Tommy Hawes is a a designer from England who currently lives in Toronto, Canada. His travels have lead him to work with various design firms around the world including Fitch Design in Singapore where he was involved in designing retail spaces as well as fixtures and fittings for brands such as Timberland and DFS Galleria. We caught up with him to find out about what he does and how he uses KeyShot.
Tommy Hawes
As a child, Tommy was always taking things apart and would spend hours in shops figuring out how things were made. With top grades in art he was advised to go to college to further his skills. It was here that he specialized in 3D design for three years, later attending University for another three years to study product design. That’s where he realized his passion. “I love designing products that exceed a user’s expectations and to make mundane tasks, such as cooking eggs, exciting with revolutionary and unique products. My favorite quote is by Phillip Starck ‘My juicer is not to juice lemons but to start conversations.'”
Tommy is winner of a Creative Innovation award for the OGO inhaler design–a brand extension project for his minor degree. His portfolio has been featured on Coroflot and his graphic designs are soon to be used throughout American schools for ESL learning. “Everyday is an achievement. Getting an internship at Fitch Design was incredible–I feel very blessed by this. The opportunity to travel around the world, work with some amazing people and meeting the love of my life in Canada” all add up to be an important part of Tommy’s inspiration.
Tommy has a range of skills with modeling software, having a background in bouth Cinema 4D and later with Alias. “Now I would never use anything else. Alias studio tools is very complex, I still would say I only know what half the tabs do (haha) but all of my projects on my website and future designs are used with Alias as the modeller and KeyShot to render.”
Wile working in New Zealand with 4Design, he started using KeyShot. “I love how within minutes you can have a decent picture to show perspective employees. I will often make a quick mock up in Alias, export the step to KeyShot and within a few minutes have a concept visual with branding decals and labels.”
“I use KeyShot for everything. Without KeyShot I truly believe I would not have as much press and attention with my portfolio and website. Alias and KeyShot for me go hand in hand. Even though Alias does have a rendering add-on, I find KeyShot has the best material manipulation and HDRI settings available on the current market–and need I say more about realtime rendering?“
“Each one of my projects has a special place in my heart. To spend the amount of time on something–to complete it–you have got to love it. Funny enough though, when I think about it, my favorite project was one that has taken me about four years to finish.” Tommy started the design for his actuator toothbrush at University and has recently completed it. “It’s one of those ideas that took a lot of personal research and development. It also needed to have great branding to make it stand out.”
“I also love Kitchen products. So, when I get free time I pretend I work for ‘Joseph and Joseph’ and design innovative kitchen products.”
Through his years of travel and hard work, he’s come to a great realization. “Believe in your work. If it is not where you foresee it, don’t discard it. Just take a break. My best work has come from mistakes. I am always learning and always ready to be challenged. All design is great and provokes emotion. If you head out to the shops and want to take apart every product you see and are more interested in how something works internally than actually using it, then I would say a career in product design is for you.”
You can see more at http://www.tommyhawes.com and Coroflot.
