Italian-born designer Martino Gamper, 37, is best known for his ‘100 Chairs in 100 Days’ project, in which he created hybrid chairs from a variety of recycled parts. He has designed the structure of ‘Super Contemporary’, an exhibition that opened this week at London’s Design Museum celebrating the UK capital’s creative magnetism . He lives in east London and is a course tutor for design products at the Royal College of Art.

What attracted you to your current home and why?
The front steps. There are six stone steps with metal railings on either side leading up to the front door. It’s a bit like a New York brownstone and I had visions of sitting on the steps with a coffee, chatting to neighbours, as there are lots of creative businesses in Hackney. It’s one of a dozen live/work units in a late Victorian former factory and I like this sense of a public/private space. Also, the light is very good inside. There are huge windows and I like sunny spaces. And there’s an allotment across the street where I’m growing vegetables and herbs.

Have you remodelled it?
Substantially. I’ve always rented places in London but feel it’s worth the effort of doing them up. The friends who were living here offered me the space when they moved into a house locally. I ripped out the interior and used some of their flooring to make a wall of sculptural, box-like shelving. So I kept a little bit of their life, even though they hardly recognised the place when they saw it again. I’ve totally altered the layout and now have an open-plan kitchen in the main area. I moved the bathroom and made it totally waterproof by using transparent rubber so you see through to the wooden floor, ceiling and walls. I like the idea that you can easily hose the whole area down. I also built in a bedroom that has a guest bed on a mezzanine floor. I laid industrial parquet flooring, which I sanded and waxed, using mismatched wood to create a mosaic effect. And I fitted perforated, white back-board on the walls. It’s quite functional but useful for hanging things because you don’t have to drill holes in the wall for hooks.

What’s the atmosphere like?
The raw materials, wood and light make it look a bit industrial yet it feels cosy. It’s quite a homey work environment. I’ve furnished it with lots of my chairs and the Trattoria table that I used for a food event at [London’s] Aram gallery last year. I’d like to hold food events at my home because the social aspect of having fellow workers and guests around is very important to me.

You’re surrounded by your own designs?
There are the Mollino-Gamper Remake chairs and shelving installations that I’ve exhibited at galleries, prototypes of dining chairs, the Trattoria table and my hybrid chairs.

Your ‘100 Chairs in 100 Days’ project focused on the use of recycled parts. Are environmental issues important to you?
Very much so. I try to work with reclaimed or locally sourced materials and all-natural varnishes. I often reuse materials that I’ve previously worked with and even reused some of the structure of my previous studio to build the new one.

MY FAVOURITE THINGS

Ginger and placemats

I use a Bimby Thermomix food processor to cook, steam and even make ice-cream.

A Japanese knife from my friend, Hiroko. I like the figurative aspect of Francis Upritchard’s ceramic Grandmother’s Lamps – simple but strong.

I use my Abäke placemats every day. They were made by graphic designer friends.

I love ginger so my jeweller friend, Karl Fritsch, made me a wonderful gingershaped sculpture.

You created specific furnishings for the corners of a room in one of your early projects. That’s an interesting idea.
Space is one of the initial things I consider. I’m interested in the spatial influence of furniture – how it can be used in an architectural way to echo or emphasise a space.

Where do you find inspiration?
A lot of my design is about observation – looking at spaces and the environment. It’s about reinterpreting historic pieces and sometimes taking influences from related fields such as art and theatre. I’m also intrigued by industrial systems and how things work. I like to take existing elements and play around with what has already been created.

Which is more essential in the design process – head or heart?
It starts with intuition – the heart – but you need the head as well. Emotional aspects are important but you need the rational elements, too.

Is there a designer or architect from the past – or present – that has particularly inspired you?
Gio Ponti, Carlo Mollino, Carlo Scarpa. They had a sensibility towards manufacturing and how things were made. They belonged to a time when there was a big need for design and created a sense of liberation by changing the landscape of things.

Now that you live in London, is there anything about Italy that you miss?
The mountains and snow. I grew up in Merano, a small town in the Italian Alps close to the Austrian border. At the age of 14 I began a five-year apprenticeship there as a cabinetmaker. After that I travelled around the world for two years doing all kinds of jobs, then applied to the Academy of Arts in Vienna, initially to study sculpture and product design then, after a year, focused on the latter for the rest of the three-year course. My professor, Matteo Thun, invited me to work in his Milan studio so, while I was still studying, I spent two years designing everything from cutlery and coffee cups to lighting and furniture. The academy runs an exchange programme with London’s Royal College of Art, which I attended for two terms. It was just when Ron Arad was setting up the RCA’s design products course after the furniture and industrial design departments merged. So I applied for the course and was among the first intake.

What do you love about London?
It creates a lot of opportunities for everyone in terms of work, exchanging ideas and sharing experiences. There’s a sense of freedom. People don’t judge you and you can get on with what’s important. Politics doesn’t enter into every aspect of daily life as it tends to do in Italy. Its size is an advantage but also a disadvantage. You’re glued here and it’s difficult to leave. But businesses aren’t as family-run as they are in Italy. And there’s less of a neighbourhood feel.

Are there any facilities you couldn’t live without?
A kitchen and my woodworking tools.

Do you have a dream home?
It would be an evolutionary home where I could continually add to the structure. I like the idea of a house expanding as you get older and responding to changing needs and more family. I don’t like the idea of moving into a place when it’s finished. A big goods lift would be essential. So I’d build that first and add everything around it.

Are there any other places where you’d like to live?
Buenos Aires for its architecture and New Zealand for its natural environment and feeling of space.