Vladimíra Büngerová
Patrik Illo (1973) is ranked among the top Slovak glass designers. Patrik makes designs for the Slovak and international markets and is the senior designer in the glass factory in Krosno, Poland. He has been producing designs of decorative products and drinking sets for the only Slovak glass factory in Lednické Rovne since 1992. He also produces non-commercial artworks, objects and installations and is an active in the artistic community.
„I am not a designer who would limit himself to only one direction. I can do four things simultaneously. Despite visual variability of my designs, they all share the same logic and effort to achieve balance of visual appearance and function… My only creative aspiration is to have fun.“
Does he believe in applied and fine art? „It is ironic, but I feel the difference between the two categories. They do no share the same logic and purpose. Design builds the world and art mirrors it. My non-commercial items are about how a person feels about the world around him and how thinking works. There is a connection with design in some of my works. I do not change a form I use when I do design. I concentrate on a detail that, at the end, moves the form somewhere else.“
Designs of Patrik Illo have been awarded several notable prizes. Some of them such as Jars with doodah or Koktaillo have become legends. What Patrik believes is the most important thing is that he can live of design.