1TB Little Big Disk Quadra focused on designer Neil Poulton

 Asked what design software he uses and prefers, Neil Poulton pragmatically points out that for mass manufacture, the design software you use has to be compatible with the engineering/ software of choice of the manufacturer. “Software houses exaggerate their import-export specs.. The manufacturer may be able to read your file, but the model might well import badly with errors that require hours or days to correct. In China its not necessarily going to be your advanced design software, so you have to be 100% sure they can import your files to their format”

He then reveals his weakness is for “the best inexpensive modeller” McNeel’s Rhinoceros and gives the 3D software the simple plaudit of “best for product design.” Coming from a designer of Poulton’s status that’s praise indeed.

“Software like Pro Engineer or Solid Works are mechanically oriented, more mathematical and rigid, giving little freedom to ‘design.’ Rhino is a very flexible NURB’s modeler. You can go from fooling around with form to creating components, whose files can then be imported into engineering programs like Pro-E for direct manufacture. Animation software like Studio Max or Autodesk Maya are great, but because they’re intended to output screen-resolution models, the tolerances and geometry aren’t precise enough for physical manufacturing.” Pointing out that there are two different types of work, solid modelling and surfaces, and while admitting Rhino does both, Poulton expresses an affinity to Alias (Autodesk) for surface work. Dassault’s Catia simulation software let’s you crash-test on-screen “to let you see how the product performs.”
(Right LaCie ruggedised 500MB)

Boiled down his advise to would-be designers is get to know you software for surface and volume modelling, rendering, drafting; Photoshop, Pro Engineer and Mechanical Desktop and knowledge of "duplicate" programs is useful if your employers, client or supplier doesn't use the same software as you, while skills with Web and animation software always come in useful.

“Designers have a problem of how to keep up with software development,” he says, calmly advising them “Don’t do it. Get what works for you and stick with it. The biggest error can be upgrading. If you’ve got something that works and you are happy with, stick to it. The alternative is to go back and re-learn and do you have the time to completely retrain? Only do that when you are not using the software critically.”

On hardware, though he loves MACs “which are brilliant for graphics, but are useless for manufacturing,. Rhino have a Mac Beta out and Alias has already ported Maya onto OSX, but there’s simply no “heavy” industry-standard Mac software. I use PCs for engineering. Manufacturers often use their own proprietary software and you have to be able to import you design file into it and it always has to work accurately. 

“Windows NT was solid as a brick. It’s slowed down on each upgrade. As chip processors and RAM increase to bigger capacity it’s got to the point where the upgrade is every three months. 7-8MP cameras need disc space to put the snapshots you never look at again, or 10 minutes of film takes up
Gigabytes of drive.”

But if upgrades cause hiatus in learning fast-developing software, it has its benefits too. “I’ve just been involved in the design of the “5 Big” drive for LaCie. It houses 5 removable discs and will go up to 40 Terabyte storage.”

Poulton’s earliest Computer at Napier “had it's own room and personal technician/guru, Geoff and the plotter would take all night to scratch out a wireframe drawing with 4-different coloured Rotring pens.

Why is he based in Paris? “I got sick of London and went to do my masters in Italy and went back to London at the beginning of the 90’s when the market was crashing. I was going to get a job in Italy, but Philippe Starck offered me one, so I went to get his name on my CV with the intention of going back to Milan with the ‘added value’ but it became three, then six years and in Paris were a lot of the people I had met in Italy, a ready crowd as it were. I’m told there are16,000 Scots live in Paris. I don’t know how they get that number. But Paris is like a bridge between old and new worlds. You can get the latest WiFi here or drop into a cheese shop that’s been around for decades. And in August,” he laughs “everyone goes on holiday at the same time.”

How does his work flow? “I tend to work for the same people a lot. LaCie is one, and I work regularly with Italian lighting company Artemide, for whom I’ve designed a number of award-winning lamps. I have five steady big clients and there’s others negotiating. I work on a lot of royalties, which pays well if the product sells well. I also do fixed fee work if a client comes to me with a good brief. I bring in people form time to time and use freelance and I’m moving to a new place and hope to take on people. But the French laws are such that if I take on a salaried worker I can’t dismiss them, even if the work dries up. As for students, here in France you only have them for three months, and you’re not supposed to pay them. After three months you lose them, just as the point when they’re starting to become useful.(Above: Poulton's  surf suspension system designed 1998. Courtesy: www.unicahome.com)

Web: http://www.neilpoulton.com

Biography behind the designer
Thurso-born Neil Poulton is a product designer, who gained a BSc degree in Industrial Design (technology) at Napier University in Edinburgh in 1985 and three years later had his Masters degree in design from the Doumus Academy in Milan, Italy, under architect Andrea Branzi and designer Alberto Meda. He has lived and worked in Paris since 1991.

He first came into public view in 1989 as the creator of the “Ageing Pens,” made from a “living” (wearing) plastic, which changes colour and form with use. The Ageing Pens were exhibited in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and The Axis Gallery in Tokyo.

Poulton specialises in the design of simple, mass-produced objects winning numerous international design awards. Best known for lighting and for technology design, he is particularly associated with manufacturers such as LaCie, Artemide, Megalit, Atelier Sedap, La Tête Au Cube and Danese Milano. His work can be found In the Centre Georges Pompidou which in 2007 acquired six Poulton-designed objects for its Permanent Contemporary Collection.

Poulton's career is littered (see Time Line) with awards, including seven French "Etoile de l’Observeur du Design” prizes; five German Red dot design awards; three German "IF" prizes; two French “Janus de l’industrie” awards and the The Best of the Best Red dor design award 2006 for the Talak table lamp, designed for Italian lighting manufacturer, Artemide

In 2007 the French "Institut Francais de Design" presented Poulton with the "Janus de l'Industrie" for his "Firewire Speakers", designed for the computer hardware manufacturer, LaCie. Most recently, the French "Association for the Promotion of Industrial Design" (APCI) awarded Neil Poulton with two “Etoile de l’Observeur du Design 2008” prizes. The winning designs were Poulton's "Firewire Speakers" for LaCie and « Nessie » a range of outdoor lighting, based on the image of Scotland’s Loch Ness Monster and designed in Ductal concrete for French lighting manufacturer, Atelier Sedap.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Poulton

Gail Purvis