Murray Bell
Hello. Can you please introduce your self. How did you start your career?Ciao, my name is Murray Bell. I am one half of the website Design Is Kinky, one half of the design conferences Semi-Permanent, a half of Transit & Movement magazines.I started by failing two courses at design college, jumped into a web design job for 12 months and then started seriously on Design Is Kinky projects.
Tell us, where do you work and what you do?At the moment I am working out of the RES offices in London, but my normal office is in Darlinghurst in Sydney, Australia. We have a big joint office that I work on all my projects from.
What's your position behind Semipermanent and Design Is Kinky?Position? I co-own both companies with Andrew Johnstone.
Can you tell us a little bit about Design Is Kinky and its history?DiK was born by Andrew out of experimentation. It started as a place for interviewing designers from across the globe. When I joined Andrew in running the site, we started on other projects like books & events.
And Semipermanent?S-P was thought of while sitting in a hotel room while waiting to fly home after presenting at the OFFF in Barcelona. Through meeting the guys at Diesel we together come up with the plan and concept. Flew home and started straight away.
You are in Australia, right? Never planned to move to U.S? Why?Would love to move to the US. I have plans to. Semi-Permanent will be landing in New York in September, but through DiK, S-P & my magazines we plan on looking into moving to the US if possible.
What are your thoughts about design magazines like Digital Abstracts?I think it is the most practical way of reaching so many people across the globe. Its great.
What are your hobbies?Thinking & planning. And when I am not, surfing.
How do you rest?I don’t really, work hard for months and then I do big short holidays, but of late my work is a big holidays. I get to travel a lot for all the things I work on, so they cross over.
Web design, photography or motion? Why?Motion, Film, the next step. Soon.
Inspiration?Mike Mills, Neasden Control Centre, Charlie Kaufman & Spike Jonze.
Do any sports?Surfing, Bodyboarding & Football (Soccer).
Last dream you remember?Swedish, with black short hair.
Ok, last comments are welcome!Don’t sleep, its over rated. I once tried to train my body to survive on 4 hours a night so I could get more work done. Lasted about two and half weeks.
