Q&A: Cyril Dunděra

Cyril Dundera is a young designer from Prague. Cyril has just completed his master's degree, but has already worked with Lasvit and Capellini, participated in Design Weeks in Prague, Paris, Berlin, Milan and Stockholm, and founded his own informal creative studio.

What techniques do you work with?

Well… I don't have only one technique. I am always trying to work with new materials and new principles and looking for new ways of how to design things. Not just in theory but practically, too, learning how to form things with my hands. I try to make everything that I do on my own, so that I know all the steps that lead to the final thing. Of course, it is different if I'm working on a project with my colleagues - in this case we reach a final design through cooperation.

When did you decide that you will become a designer?

I didn't know what to do after elementary school. I am not a person to whom studying comes easily, so, with the help of my parents, we chose a high school focused on art. There I studied Furniture Construction and Design. And that was it! I immediately became passionate about it and I've been doing it ever since. I cannot really imagine that I would do anything else, to be honest. This type of work allows me to express myself in a way that is best suited for me.

What did you study and how did it affect your work?

I am still studying and I will be completing my master's degree in October this year. My field is Furniture and Interior Design at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. It affected my work a lot! I met most of my best friends during my studies and the academic environment gave me a lot of contacts. This aspect is very important for my work now and in the future.

I tried to take every opportunity that I could whilst at school. In my third year I went to Konstfack in Stockholm, where I continued to focus on furniture and interior design. It taught me a lot of things. The approach in Stockholm was so different from what we were doing back in Prague. Everyone was very open minded and kind enough to help with anything, but they simultaneously didn't tell you exactly what to do. They guided you in a certain direction and then gave you the means to freely realize your own idea. I learned that everything I design, I create for others and not just for myself. At the same time, I have to let it come from my true self, so that I can be happy with it and then share that with others. Making something just to fulfill an assignment or someone else's expectation is not the way to go, at least for me.

After Stockholm I traveled a bit through the departments at our school. I wanted to try new things and observe new materials. I did one semester in the Product Design Studio and one semester in the Glass Studio. There I made the mirror KISS, which is now in the collection of Lasvit. It would have been a shame not to try working with glass since Czech Republic is internationally well known for its glass manufacturing tradition and we have some of the most qualified professionals working in the field.

Where do you work on your projects?

Right after the lockdown ended in Prague (at the beginning of May), three of my friends and I founded a studio/atelier where we work almost every day, most of us currently developing our diploma projects. The space is where we work and have fun. Since we don't have real studio yet, we call this a “creative space” - and its name is Gegen Flecken - (haha) :). We aren't a formal collective but we like to work together from time to time. With my friend, architect and designer Matěj Janský, we are working on a lounge chair for the Italian company Cappellini, for example. We are also finishing an interior project of a wine bar in Prague with my other friend, designer Ondřej Lalák.

What is your favourite project so far?

It has to be Penelope, a bust with a toothbrush in her mouth, that I made in 2018 for the “Art of Swissdent” project. It was developed as an academic assignment and was a very quick project since we only had a week or so to come up with something that's somehow related to the dental field. They told us that we could do literally anything we wanted using our imagination at a maximum. I thought about the materials that I have yet to work with and marble came to me as the preferred choice. They liked it and I won second place out of the three which were realized. It was something new for me, as I said before, I like to explore new materials. I therefore had no idea how to make it, but that was the fun in it. It was a long journey and I met a lot of interesting people, I visited places that I normally wouldn't visit.

After the project completion, the three of us had to design and create an installation for DesignBlok’18 (the biggest and longest running design fair in the Czech Republic). We designed this as an imaginary bathroom - everything was covered in white tiles that I installed. At the end we won the award for Best Installation. That was a nice outcome of our cooperation.

What is your creative goal?

My goal is to finish school and travel. Travel somewhere where I can work in a fresh new space. I have an opportunity to work for Lasvit in their Hong Kong office as a creative designer. My aim right now is to design something that will be produced and sold in Asia. I mean something that will stay there after I move back (that is if I will ever go back). :)

What are your hobbies and how do they affect your artistic practice?

My hobbies are mostly my friends since I see them almost every day :)
I also love comic books, travelling and bike rides. Everything affects me in a different way so I try to find some inspiration in these activities. Comic books are especially inspiring for me because of all the space ships, planets or even the characters, especially those from Alejandro Jodorowsky. The same goes for traveling where you can explore and see things live rather than in books. The dynamic forms and shapes in life have a big impact on my work.

What books are on your bedside table now?

I've got some comic books and a few Czech Elle Decoration issues which I didn't have time to read yet (even though my work is presented in some of them haha).

Tell us about a film that you watched recently and can recommend.

I saw really interesting documentary about mushrooms called Fantastic Fungi. It is not as it seems (not only about psychedelic mushrooms) but rather about how the whole planet is connected by millions of mycelium networks and how they communicate with each other. It's about how fungi were here before us, how they will be here after us and how it could potentially help us in the future. I will leave the rest for you to see. I really recommend everyone to watch it.

How do you get to know what's going on in the world? What are the sources of information you trust?

I don't have a TV so I don't watch news there. Sometimes I listen to the radio but not for the news. My trustworthy source of information is my family and my friends - people who have more experience with analysing information like this. I don't like to dig up stuff on the internet since it's full of fake news haha.

For design news, I frequently visit portals like dezeen.com and wallpaper.com etc… There I catch up to the new trends, works, materials and inspirations.

Tell us something surprising that you have learned recently?

Well I have few mottos that I recently picked up somewhere random and they stuck in my mind (and in my phone because I write them all down). Here is one I really like that my grandmother told me few weeks ago: “Not only to have but to live”. It might not be surprising but the beauty in it is that you can take it, think about it, and apply it however you want.