A 38 Minute Interview With Diego Faivre
Diego Faivre’s playful objects embody the idiom, “time is money”: he literally charges a euro per minute for each piece. Diego can make a stool in 246 minutes, a shelf in 436, and an armchair in 912. But believe it or not, Diego didn’t study accounting in school. Instead, he actually got the idea to start tracking minutes from a philosophy class, before he eventually dropped out from school altogether to pursue design.
At their quickest, Diego’s furniture “speed-runs” can compete for Guinness World Records, while other times he chooses to embrace playful procrastination over efficiency; sometimes an impromptu sword fight or a friendly round of mini golf is a well-earned part of the creative process. In a world that feels like it’s only accelerating, Diego reminds us: take your time, own your process, and make sure to add those walks as billable hours.
I’m really interested in your Minute Manufactured practice. How did you start tracking minutes?
I started consciously tracking minutes in my third year of school. I was trying to quit smoking and so I started making furniture in the workshop during smoke breaks at the design academy. I would just go make something for 15 minutes instead of smoking. One of my teachers wanted to buy a table that I made and I just figured, “14 minutes, so 14 euros.” And that's how it started.
But also, my dad is about doing everything super fast and efficiently. For example, my mom will make a tomato pie and the next day my dad will try to remake it as fast as possible. Even now when I go to my parents, I’ll ask, “how long did it take you to make this?” and he’ll know: “10 minutes, exactly.”
I don't know if you play video games, but do you know the concept of “speed-running?” I feel like your dad in a different life is playing video games instead of cooking.
There’s actually a famous speedrunner that speedruns taco-making. I don’t know if you’ve seen him?
What? No.
It’s pretty funny.
I love that it seems you've gotten that from your dad though.
My mom is so over it.
Is there anything you're most proud of speed-running?
I speed-runned a stool one time. I made it in 150 minutes. And then I made it again with five people in 20 minutes.
Do you ever try to document your speed runs?
I should start to. I actually contacted the Guinness Book of World Records once, but they never got back to me. I said I was the fastest chair maker in the world.
We got to hit them back up. I've seen people with records for walking with an egg on their head. Fastest chair maker should be in there.
I agree. I really want to do it. I have a teacher from school who has the record for the smallest chair ever made. You can only see it in a microscope.
I feel like the next big goal for us at Designheads, should be to help someone get a Guinness World Record.
If YOU 🫵 have an idea for a furniture-related Guinness World Record, please contact Designheads. We want to document it.
Also, you name your objects based on how long it takes to make them, right?
For me, it's just an honest way to name something – to say it took 20 minutes to make. Naming objects based on time also helps me avoid having to talk about money.
You said your first 14 minute chair was 14 euros. What’s the exchange rate today?
It’s one euro a minute still. I’ve thought about changing it, but I think I’d get some backlash. It’s also just symbolic at this point.
What do you factor into the time? Is it pure “making time”?
It's a bit of everything that goes into the object: collecting materials, assembly, cleaning, preparing the box for shipping.
Have you ever done the math for the total amount of time that you've spent making all of these objects?
No, I haven’t. I think it scares me a bit to be honest.
How do you enjoy your down time?
I’ve been playing a Pokemon rogue-like – it's like Pokemon with more intense rules. You have to do 200 battles in a row and if you lose, you lose everything and have to restart from the beginning.
Sounds stressful. Have you made it to 200?
I made it to 185.
I also play a lot of Age of Empires 2, SimCity, Cities: Skylines, and Minecraft.
Also, wait, so in the end, did tracking minutes actually help you quit smoking?
No, of course not. Art is stressful.
That’s real.