WIP What’s your opinion about choosing your playing field or choosing the context in which you work and what's your responsibility as an individual?

KP I think a lot of people approach this the wrong way. Not to judge, but many focus only on their craft. Like, if you're a graphic designer, you can apply that to anything — healthcare, sports, entertainment. But with today’s tools and the need for more depth, I think it's just as important to choose your context, or your playing field. For me, that's the home. I’ve been obsessed with it even before working with IKEA and Space10. I moved a lot as a kid, so I really felt the power of space and what it means to feel at home. Home is where we spend most of our time, it’s a major polluter, and it's changing fast. So to me, home is a far more interesting playing field than “innovation” or tech. For others, it might be sports or community or health. But home has a softness, an emotional weight that’s often missing in the louder conversations about AI or self-driving cars. It carries a different kind of force.

WIP I'm thinking just generally on the design perspective and maybe educational perspective as well. How do you feel that communities working as a collective affects your work and do you see it changing in the future at all?

KP It’s a love-hate thing for me. I get so much energy from group work, but I’m also part introvert and love working alone without needing everyone's input or approval. That bottom-up process can be a mess. People always have opinions, and often come from their own context without thinking things through. If you ask what problems they have at home, you’ll get one list, and if you ask about aspirations, you’ll get another. As a designer, you have to stay clear on the problem you're solving — not just chase ideas. If you're doing speculative or artistic work, you can follow your gut, as long as you're transparent about who's behind it — you're contributing, not claiming the whole conversation. At Space10, we eventually held that conversation with our platform. Now, I'm on the other side, where I still have to bring my own chair to the table.

WIP We see a lot more people starting things nowadays, being way more confident in following their dreams and really going for what they feel like doing in the moment, regardless of societal dictates. With that said, could you tell us about the projects you’re currently working on?

KP Yeah, I have a hard time sitting still — which can be tricky with two kids, a wife, and friends I want to be present with. To stay focused, I work with long timelines. After Space10, I thought about what I want to achieve over the next 10 years — not just the next couple. There’s this Pixar quote I love: “The future is a direction, not a destination.” For me, that direction has three parts: contribute to better, healthier homes; work with people who give me energy; and make sure it’s financially sustainable so I don’t have to give up the first two. Home is still my lens. Before diving into my next long-term thing, I wanted to try a few projects. One was spontaneously opening a restaurant with my cousin! Another other was launching a new think tank, 21st Europe. It’s inspired by Space10’s work on speculative and systemic design, but this time it’s independent and focused on Europe.

@kaavepour

21st-europe.com