Designer Rihards Funts has become an expert in environmental accessibility, and now the European Design Association (BEDA) has included him in its Glorious 42 list — a council that brings together leading creative minds to promote innovation and strengthen the implementation of sustainable change across Europe. In the Nice Touch section, Rihards talks about a device that is useful both in everyday life and at work.
I always carry a recorder with me, which I use to capture interesting sounds of the city and my surroundings. I also use the recorder when working on design projects to record my own ideas and those of my colleagues. It is also useful in the learning process as a way to record new information. And in general, using a voice recorder is very nice because my favorite character in David Lynch’s films is special agent Dale Cooper.
Rihards Funts is a designer, curator, lecturer, and founder of the International Design Summer School MAD. Since 2008, he has been running his own design studio, combining his knowledge of new materials and technologies with an interest in craft traditions. Rihards’ works — furniture, interior, toy, exhibition, environmental, and graphic design — are robust and fragile at once. Among his most notable projects are the design of the Croatian pavilion at the 2019 Venice Art Biennale, the environmental improvement system Gymnasium the design for the exhibitions You’ve Got 1243 Unread Messages at the Latvian National Museum of Art, Jānis Straupe’s solo exhibition Non-Things at the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Life after Death. Remembrance Practices and the Museum of the History of Medicine, created together with the architects of studio Gaiss.
Since 2020, Rihards has become completely blind, which has prompted him to transform his work as a designer. He is currently actively interested in environmental accessibility for people with functional impairments and is involved in various projects related to this topic, such as Design*ness. Design and Diversity in Higher Education, which is being implemented by Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti in Milan in collaboration with the Art Academy of Latvia. Rihards continues his creative work, including collaboration with the design agency H2E, and is also studying for a professional doctorate at the Art Academy of Latvia.
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