Hand in Hand — With Design. Interview with Kickie Chudíková

First of all, I would like to ask — if it’s not too personal — about your first name.

It’s a nickname. Officially, my name is Kristína, but everyone calls me Kika or Kiki. And actually, when I was here in New York — I was about sixteen — that’s when I kind of created the other spelling.

That’s cool because, under this pseudonym, you created a brand. Or rather a studio?

A studio. When was it created?

In 2020.

And did you study in Austria before that?

First, I studied design at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU) between 2005 and 2010. After a year, I also applied to the
University of Applied Arts in Vienna in 2007, where only six of us were selected. I had a great professor there, Hartmut Esslinger, who founded the Frog Design studio. Studying in Austria differs from studying in Slovakia: Every year, they accept students who may be at a completely different stage in their careers. We were a small group, and some of them actually had years of work experience. We were all together as a group for five years, coming from different years, so we worked on projects and also learned from our older classmates. It wasn’t divided by years like at STU.

So, studying in Vienna took five years?

I finished it in six years (2007 – 2013), during which I spent a year on Erasmus in Milan. Additionally, I earned a bachelor’s degree at STU’s Faculty of Architecture and Design. Milan.

At the Politecnico? Yes.

How did you like it there?

It was great, I really like Milan, but as far as the school is concerned, it was a bit demanding. Design is studied there in a similar manner to
economics here. There are approximately one hundred people in a year, and it wasn’t as individually focused as I was used to in Vienna.

And then they didn’t speak much English there, so even though I was learning Italian, I didn’t study in that language. However, from a cultural perspective, it was a great experience. Italian design was very inspiring for me. Similar to when I went from Bratislava to Austria — it’s also a completely different culture.

It changes the way one perceives things. Every step I took until I finally arrived in America gave me a much more global perspective, thanks to the combination of experiencing different cultures.

So, did the journey from Bratislava to Vienna to Milan to New York fundamentally  influence how you create?

One thing I strive to do is for people to emotionally connect with the objects I create. For example, this carafe… (Kickie points to the Boon carafe she created for PUIK design, which is standing on the table between us) …has a function, it has an ergonomic shape, form, and colour, but altogether, it should evoke emotion in people for the object to have meaning, to be contemporary, for the times we live in. And also be cause when you love something, you don’t throw it away so quickly, as long as it doesn’t break. And that’s my approach to “sustainability”:  Less but better and for a longer time.

What is it like in New York? Romance versus reality?

New York is full of energy, but it’s also a demanding city. I would say that people work non-stop here. Although I maintain a work-life  balance, having lived here for over ten years, I don’t just work on designing ideas for companies. I also work on be spoke projects, for  example, perfume bottles and various packaging and products — pure industrial design. Additionally, I have my own productline, which I sell under my own name. Especially as a designer, you need different types of income. It’s also a lot about luck and who you meet. My advice,  which I really enjoy giving to younger people, is networking.