BY MOHD. HATTA ISMAIL

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When does one design? Does designing has a switch that can be turned on and off or do we only design when there is a task or problem we face. For someone like Mr. Mohd Hatta Ismail, design has become a part of his lifestyle. During his lecture, he express the idea of relating senses to objects and spaces towards a consciousness allowing greater insights into art, object, form and space.

 

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His talk started of with his collections of bowls that he makes as a hobby. The bowls were made from various types of materials mainly of wood, metal, and common recycled materials. They had different textures and surfaces all with their own unique qualities. After 10 minutes of showing us countless number of bowls, I thought this guy has a weird obsession with bowls and probably has a secret warehouse somewhere that is waiting to be found out. All jokes aside, I think the point that he was trying to give is ideas comes from any form and bowls happens to be his.

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He then started to show us his collection of paintings and how he derives a deeper meaning from every lines or shapes the paintings has. The first two were decent, however it got 2 toned as he kept showing his works. He finds himself taking away more things and as he took out more elements, he found perfection. He tried to explain his way of expressing his art and how it effects his life and the way he dressed. One thing that inspired me the most was when he said “ if you were to place a dot on a canvas, where would the perfect spot be”. This was a question that made me ponder on during his talk.

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The talk continues on to his work and how he designs a space of a museum, and a few projects of houses he did. He mainly focused on how design does not have to be always based by the rules, that the way he design is based off his feelings and its true meaning that brings joy to him.

 

His talk was not that easy to understand for a mere average person with no deep thoughts. For some people his talk will look like a joke as he talked on about bowls and 2 tone paintings that has no meaning to it, and how he just place ponds where ever he like just because he wants too. During the Q&A session, this is the vibe I felt throughout the room. Someone even had the audacity to ask 3 questions on how to survive life.

 

His talk was not about how to design a good space. However, it was more towards how a perfect design has no math equation to it and how he himself cannot tell you how to do a good or perfect design. Perfection is felt not made same way how he express his painting. He just paints and stops painting if he feels it is right. nothing is perfect, life is not perfect. I've noticed, when replying back to all the questions asked, he seemed to not have an absolute answer, rather he just express it with a situation. Sometimes there are no ways to explain how you do something (for example, a design) in a certain way, you just have to do it, only then you'll know if it is right or wrong.