Scott Doty
Industrial Designer
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Industrial Designer
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Q & A
What do you see when you look closely at the light you created on Gantri?
Its shade only touches its base in two points, and that makes really interesting gaps for the light to shine through. I call those gaps “gills,” because to me, they look like the long curved gills of a shark. By adding features like the gills, you create references that people can connect with and I feel this makes the whole design warmer and more relatable.
What atmosphere do you want the light to create in someone's home?
I want it to be a calming presence, which is why I used those simple geometric shapes. It's not a foreground object that demands too much attention, but it should invite a little interest with the way the light escapes from the gills, or in how it contrasts rounded forms and hard edges. It would be a great bedside lamp for a loft, modern home, or even a more traditional home.
Can you tell us about the home you're designing for yourself?
Yeah, it's all I want to talk about! My wife and I just moved to Pittsburg and we're working with our friend Jared Fulton to design a 16-foot wide row house. It's inspired by contemporary Japanese infill homes that are as narrow as 8 feet wide. We're incorporating space-saving ideas from Japan, Scandinavia, and the tiny house movement. And we're currently in the process of selecting a builder who has expertise in both modern details and energy efficiency. We're planning for simple, honest use of materials like polished concrete and southern yellow pine, like something you'd see in Dwell.
What are some other projects you're passionate about?
One of my favorite projects was refurbishing this knockoff 1960s Thunderbird sofa by Sears. It's this beautiful, long, angular sofa that my wife and I bought off somebody's porch in rural Alabama. It was in pretty rough shape. She had it reupholstered with this green wool fabric, and I restored the woodwork with a walnut stain. My wife and I also collaborated on her popular food blog called What To Eat in Birmingham. We just passed it onto another writer after moving here, but we used it to highlight local ethnic food and assist in bringing a new food hall to a beautiful 1920s department store there. The blog was actually mentioned in the New York Times because of our food curation work on the project. My wife also helped bring the first Ethiopian restaurant to the state of Alabama. She handles research and writing and I mainly take pictures and eat great food!
I like to strip a product down to its essence, but then add some softness or whimsy.