Harvey & John

What is your design background? How did Harvey & John and Guineapig come about?

I’ve enjoyed coming up with ideas and making things from young age and l live for the moment that two seemingly abstract thoughts collide and form the seed of a new idea. Whilst studying Architecture I became fascinated in how objects within an environment can shape peoples’ behaviour and provide meaningful shared experiences.

Harvey & John is a shared creative pursuit with my life long friend Richard Harvey. It’s our creative outlet for all kinds of different ideas across multiple disciplines and commercial settings.

Creativity is becoming increasingly important, yet modern life can inhibit our imaginations. The daily stream of information can distance us from our naturally curious and creative mindsets. I founded experimental product company Guineapig as a way to explore how products we interact on a daily basis could free our imaginations and increase our creative capacity.

Is there a relationship between Tropism Well and the new Pours decanter?
Absolutely. We have a habit of creating our concepts at the very largest scale that we can fit inside our studio… we later discover that there’s little commercial viability in such large products so we invented Pours which takes the concept and makes it usable within most interior environments.

Both Tropism Well and Pours embody the same idea that a simple product can powerfully bring people together, encourage genuine interaction and form spaces that promote creativity.

What drew you to choosing Richlite Stratum for the skeletal structure? How did the material influence the design?
Tropism well was initially inspired by the bamboo gardens at Kew so it felt fitting to incorporate this material into the product. The combination of bamboo and Richlite is a beautiful thing and I love the way that the material ages in a graceful way, it seems to get even better as it’s used. Introducing this material really upgraded the feel and quality of the product.

Do you have any mad ideas that you haven’t gotten around to working on yet?
Yes, we have an endless supply of ideas. Some of them can be found in illustration form on our Instagram feed - @harveyandjohn

Would you say that design effects the making process, or vice versa?
We tend to design through the process of making. We’re always experimenting with new materials and methods of manufacturing which allow different design options to be possible.

Do any other designers inspire your work?
I’m inspired by Thomas Heatherwick’s early work as much of it completely reframed our understand of how materials could be used.

I get most of my inspiration from nature as well as other innovators such as Elon Musk that are fundamentally changing our understanding of how to see the world and create progress for an optimistic future.