovered the model making. Being in the workshop, playing with things I was actually making. I made a shoe, which was like a vacuum cleaner that someone could hop around, and it was had an engine on it, all sorts of stuff. But it was more about building these kind of little bits that look like engines and stuff. It wasn't quite real, but it was this kind of fantasy, fantastical kind of vision of of design and creativity. I was never kind of in just painting a flower or something. It just it's too I respect it, and some people do that very well. But I'm interested in this kind of world exist, or creating the world that is not quite there a sort of reality that isn't, isn't in front of us. It's the
Michelle Lynne 35:46
most of your talent is self taught and discovered. That sounds like, yeah,
Ben Rousseau 35:51
it's like this imagination that there's all these things that I've absorbed over the years of whether it be film or hotels or a place or something, and whether that's an experience, a sound, a texture, material, a way of these things looking together, a feeling they're all in a bank somewhere, that come out in my work, and it's
Michelle Lynne 36:12
so important to talk about because a lot of our listeners are just born designers, right? And feel like they, and I'm just paraphrasing. Feel like they have to go through specific I have to check this box in this box, and then I can be a designer when, in reality, when you're born as creative as you are, you just hone it and see where it takes you. And then it sounds like you trust your instincts
Ben Rousseau 36:35
a lot. I think so. Some people might say it's a bit of a crazy way to because I was 24 years old when I set up the business as a studio on my own and I finished. I had, after university, had two years working for an events company. I was designing stages and creating exhibition spaces. We did, I did, we did shows for Destiny's Child. We did some really great gigs as a kind of 21 year old as this is, yeah, this is a great like deal with this. But then I was starting to do some private interiors for these people that we were working with who owned the nightclubs or whatever. And it was then I had these residential projects that people wanted outside of the commercial work, and it was okay. I hadn't quite fully thought it. I just got all these ideas and these opportunities and just dived straight into it. And let's say the very smart businessman might have thought differently, whereas I've got a passion to create things and to work with people and and do something, and then I move on to the next thing, but it's always because I'm working with someone, I'm working with a client and doing something. When I come to do my own house, sometimes it can be, God, do you actually get to finish an idea? Because I'm constantly wanting to test and do new things and push the boundaries, and then my wife Ben, we gotta live in this house. Or
Michelle Lynne 37:58
it's, yeah, it's a workshop. So tell what are we what are you doing now? What's your latest body of work?
Ben Rousseau 38:04
So the big thing, which is these time pieces, is I've been working on for a good couple of years now, and they're something I'm really serious and passionate about, which is, has this connection of time into light, and how this still has the same ingredients of how the light works with material, as this relationship between light and material, but we all only have the same hours in every day. And for me, there's something I want to represent that in the most beautiful way that I can. And it is an artistic piece that is a decorative piece, and but I wanted to also, in create a connection with people, and really make people think we're lucky to be stood here. I'm lucky to be interviewing you today, having a an enjoyable time, grateful for my health. Have some time for myself, because you forget it. There's so much communication with Facebook and WhatsApp, and it's like you just sometimes over stimulated. I overstimulated. And yeah, at the end of every day, I'd have a couple of minutes just watching the time go by to just catch my breath, calm down. Think, okay, I'm grateful for the day. Look forward to tomorrow, and it's something you need to do just to wind down. Now, as I it's not just for the males and who like the gadgets it, but I feel a lot of my work does lean towards the more masculine side. And so as a gift for my wife, because I had to think, what am I going to get my wife for Christmas? And I thought, I can't buy some shoes or a handbag, or there's no creativity there. So I created this artwork where I basically took a print of her kiss and turned it into an artwork in gold. So I basically took the print of her lips and then blew it up and made a beautiful artwork that I handmade from gold leaf. So she has a big print of her lips as a spa. Actual gift. And once I've gone through the process, I thought, You know what? This should be, something I should offer more people. So I've now made this beautiful new body of work called Kiss my art, and I get a beautiful gift box with a lipstick and some cards, and the receiver would put their lipstick on Kiss the card, send the print of their lips into a little card back to me, and then in the England, I will make up a beautiful artwork and send them back a finished artwork in 23 carat gold leaf as a very special, completely unique, luxury, personalized gift. And what a fantastic idea. Thank you. And it's for, it's for anybody. It's not just for, you know, as partners. But I it was, it came from an idea for my wife, and I thought, you know, I want to be able to offer that to the feminine market. You know, I want. I'm I have. It's very important to me that my work is just not a kind of masculine based offering, and I think it's a really fun thing. And I like the fact that there's a again, it's this connection that if someone was asking me to do this, that a lady's kiss is or a partner's kiss is the most intimate, private, emotional, powerful thing, and it's you don't just give that to anyone, whether it's a friend, family or a lover, there's something the kiss is. It's a real special. You don't just hand them out on any street corner. And so to frame that and have it on the wall forever, permanently captured, is something that I just think is wonderful, that someone can give to someone else, and it's an honor for me to do that between those two people, and it's also something so beautiful. And every lips that I do are so different. And where that takes me next is I'm creating these more inclusive artworks, where I'm going to do 1000 kisses, the power of 1000 kisses, where I've got all sorts of people, male, female, young, old, from all sorts of different races, nationalities, and everyone have the same colored lipstick. And when they put their kiss on the artwork, it'll be a huge artwork of 1000 kisses. But you won't know whose artwork, whether that was a male, female, how old they were, until then you read through the column that they'll have an iPad or a screen next to it, and it'll say, Oh, that was Sally from number 73 she's from Jamaica, or that one's, do you know what I mean? So it becomes this thing, and it's just, it's beautiful. The kiss is beautiful, and I think it's special. And everyone's unique, and everyone will, I think it's a really enjoyable thing. So there's they're my new bodies of work, the time pieces. And then this the kiss, my art collection of very kind of unique luxury gifts, which I think are fun and different.
Michelle Lynne 42:55
And when you were first talking about it, because I visited your website, which we'll share with I'm going to ask you to ask you to share that with our listeners here in just a moment. But when I went to your website and I saw the lips, and then you're telling me the story behind, I was like, is he sharing his wife's lips with everybody? Is this just, is this just some sort of cheeky art, but the fact that it's custom, and I could send you my kiss for you to create for my husband is just so special. Do you do it in any other mediums? Yeah,
Ben Rousseau 43:25
I've got, I've done a light box version, so I've got one that's a big, glowing set of lips. So I've got one in glass. I couldn't do a do anything that anyone wanted, but I kind of my thinking was that I want to make the experience. Because most of being honest, most of my work is custom. I make one off things or very low volume pieces that the chairs and the clocks, some of the they're about the only things that I do in more than one two at a time. And but still, everything's low volume, made in the UK, made by my hands very often. So it's about an experience. So what I wanted was this experience to be easy for me, to make the same for everybody. And so by getting this little gift box, it's like a little branded, you know. So it's almost like you're opening, opening a, let's say, a new designer handbag or a lipstick or something. So it was, it's a little branded box. And normally I you know, the woman doesn't know that she's getting it, or the partner doesn't know what's coming next. So they get the box, and they're like, oh, there's a lipstick and a card. And they're like, Oh, what do I do? And then the partner can say, apply your lipstick and put your kiss on, and then put it in the envelope, and then see what happens. And then there's this second layer of suspense and interest and excitement, anticipation and anticipation. And I want that process to be the same for everyone. It's a it's exciting because the artwork itself is then a custom artwork. You know, no two artworks are the same, although the process, you know, I I effectively draw the lip. And trace the details and turn it into a physical artwork. But every set of lips is different, and you might want a marble background as someone else might want a black glass or someone else. So I can do all sorts of things, but it's
Michelle Lynne 45:14
funny that you say that because my coaching, and we're just my coaching, that I offer to interior designers for the business of interior design is literally that it is the project is always different, but the process should be the same, and so delivering that process consistently is where you elevate the experience and the luxury aspect of what you deliver. I couldn't have asked for a better transition at that point. What a great segue. So will you share? We've teased this a couple times. Will you share with our audience? How can they connect with you? Please.
Ben Rousseau 45:48
Yes. So I have my website, which is WW, dot Ben russo.com so that's spelled, B, E, N, R, o, u, Double S for sugar, E, A, u.com, and my Instagram, with pretty active on Instagram, which is my Ben underscore, Russo underscore studio. So if you were to give us a follow on there and reach out, I'd love to chat with you. We've got a few bits on YouTube, but more so that's just bits of information that we kind of use for various things, so Instagram is probably our best bit. I am on LinkedIn as well if someone wants to reach out. So I'm on Ben Russo studio or Ben Russo design under LinkedIn, but if we can put that link in the chat later
Michelle Lynne 46:35
on, all of that will be in the show notes. So for those of you who are driving while you are listening to this content, or if you're walking your dog and you don't happen to have a pen in hand, all of that will be referenced there. And in the interest of time, y'all, let me just say that if you want more more interesting content, more training, more insight on the business of interior design, you can join me in the Facebook group. It's called the interior designers business launch pad, and yeah, I know it's Facebook, but it's the best place for a free group, and we get together there once a week where I give you some live training. So come join us over there. Make sure you give Ben a follow on Instagram and you shout out that you met him here on the podcast. So Ben, thank you. This has been I could spend another hour just listening to your experience and your passion for the work that you do. I think it's really going to resonate. Thanks,
Ben Rousseau 47:29
brilliant, Michelle. Thank you so much for having me. It's been absolutely wonderful. It's been a lot of fun, and I've really enjoyed it fully. Hopefully some of the listeners get a little bit of a buzz out of it, absolutely. I
Michelle Lynne 47:41
look forward to it. Alright, y'all, make it a great day. Be great today and every day. Hey, y'all, if you love the show and find it useful, I would really appreciate it if you would share with your friends and followers, and if you like what you're hearing. Want to put a face with a name and get even more business advice. Then join me in my Facebook group, the interior designers business launch pad. Yeah, I know it's Facebook, but just come on in for the training and then leave without scrolling your feet. It's fun. I promise you'll enjoy it. And finally, I hear it's good for business to get ratings on your podcast, so please drop yours on whatever platform you use to listen to this. We're all about community over competition, so let's work on elevating our industry one designer at a time. See you next time you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
