Lighting, furnishing, and toy designer David Weeks chats with us about growing up in the South, making it in NYC, and being driven by curiosity, liberation and the importance of tactility in an increasingly virtual world. Along the way he slips in tales of smashing cars, badgering local acid trippers, and utilizing a technique called formal reduction.

From RISD grad to NYC designer, David recounts his time at art school studying sculpture, and what it was like to live on NYC's Canal Street in the early 90s. Lighting has been called the "jewelry of the home" so it's no surprise that David learned many techniques from his work with jewelry designer Ted Muehling.

In his early career, David landed a big break that not only made him realize his true calling, but also understand more about who he was as a person. Listen to the episode to hear more about his laid back attitude toward design.

“I never once thought it wasn’t going to work. I was always like ‘I’ll figure it out, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll modify it.’”

David's background in both sculpture and jewelry are evident in his pieces, but he doesn't want to just be "the lighting guy." David's collection includes furniture, accessories and even toys for kids and adults alike.

One of the things we love about David and his work is the playfulness he injects into his toy objects, from posable robots to a zoo of wooden animals. For Milan Design Week, he even created an oversized Cubebot that you can lounge on:

For more of David's work, visit davidweeksstudio.com and follow him along on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also check out his awesome videos on Youtube.

Thanks to our sponsor Freshbooks for supporting this episode of Clever.

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Special thanks to Chris Modl of Yore Studio for editing this episode.
Music in this episode courtesy of El Ten Eleven—hear more on Bandcamp.
Shoutout to Jenny Rask for designing the Clever logo.

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