Behind the Design: Cliik's Creative Storage Solution
A conversation with Joseph Guerra, a renowned product designer specializing in products, furniture, and spaces
Good morning everyone!
Have you heard of Cliik? Its 2024’s hottest storage brand and it just went live.
The ‘creative storage system’ is providing consumers with a smarter, more aesthetic solution for storing our favorite things. It features a modular design with magnets so different units can seamlessly stack together, and even a spot for custom labels!
It can be used to store anything from Oishi berries, leftover cacio y pepe, Cartier pens, or even weed if you’re into that!
I was made aware of the brand when I interviewed
a few weeks back. The product design is so simple yet incredibly beautiful and the brand’s website and art direction is inviting with a splash of retro.I wanted to get an in-depth understanding of the product design so today I am interviewing Joseph Guerra, founder of Guerra Office, an industrial design office specializing in products, furniture, and spaces. Guerra and his office have a stunning amount of major collaborations behind their belt, working on cook wear, weights, and most recently Cliik. Enjoy—
JB: Tell me a bit about the thought process, and inspiration for Cliik's design.
JG: The brief was to make modular storage for everything from flour to legos, and the brief suggested to look to Italian design. I knew this was something we would be comfortable doing for many reasons so we created different forms and systems that could accomplish something playful and attractive.
I started drawing “tile like” squares that clicked together with little jars that were beneath the tiles. They looked a bit like Tetris blocks. Ally from cliik fell in love with them and we started to design them to have more and more modularity as well as playfulness.
JB: What makes Cliik unique from other storage products?
JG: Their magnetic nature makes them infinitely stackable while sticking together. They stack vertically but also horizontally so you always get a clean grid Ike view of all your times. The magnetic label is also unique for this kind of storage. The proportions of each size also always line up with the next size. So three small containers equal one large container, and so on.
JB: Can you tell me about your design studio, Guerra office, and any highlight projects?
JG: Guerra Office is an industrial design office that has no specialty, we were work in a general way that allows us to work on almost every project. What we bring is a lens for enduring design that’s always beautiful and useful. We focus on physical product of course, and how physical product can take brands to the next level. We designed Airsign, an award winning vacuum cleaner - we’ve worked with Away, All Birds, Misen and Lalo. And of course Cliik! So very diverse clients and projects.
Additionally, Guerra Office will be announcing an exciting partnership soon that will only enhance this mission, so stay tuned.
JB: What are the first steps you take when designing a new product or piece of work?
JG: We do tons of research on any given product that were meant to design. By the end of the research phase we aim to be experts on the category. Then we immediately start sketching very roughly, almost napkin sketches. We don’t stress about the sketching process and instead focus on creating the best idea possible.
JB: What are some of your design inspirations?
JG: I look a lot at fine art, design history, and importantly I travel a lot to find new sources of inspiration.
JB: Can you elaborate on your career thus far?
JG: I studied furniture design at RISD and quickly focused on designing all products including furniture during my time there.
I started my career working with Industrial Facility (Sam Hecht and Kim Collin) in London, then BIG-GAME in Switzerland. From there I moved to NYC and took a job as a junior industrial designer for Quirky. Out of quirky I started my first design studio called Visibility in 2013, 8 years later I renamed the studio Guerra Office. I co-founded Airsign in 2022, a contemporary appliance company that leads with sustainable design, our first product was a HEPA Vacuum Cleaner. Between Airsign and Guerra Office, it’s been a busy few years and I’ll be launching lots of new designs, partnerships and products soon!
JB: Anything else my readers should know about you or Guerra.
JG: I’ve recently started working on the 2D side of brands while designing the physical products in tandem. Good design makes great brands, and the two should always work hand in hand.
Thanks to Joseph for coming on the newsletter! Be on the look out for more incredible things from Cliik and more interviews with the people you need to know.
Who Do You Know? is a daily newsletter covering marketing, business, branding, products, design, founders, and culture.
Its written by Jake Bell, a content marketing and brand strategist in NYC.
To get in touch visit www.jb.studio or email jake@jb.studio