WITH THE LONG CONFIDENCE
BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE LONG CONFIDENCE
We spent the afternoon connecting with founder of The Long Confidence, Rafi Ajl in his Berkeley studio where we learned more about his work, process, and many passions.
The Long Confidence is a small design studio based in Berkeley, California, whose focus is making contemporary heirlooms driven by quality and curiosity. Their products use a mixture of traditional and contemporary construction methods designed for a lifetime of use.
Maker Rafi Ajl of The Long Confidence
We look forward to any opportunity to collaborate with local makers, like Rafi. We sought his help and expertise to bring our Los Altos Crafted Modern project to life with his Western Red Cedar custom dining table.
Q: What is the common thread, if any, that can be seen throughout your designs?
I think the common thread that moves through my work is a sense of curiosity and investigation and research into material and form. At the studio, we often start from a thought or impulse, a desire line - what happens when we pour molten brass into a wooden mold, how do we make this process more elastic, what's interesting about this form or set of forms. From that initial inception point, we run experiments, probes into the process - wild experiments - trying out different configurations and possibilities inside that initial question where we are trying to learn. We work this process over time - what I call domesticating a process or idea into a realized and coherent expression. It's this refinement of a gesture or idea I think, and that we love material and process. I think there is a common language, geometric forms for one, and then processes that undergo some kind of entropy as well. I also think, formally, that there is a certain essential grace in the work, and how the pieces live in their spaces they occupy.
Q: What is the effect you hope your designs will have on people?
No one said it better than Ettore Sottsass, one of the founders of the Memphis Design Group, whose goal was to design objects that were
"Tools to slow down the consumption of existence...to curb loneliness and despair." I think that this is a perfect statement.
Q: We know you love to push boundaries when creating and designing objects. How do you recognize the moment to stop — the moment when your design is just right?
Tricky! There are different answers for different objects, but at the heart of each answer is repetition and iteration. You find the edge of the idea, and then make work that is right up to and in fact over the edge. You have to see where the work, the system, the process collapses. And right next to that edge is where the most interesting things happen, where resolution occurs.
Q: What do you enjoy most about working on commissioned projects?
I enjoy two things, under the umbrella of course of being able to practice my work. I love when someone gives me free reign to do what I do, who trusts me and trusts the process, and lets me run. I also really love co-designing with folks. The back and forth and the exchange of ideas.
Q: Can you share a highlight from working on recent commissioned projects? What were some challenges you faced, if any?
We recently finished a large coffee table from a super piece of Claro Walnut. We sketches ideas freely and gesturally about the shape of the piece, and really refined the form after the initial gesture. The client was really responsive and we worked quite a bit back-and-forth with them to arrive at the final expression. It’s a piece of furniture to be sure, but it also feels sculptural and it's right in the sweet spot of something that someone could point to as a piece that they might want as well, but no two versions of it would be the same. Challenges - we just really worked to refine the curves, find that sweet spot where the piece feels inevitable, in a way, and to just work the process.
Q: If you were a piece of furniture, which would you be and why?
A small, idiosyncratic, 3-legged stool. I love that 3-legged pieces will find a level anywhere, I love stools, especially somewhat small in scale pieces. I love how stools can be such essential gestures.
Q: Which living person do you most admire and why?
My parents. For all the reasons. Their infinite love and support. For raising me and my siblings with good values and strong hearts and minds. For how much they care. For the love they have for my son. As a still new dad, my son is just about three, I only have the beginnings of the idea about what it takes. And it takes a lot.
Q: If you weren’t a designer, what would you be?
A professor. Until my design practice was self-sustaining, I taught design at the graduate level. I love teaching, and hope to find time as years go on to teach a little bit.
Q: What is the most treasured object in your own home?
For someone who deals in objects and physical things, I'm really not attached to much. In my own home there's a mug I drink my morning coffee from by a potter named Akio Nukaga, that a very good friend gave me. It's an effortless piece of craft, with an ever slight surprisingly lightness in the hand, and a perfect form. It's graceful, and I really love it.
Q: What are your aspirations for the next 3-5 years?
I'm working on scaling my business in a way that feels natural, comfortable (mostly), and organic. That I want to take work that I want to take, and be able to say no to work that doesn't make sense. To spend more energy on the sculptural side of the practice, and start to have some focused gallery shows revolving around these sculptural pieces and my larger glass work. I'd love to have a show in Japan. And to relax more and find more joy.
Q: What motto or mantra do you try to live by?
Process is progress, and progress is process. That's my own.
Q: What advice do you have for an aspiring designer/maker?
Be curious. There is a world in everything. You could spend your life really learning about the smallest thing, and truly understanding everything about it. Curiosity seems to be in somewhat short supply these days - get into things, don't be afraid to get dirty, and make a ton of stuff that you don't like, and then ask yourself why you don't like it. Get curious about materials, processes, how things are made, just get deep into it and explore and play.
Q: What advice would you give to your younger self?
Everything is going to take longer and be harder than you thought. Keep the faith.
More photos from our visit to Rafi’s Oakland Studio:
