“I’m not a designer trying to solve problems,” says Ron Gilad, creator of such conceptually twisted products as a vase that lies horizontally on a surface or a table that seems to grow off a wall in only two dimensions. “The person who uses my products may actually suffer, because ergonomics and functionality are not my aim.”

What this Israeli-born, Manhattan-based designer wants to do instead is reach the user’s subconscious, “to see what objects can do besides serving us in a functional way.” Take his Vasemaker and Candlestick-maker—more tools than finished products. Vasemaker has no reservoir; Candlestickmaker has a pointed, unstable base. To make these half-objects whole, users have to combine them with other receptacles—a sawn-off plastic water bottle or a wine glass. To Gilad, context is king. “By moving or combining one object with another, you learn more about it,” he says. And indeed, pieces are carefully grouped around his TriBeCa studio as if in intimate conversation—much to his cleaning lady’s amusement.

Yet, Gilad, 33, doesn’t take himself seriously. He owns just a few shirts, trousers, a mattress, and some books (one is Wittgenstein’s Tractatus). “I don’t need much to be inspired,” he says. Instead, he sees himself as a conduit for information that must be processed before resulting in three-dimensional form. It’s design with a little “d”: Not “a big declaration with an exclamation point,” he says, “but rather a small statement with a question mark.” —Alice Twemlow

www.designfenzider.com

MORE DIGITALL HEROES