I come from Greece. I was born in a city called Patra.
MAGAZINE · INTERVIEW
Periclis Frementitis
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Interview
Where were you born and where are you from?
What is your first memory connected to the art world?
I was 15 years old, and I saw in a book a painting by Picasso, Guernica, and I remember wandering: ”Why is this Art? And why is this beautiful?”. Ever since, the art world, in one way or another, has been a part of life.
Have you always worked in the art/design field?
No, I have a BSc in Electrical Engineering. I have worked for 6 years as a principal Electrical Engineer in construction companies, and I had my own engineering consultancy office for a few years.
What led you to design creation?
Living in London at that time (2011-2014), I realized that I was in need of a big change. So, London and its multicultural atmosphere (people, museums, fairs, events) made me see and take my creative side and my passion for aesthetics, design, and materials.
How would you describe your creative process and its influences?
My creative process is all the way intuitive. I like being surrounded by a chaos of materials and elements. Those materials and elements lead me to the final synthesis.
The reason I follow this method is basically that I have chosen to create more primitive than perfect forms. As a result, I usually end up with unorthodox balances.
Could you describe a typical day of your work?
There is no typical day.
The only typical process is the time I take – about an hour – before getting started, to drink my coffee, study, and visualize the rest of the day.
Why did you choose the specific materials you work with?
By need. In the beginning, I had no access to big industries of glass or marble, etc. So, I had to adapt my needs to the availability of the local market and local artisans. The only thing that I knew was that I wanted to use timeless materials. However, I didn’t know what the local market could offer to me.
Looking back, if I had the option to go back and choose again the materials that I would work with, I would choose the same materials.
What are the technical particularities of your creations?
First of all, the fact that I don’t use solder: every single piece of my designs can be assembled and disassembled all the way, which means all the technical parts have been designed in detail (like the joints, etc.).
Second, the fact that my work is handmade: I must be very careful every time I assemble a piece in order for the final outcome to be as much closer to the initial design. It is easy to miss the balance, because the final balance is in the details.
What advice could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works?
Study a lot, work a lot, be patient, don’t be afraid of failing, and if there is something good inside you, sooner or later it will come out.
If your works had to belong to a design movement, how would you define it?
I would say Contemporary.
What designers and artists have influenced you?
Vincenzo De Cotiis, Michael Anastassiades.
What contemporary designers do you appreciate?
There are many: Vincenzo De Cotiis, Michael Anastassiades, Lindsey Adelman, Nacho Carbonell, Ladies & Gentlemen studio, Anna Karlin, and Bec Brittain.
What contemporary artists, in any kind of art, have you been inspired by?
They are not only from the contemporary field, so I would like to mention artists from different periods and for different reasons that I have been inspired by: Pablo Picasso, Cy Twombly, Alberto Giacometti, Anselm Kiefer, Leonardo Da Vinci, Jean Michel Basquiat, Kazimir Malevich, Juan Miro, Jannis Kounellis, Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky, Modigliani, Lucas Samaras, and so many others, but I think the above are indicative.
If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be?
Substance.
“Beauty will save the world, and so we must help beauty do it.”
The Questionnaire
The Questions
(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust.
Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde,
Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
The pursuit of it.
What is your greatest fear?
To Have an absolutely normal life, as ”normal” defined by society.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Overanalyzing.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Narrow mindness.
Which living person do you most admire?
Nikos Lygeros. He actually changed my life. He is a Professor in the University of Lyon, France, and a multidimensional human being, offering his services to the Humanity.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Spending precious time thinking about failing.
What is your current state of mind?
Life is not what is happening to you, but what you are doing with what is happening to you.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
I don’t know. But I know the most underrated virtue, which is humility.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Integrity.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Potential.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Beauty and Beautiful.
Which talent would you most like to have?
Playing the piano like Ray Charles.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Overthinking.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
That I have taken difficult decisions with cost.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
I would come back only as a route on Einstein’s brain. I am so curious of what was happening in there.
Where would you most like to live?
In a movie of Woody Allen or in a poem of Federico Garcia Lorca.
What is your most treasured possession?
Knowledge.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
To not know that you live in it.
What is your favorite occupation?
My books.
What is your most marked characteristic?
That I am awesome, what else? :)
What do you most value in your friends?
Kindness and generosity.
Who are your favorite writers?
Albert Camus, Nikos Kazantzakis.
Who is your hero of fiction?
The Count of Monte Cristo.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Socrates and Archimedes, both were seeking the Truth, but with different approach.
Who are your heroes in real life?
Those who never say ”This is impossible”.
What are your favorite names?
Andreas, Maria, Katerina, Konstantinos.
What is it that you most dislike?
Arrogance and rudeness.
What is your greatest regret?
That I was afraid of failing.
How would you like to die?
Ideally, being old and wise and knowing that I have delivered anything that I had the potential to deliver in this world.
What is your motto?
Beauty will save the world, and so we must help beauty do it.
“Life is not what is happening to you, but what you are doing with what is happening to you.”
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