Kickie Chudikova

The designer on the perfect public bench, Soviet-era objects, and creating The Nesting Set.

AS TOLD TO GOSSAMER

I grew up in Bratislava, in Slovakia. I feel like wherever you grow up very much influences your thinking, your style, and how you approach life.

I love Bratislava. We lived in an old house that my parents moved into in the ‘70s. They bought it from a painter who had painted the walls dark blue, dark red—all different colors. They toned it down a little bit and furnished it with whatever furniture they could get at the time. And it’s still like that now. So we have a yellow kitchen with a green bench and a floral floor and then all these Soviet-era design objects that are still functioning. It’s really fascinating. My mom never wanted to change it, so I’m used to seeing crazy colors. It’s very normal to me.

I like things that function, innovate, and also have aesthetic value, because I feel those three aspects make a really good product.

I always wanted to be a designer and design objects. Maybe I didn’t know what design was back then, but I took drawing classes after school and I was constantly creating things. There were no cell phones, so you just had to play with things and make stuff.

My mom didn’t work in a creative field, but the way she dressed influenced me in an aesthetic way. Everything was made to measure back then, so she couldn’t buy that much. It was such a different approach. I still wear her clothes.

Bratislava is a small city. It’s beautiful, but when I grew up, I realized I needed to get out of there. That’s when I moved to Vienna to study design at the University of Applied Arts. I had a really great professor there, Hartmut Esslinger, who took us around the world. He connected us to different companies and totally opened up the way I think. It was very formative for me. The university also had very different facilities compared to Slovakia. Going there changed my life trajectory.

Vienna was only an hour away by train, but it’s a totally different culture. Thank god I learned German in school, as the university was taught in German. English, too, because it was very international.

I did an exchange one year in Milan, which was also very formative. And now I go there every year for the design fair. I love the city because it’s very industrial as opposed to the rest of Italy and it’s much faster. Then I did an internship in New York, and once you’re in New York, you’re just addicted to it. After I finished my master’s in Vienna, I tried to find a way to get back to New York. The studio I interned at, Karim Rashid, gave me a job.

I aim for timelessness as opposed to consumption.

I started my own design practice in 2020. I try to approach projects with a lot of positivity. I want to bring something new to the market that sparks joy and brings a smile to people. I like things that function, innovate, and also have aesthetic value, because I feel those three aspects make a really good product. My way of thinking about sustainability—apart from choosing the right materials, manufacturing forms, and all of that—is to design things that we want to keep for a long time. I aim for timelessness as opposed to consumption.

I design furniture, lights, and different objects for companies. I also work on a line of my own objects. I am very passionate about working with glass. I have a glass collection that I produce in the Czech Republic and it’s all limited edition and mostly cocktails, because I like cocktails.

People know me as a person who likes color. I love colored glass. I think that’s why I was also really interested in working with Gossamer on The Nesting Set, because it was exactly what I like. Plus you guys wanted to do something cool.

We all wanted to make something that didn’t scream “this is for weed.”

I feel like everything out there for smoking is almost kitschy to the point where you want to hide it. We all wanted to make something that didn’t scream “this is for weed,” but rather was something that you can have on your table as a beautiful object that’s also functional.

I looked at what was on the market and wanted to do something that was different, but that also defined the Gossamer brand. Gossamer already has such a strong brand image. It’s colorful. Once we found the right direction for my sketches, we ended up with a final design that was very different from what we originally envisioned. I like to work with clients very collaboratively where we come to an even better result than where we started. I love how the design of the set is so simple and that it works in so many ways.

I love how you can put two pipes in the ashtray, so that it’s an object that you can share. I think that’s very important, as well. And if you don’t want a second pipe, you can put something else in there. And also the way the flat sides of the pipes line up to make the G of Gossamer—I’m always so happy when this happens in an object. It feels like it’s whole, through and through. I love an “aha” moment.

I don’t “smoke” weed, like smoke smoke, but I do weed. I don’t really like smoking because I like to do sports, but I do have some weed pens and sometimes I take time off drinking and that’s when I smoke weed. Or sometimes when I don’t want to take painkillers. Or just the other night, I smoked some weed and started sewing and got so into it that at 3 AM, I was like, Oh, I need to go to bed. I get very focused when I smoke.

I sometimes microdose mushrooms, but I don’t take enough that I’m visually stimulated. I like them as an alternative to alcohol, usually when I’m going out with friends. I like electronic music and I also DJ. So going over to someone’s house, microdosing, DJing, and just having fun—that’s my favorite. I prefer things that are natural. I’m a very positive person, in general, and mushrooms make me even happier.

I’m a very positive person, in general, and mushrooms make me even happier.

I really like designing for public spaces. It influences the surroundings. Last year, I made a bench for a competition for outdoor installation in New York. It’s a modular solution for outdoor seating I made in collaboration with Caesarstone, which is a stone manufacturer, and NYCxDESIGN. It was during the pandemic, so it was about creating something that allows people to come together, but still have enough space. It’s a very organic shape inspired by the waves of the Hudson River. Basically, it’s slabs that you can modularly arrange in many different formations. It was stationed right below the Brooklyn Bridge for a year.

I wanted to create something visually uplifting, almost like a sculpture that’s on the street, and that was in contrast to the geometric lines of the setting below the bridge so that people stop and look at it. A place people want to sit and stay. A lot of public furniture is so regulated. Everything has to be straight lines. I wanted to do something totally opposite to that.

People really loved interacting with it. At one point, I was trying to take a picture of it and there were, like, 10 kids all over the bench. It was a big highlight for me during the pandemic. I’m so happy it actually came to life because it was also a very challenging process.

I have this side project, #4PM Somewhere. It started about five years ago. Wherever I go, I find objects I like and put them in vertical balance and then take a picture. It started on Instagram, and then I published a book about them.

It’s a fun way for me to get off the computer, but actually work with volume and objects in real life. It usually happens around 4 PM. I always try to use something natural. I love picking different fruits and vegetables. Once, when I was in Budapest, I used the tail from the fish we ate for dinner. It becomes a reminder of a place I’ve been or a space I lived in.

A lot of public furniture is so regulated. Everything has to be straight lines. I wanted to do something totally opposite to that.

I would love to do another public sculpture installation. I often go to the Noguchi Museum and Socrates Sculpture Park. I would like to do something there. But other than that, it’s so hard for me to say what I want to do because I don't like to just be focused on just one part of design. Sometimes when I feel stuck in the project, I switch. I’ll work on a line of cutlery along with, I don't know, a new bag or a chair. That way I always feel like I’m moving forward and can come back to the other thing later. It helps me to work on many different things at the same time.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Kickie Chudikova photographed by Meghan Marin in her Brooklyn studio.The Nesting Set shot by Sean Davidson. If you like this Conversation, please feel free to share it with friends or enemies.

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Kickie Chudikova

I like things that function, innovate, and also have aesthetic value, because I feel those three aspects make a really good product.

I aim for timelessness as opposed to consumption.

We all wanted to make something that didn’t scream “this is for weed.”

I’m a very positive person, in general, and mushrooms make me even happier.

A lot of public furniture is so regulated. Everything has to be straight lines. I wanted to do something totally opposite to that.

Kickie Chudikova

I like things that function, innovate, and also have aesthetic value, because I feel those three aspects make a really good product.

I aim for timelessness as opposed to consumption.

We all wanted to make something that didn’t scream “this is for weed.”

I’m a very positive person, in general, and mushrooms make me even happier.

A lot of public furniture is so regulated. Everything has to be straight lines. I wanted to do something totally opposite to that.

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