DesignCode is an industrial design revolution that has been a long time coming. With innovative style and a keen eye for design, this store is putting the art into simple household furniture and accessories and making them fantastic, collectable art pieces. Heralded by many in the industry as a great design house, the owners are working to ensure that you enjoy each piece to the fullest.

Jamati.com: Hello Lincoln it was very kind of you to take time out of your busy schedule to speak with us today?

No problem! It’s great to have my first overseas interview made with you guys.

Jamati.com: Let us know how you made the transition from your previous careers to owning your own design company?

In my case it’s really about my personal evolution. I have always been quite unafraid of getting into new adventures. I think life is about that. It’s would be a shame not taken advantage of life’s possibilities when they are handed to you. I couldn’t see myself going directly from University to a full-time job and staying there for, let’s say, 10 years. I knew from an early stage of life that I would be trying out different kinds of jobs. And this has never been a problem for me. As long as I always did it the best that I could.

Starting up DesignCode was actually the result of gathering all the experience of the past working in various branches within the Lifestyle segment: PR, food, fashion, trends etc.; this added up and, with a growing interest in entrepreneurship, made me want to start my own business. The final choice to focus on industrial design was made after meeting up with my old friend, Hiroshi Tsunoda, to begin a very interesting journey.

Jamati.com: Please tell us a bit about your company DesignCode.

DesignCode is an industrial design company with its head office in Barcelona; we create sensational and affordable design objects for the purpose of presenting them to the general public. We design and produce commercial home accessories: decorative lamps and other interior design items and gifts.

Jamati.com: Now I am made to understand that your company is based in Spain how did your arrive in this country?

This is a very interesting question. I had just got back to Gothenburg, Sweden after living for 3 years in Paris, France. I was actually on my way to Italy to study Marketing. I had started to gather the info about schools, cities etc. One night I met an old friend who started telling me about how great Barcelona was and, after some research, I decided to change one Mediterranean country for another.

Jamati.com: Is Spain an easy place to do business as an African?

Absolutely not!!! It’s very hard actually. There isn’t really an African community. A couple of years ago you could walk around an entire day without bumping in to a brother or a sister and Spanish people didn’t really know Black culture, having most of their immigrants coming from South America. Before, Africans where very much related to illegal sub-Saharan immigrants. Now more and more black people are visiting Spain as tourists. And some are even starting businesses here. It’s great!!!! So the Spanish are getting used to us. However, as often is the case, you really have to prove yourself a lot and it can become quite frustrating.

Jamati.com: Has it been worth while going into business for yourself?

I would give you a different answer depending on the day. Some days it’s a nice feeling being your own boss. Other days you just want to jump out from a window. But on the average I’d say yes.

Jamati.com You have an interesting background. I am made to understand that you were born in Sierra Leone and raised in Sweden. How has growing up in Scandinavia influenced your design aesthetic?

Yes, I’m a Salone-boy, smile. But at the age of 5 I moved to Gothenburg, Sweden with my mother.

Scandinavians are very design orientated in general. We are brought up with a lot of design influences and are very sensitive towards it. It’s also very accessible and you can see it everywhere. We have our particular style, which by the way could be compared to the Japanese way of approaching design: clean, balanced, well made and functional.

Jamati.com: So who all makes up Design Code?

My business partner, Hiroshi Tsunoda, is the co-founder and Creative Director of the brand. We started the company together. We also have a design team composed of designers from different nationalities: British, Spanish, Japanese, and Mexican.

Jamati.com Since you have a new website that clients can order items from have you seen a major growth in your bottom line?

Yes, we finally launched our very much anticipated Web store. We were getting enquiries from private persons from all over the world that wanted to buy our designs. This is an important and very big step for us, since we’re actually taken the concept ACCESIBLE DESIGNS one step further. And, furthermore our designs are actually very suitable for online sale: smart designs with a straight forward packaging, affordable and easy to personalize. There is a DesignCode design for everyone. I’m really convinced!!!

Jamati.com Do you have any plans of opening up flagship stores in other parts of Europe, Asia or perhaps Africa?

For now we don’t have it planned. But I wouldn’t exclude it for the future. We are entering the Japanese market right now, so it’s possible that Tokyo ,or some European country, would be the place for an eventual DesignCode store.

Jamati.com: What are the upcoming design campaigns that Design Code is working on?

We had a judge success with the Flamp Noir Design-a-Porter campaign, Fall 2007. The 3 African girls made a great impact on the national as well as international design circuit. We have been featured in almost all design, lifestyle and fashion orientated magazines.

I remember when I was modeling in cities such as Paris, Istanbul, and Barcelona, it was hard to get the jobs because I was black. So I remember saying that the first thing I’d do when I got into a position to create a campaign, would be to use black people. This was completely new here and resulted in a great success.

The next campaign will be as visible as that one. Unfortunately I can’t tell you more. It will be out in Sept 08.

Jamati.com How do you see your business growing in the next five years?

In five years, hopefully, we would have consolidated our brand in Europe, Japan and the US. We will have launched a collection of DesignCode furniture, as well as, collaborated with international designers. And most important we will have made loads of people happy through our designs.

Jamati.com It was a pleasure speaking with you today Lincoln. Best of luck!

The pleasure is completely mine! Thanks for doing a good job!
For more information on DesignCode please visit their website.