LIHU‘E – Lawrence O’Toole is an other-worldly artist known as “Lot” in the realm of architecture, interior design and product design. He will be teaching three classes in Design Fundamentals at Kaua‘i Community College beginning on Aug. 23. In keeping
LIHU‘E – Lawrence O’Toole is an other-worldly artist known as “Lot” in the realm of architecture, interior design and product design. He will be teaching three classes in Design Fundamentals at Kaua‘i Community College beginning on Aug. 23.
In keeping with his teaching philosophy of cross-disciplinary pollination, O’Toole believes it is important for students to be exposed to many types of designs in order to acquire a strong foundation to grow from.
“My intention in offering these design classes is to bring new insights and understanding to the community, young and old,” he said.
O’Toole looks forward to inspiring students to redefine the edges of the design disciplines and to experiment with creative problem solving methods.
“Experimentation is the ability to use the imagination to make unexpected connections,” he said. “I believe the knowledge of design can greatly enhance the experience of being alive and inspire creative new vision.”
With more than 25 years experimenting with unique designs, O’Toole, founder and principal of LOT Architecture and Design (LOT A + D), continues to pursue innovative contemporary creations. His company, which started in 1992, stands today as a hallmark of advanced custom architectural environments and fine design.
O’Toole earned a bachelor’s in civil engineering from California State University-Long Beach in 1986 and a master’s in architecture with an emphasis in furniture design from Southern California Institute of Architecture in 1993.
The three original KCC courses include Introduction to Design Fundamentals, Environmental and Interior Design and Graphic Design Fundamentals.
“The core of my instruction emphasizes discovery and experimentation through a sense of curiosity and adventure,” he said.
O’Toole wants to inspire students redefine the edges of design disciplines and to explore new creative directions.
When asked what class requirement he saw fit to mention, O’Toole said being open-minded.
“Openness involves an enthusiasm for the foreign, unfamiliar and uncustomary,” he said. “Only with openness comes true experimentation,” he said.
Even though the classes are for everyone from beginners to professionals looking for an inspiring refresher, O’Toole recommends to take the Introduction to Design Fundamentals course for greater perception and understanding prior to continuing to the more specific courses, which were all designed to bring a greater awareness to the creative process and to inspire new ways of seeing and creating one’s environment.
“Bringing beauty into the world gives me the greatest fulfillment,” he said. “This includes pieces ranging in scale from the simplest two-dimensional pages and area rugs to the more complex three-dimensional works of furniture and architecture.”
O’Toole’s work can be characterized by experimentation, refined simplicity and unchartered dynamic formal solutions. He weaves the modern with the past, the exquisite with the ordinary and is well-versed in a multitude of aesthetic languages.
His architecture plays with the simplification of form, the equilibrium between enhancing the physical tactile properties of materials and the calibrated rendering of proportions. This essentialist approach is visible on a multitude of scales including his furnishing elements, which become a natural complement to the architecture around.
O’Toole focuses on many points while elaborating a budding concept, such as the cultural or physical properties surrounding a project, figuring out what came before and why, interrogating himself on temporal measures or whether he can improve upon precedents with new materials or new ways of seeing.
“I prefer to look forward and to experiment with the new while keeping a keen eye on context,” he said.
Besides being an internationally-acclaimed architect and designer, O’Toole has been immersed in surf culture for more than 35 years. A while ago, the avid surfer came up with a new concept: Creating avant-guarde tabletops using 100 percent renewable surfboard foam from reclaimed broken and old surfboards otherwise destined for the landfill to create new living pieces.
“At the moment, I’m most excited about the O Table Series,” he said.
There is reason for his unrest. The O table makes everything else in the room vanish. The O Table Series capitalizes on O’Toole’s philosophy, which holds an essentialist design approach based on context, reduction and sensation.
The multi-disciplinary company specializes in architecture, interior design, product design, graphic design, furniture design, custom furniture design, environmental design and much more, as O’Toole constantly seeks new ways of approaching fundamental elements of space, proportion, light and materials in a progressive and reductivist manner. “Lot” has designed for such internationally-renowned furniture manufacturers as Dellarobbia, Brown Jordan and Kingsley-Bate and has also created a limited edition of his favorite designs to be sold exclusively through Lot Modern. Just like everything else designed by the master, these personal pieces are handcrafted entirely in the U.S.
Providing solutions that are visually engaging while enlisting progressive ideas of architecture and design as a driving force for each project characterizes O’Toole’s work as well as his life, as he is committed to achieving excellence in the pursuit of art in design at KCC as he has during his entire life as a master designer.
The three classes can be reviewed at info.kauai.hawaii.edu/training or call KCC-OCET at (808) 245-8318.
