‘Once Upon A Podcast’ Examines Designs That Endure In Latest Episode

What actually lasts in design? In an industry flooded with new and shiny objects, trends, and features, where words like “timeless” and “innovative” pepper every marketing campaign, finding truly enduring products can feel like a Herculean endeavor. As SURROUND Podcast Network’s Once Upon A Project host AJ Paron puts it, “Design isn’t about products, it’s about principles, and most of us have forgotten the difference.”

That’s how Paron, EVP and Design Futurist at SANDOW Design Group, kicked off the latest episode of Once Upon A Project, which was recorded live at NeoCon earlier this month at Sandow’s DesignScene at The Mart. As always, the 11th floor DesignScene lounge served as a physical extension of all things Sandow, including Interior Design’s hypertactile, ’70s-inspired installation, where attendees could play with miniature acrylic disks, in Interior Design signature orange and red hues, while surrounded by life-sized versions.

Amid that jewel box, Paron sat down with Wick Wolfe, president of Unika Vaev, to investigate how genuine timelessness in design is achieved.

For Wolfe, a lifelong appreciation for functional innovation began unexpectedly at age five, sparked by the striking visual of a red 1962 Ford Thunderbird in the driveway of a family friend’s home. Cars became his passion, and while he still owns a sports car, it’s not sitting in a pristine garage. “Cars are meant to be driven,” Wolfe reflects. “And design is meant to be used. People don’t design things to just sit there and stare at them.”

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Want to learn more about what makes design endure in an era of constant change? Listen to the full episode with Wick Wolfe on Once Upon a Podcast.

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That philosophy only deepened over a career spent studying the industry’s roots, including learning directly from mid-century modern legends like Florence Knoll, who, as Paron affirms, “weren’t designing for trends. They were designing for principles.”

“I think the inspiration came much like any artist,” Wolfe says, reflecting on that era’s Bauhaus-driven problem-solving. “The best design is the most simplistic design because that design is based on a foundational, lineal, fundamental need. It’s no different than somebody who’s composing a song or somebody who’s making a painting… and that’s design that lasts.”

Today, as next-generation clients are “drinking from a fire hose” of digital data, Wolfe argues that the architecture and design industry must shift its focus toward how humans experience a space sensorially. Whether engineering complex workplace acoustics or textiles, the ultimate goal must transcend technical data.

“Clients don’t walk out of a restaurant saying, ‘Gee, the NRC rating on that restaurant was just terrific,’” Wolfe points out. “Our goal is to not just produce products that solve the problem, but products that solve the design problem.”

As always, understanding the past is key to unlocking future innovation. Tune into the full episode on the SURROUND Podcast Network to hear Wolfe and Paron dissect the future of enduring design.

This episode is presented by Unika Vaev and was recorded in the NeoCon Podcast Lounge Powered by SURROUND. Thank you to our Lounge sponsor, Unika Vaev, and partners: B+N, DARRAN, Framery, Momentum, and UpSpring.