Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick ODonnell.
Hi Nick, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
In college, I was fortunate enough to be chose for an ‘incubation-style’ entrepreneurship program, where my classmates and I were given a small amount of startup funding to develop any business idea that we wanted to pursue in class. After a short while, I found myself gravitating towards several ideas surrounding the newly emerging field of ‘digital fabrication’. I have always loved finding ways to physically make a design I have in my head, and discovering tools like laser cutting and 3D printing unleashed a floodgate of creative ideas for me. Using a little 3D modeling knowledge, I was able to win two business competitions at my school (Florida State University), and most importantly, discover a type of design that I would base the next 10 years of my working life on – Parametric Design.
At the end of my last year in school, I designed a chair using vertical sections of plywood that when lined up, made a modern seat. The chair was photographed and published a few weeks later in a large paper (USA Today). With this encouragement and proof of concept, I decided to dig deeper into this furniture aesthetic which had become known as ‘parametric design’. I named my company Terraform – a name with both futuristic connotation and a literal Latin meaning of ‘Earth Shaping’ since many of my pieces would come to have highly organic and flowing designs.
In the furniture world, ‘parametric design’ is a type of aesthetic focused on highly geometric, fluidic, and futuristic shapes that are brought into reality using practical methods. My company Terraform makes use of CNC routing for many of our Bench designs, Wall Designs, and Tables. We use 3D printing and Laser cutting for our Pendant lamps and other lighting pieces.
While most people get into the furniture industry out of passion for furniture or interior design, I found myself getting into the field through my love of the tools and methods I was using to create. In many cases, I won’t just make a wall facade design, but will instead write a piece of code which will generate a hundred designs. From there, I will pick and choose aspects of a procedurally generated design, and tweak and shape until perfect. As time went on, I began to hone my skill at incorporating a style of design I was passionate about into an industry which had begun to accept and welcome it.
10 years after the conception of my company, I have found myself traveling all over the world putting together my original designs. I have benches in Airports in Qatar. I have parametric wooden wall coverings if offices, workspaces, and even high schools in silicon valley. I have even made benches based on abstract mathematical concepts like a ‘möbius strip’ for the science department in schools like Harvard University. As parametric design has become more and more widespread throughout the design world, I have loved being able to bring a style that I consider myself to be one of the first fans of to the rest of the world.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road to building my company has not been smooth. As any business owner knows, running a company means wearing a hundred different ‘hats’ – usually all within the span of only a few hours. Some days, I will wake up as a 3D designer, be a salesperson by lunch, and finish off the afternoon filing taxes, talking to suppliers, and coating pieces of wood in commercial-grade lacquer. The transition between different ways of thinking can be tough and demanding before a business is big enough to properly give all needed tasks to the right people. One of the most valuable things I have found out about myself are the thigs that I simply do not excel at. Knowing these areas of my business and therefore addressing them with the right people and skill sets has aways been difficult but imperative, and has allowed me to focus on the areas of my company that deserve the bulk of my skill and attention.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Within my furniture design company, Terraform, I specialize in the design of my pieces above everything else. There is a very specific aesthetic that Terraform pieces have become known for, and it is important to me that I ensure our pieces all exist within this design language. The space of Parametric Design is still a relatively new branch of furniture and interior fixture design. While new companies and competitors do emerge periodically, I work hard to stay committed to keeping the quality and end results of my products and pieces up to the finest woodworking and other craftsperson’ standards.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
When working on a large project involving lots of time sanding, staining, or doing other woodworking, I go through a ton of audio books. I love sci-fi stories like the “Hyperion Cantos” by Dan Simmons, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, “Dune”, “Daemon”, and then other fantasy series like the “Stormlight Archives”. Part of what drew me towards the type of futuristic design I work in was the idea of re-shaping what the world looks like. It seems only natural that I also love stories that take me to different worlds while creating the things that I make.
Pricing:
- My lamps – usually start around $700
- My benches – small pieces usually start around $4,000
- My larger benches – range from $5,000 to $60,000
- Parametric Wall Designs – widely range on size from $5,000-90,000
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Terraform-Design.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terraform_design/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerraformDesign
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/25012645
- Other: https://www.behance.net/TerraformDesign
Image Credits
Nick Ferris (only for image IMG_2472)
