When did the time come to start the Mill Project ? Where did you guys start?
We were both working at the same design agency in Edinburgh, and felt unable to express ourselves, mainly frustrated with the lack of passion and creativity we were seeing in our work. We would often meet up after work to discuss different possibilities and think of ideas of how we could channel our creativity and passion into something that represented us as designers and as people.
What drew you to watch making – was it a complicated process setting up the designs?
We share many similar passions and ideas on design, in particular we were drawn towards creating a product for the everyday that we could put our mark on, a simple understated watch happened to be one of them. Maybe we were naive and motivated I guess! There were definitely complications in the process however, designing an everyday item and taking it to market was really appealing to us. Finding the right manufacturers we could collaborate with and who understood our vision was a turning point and from there everything started to click into place.
What are your ambitions as a brand? What makes Mill Project different?
Honesty is our driver. By adopting this design philosophy we could really focus on what was important in designing a wristwatch. We want to reach people with a product that they feel comes from a genuine place and the way we try to do that is through our choice in details. Hopefully we can stand out by being real with people, you can always tell when a person is on the same wave length to create from an honest place.
Do you have any favourite watch makers or brands?
I don’t know if there is a specific watch maker or brand that inspires us, it’s more an ethos to watchmaking (or any product) that we obsess over rather than watches themselves. Our first watch, the Nelson Series, is a tribute to the American industrial designer George Nelson. Aesthetically there is no similarity, we admire how Nelson was able to design at the most humane level connecting the person to the product. We are very strict on ourselves not to wander outside of those principles and that doesn’t just apply to the watch.
What is the best part about creating your products?
The day we received the first fully functional watch was an overwhelming feeling for us. We put ourselves through an intense process for creating the watch face, with several designs nearing production and then disregarded it to go back to the drawing board. It’s hard to say how many iterations we came up with, but this allowed us to be sure of our decision and that’s probably the most satisfying part – when we were able to trust our final design without any regrets or compromise.
What does the near future hold for Mill Project?
We’ve just launched our first series, we are excited to be working with some new stockists and other creative individuals that share our passion for good design. We’ve also planned a few collaborations, it’s fun for us to be able to engage with our peers and brands we admire and share ideas on what we can do next. The last 4 years for us have been pretty intense, so we’re trying to enjoy the moment as much as possible and take a step back from the design process to concentrate on seeing the watch out in the world!
Go to https://millproject.net/ for more information and follow them on instagram @millproject
