Designs for a beautiful life

Francisco Gomez Paz brings his creations to Beijing for the Get it Louder exhibition in December. Photos provided to China Daily

Apero, a chaise lounge that was handmade in Argentina

Curiosity and a box of toys led Argentine industrial designer Francisco Gomez Paz to carve out a career matching both form and function. Chen Yingqun reports.

For industrial designer Francisco Gomez Paz, a mix of curiosity, a model engine and a box of toys sparked a lifelong passion to create new and functional things of beauty.

It's not unusual for children to take apart their toys. Exploring how things work and what they're made of is all part of growing up. But for Paz, it became a career. The 37-year-old Milan-based industrial designer is at the top of his profession, driven by a desire to continually create something new - and it all began when he was a child.

Modern anxieties

One day, as Paz was playing with his toys, he found a small motor that belonged to his father and curiosity prompted him to see if he could combine the motor with the contents of his toy box.

"Curiosity is the strongest tool I have in my life to understand the world," he said.

He took the toy apart and reassembled it with the engine to make the toy move.

"When I saw the toy moving I felt something amazing inside of me. I felt an ability to create something that I had imagined. I get the same feeling now when I work on a design. It's the feeling that makes me want to keep progressing," he said.

Paz's father played a strong role in nurturing his career choice, and not just by giving him the model engine to play with. Paz's father is an architect, and the young Paz grew up around design and creativity.

Paz was born in Salta, Argentina, and obtained a degree in industrial design at the National University of Cordoba. In 1998 he moved to Milan, where he started his own design office in 2004.

He went on to win a number of awards, including the Good Design Award 2010, the Red Dot Award 2010, and the Prize of Prizes for Innovation in Design in 2011, presented to him by Italian president Giorgio Napolitano.

In December, Paz brought his creative flair to Beijing for the Get it Louder exhibition, which acts as a showcase for global designers. Two of his works were on show, Hope Chandelier, a modernist take on the traditional crystal chandelier, designed by Paz and Paolo Rizzatto; and Solar Bottle, a container that disinfects water using solar power, designed by Paz and Alberto Meda.