Archives

The “Design” Devil Is In The Details, an interview with Michael Lanz

Claudia Wanninger speaks to guru Michael Lanz on green design, trends and the importance of making them useful to consumers. This following excerpt appeared in Design and Innovation Interzum 2009, an editorial project published by Koelnmesse GmbH.

“… when it comes to buying furniture, consumers are showing an increasing interest in the quality of the details, and that plays a big role in how the quality of the product as a whole is perceived.”

What makes you say that?

It’s very apparent in the materials and surfaces segment, for instance. The suppliers have a lot of new and interesting solutions to offer, solutions that open up whole new areas of freedom for designers and manufacturers. In my opinion, the most important trends are a totally new touch and feel thanks to innovative textured surfaces for say, wood, embossed leathers and upholstery fabrics, as well as the premium quality and authenticity of the materials used. Sustainability and resource conservation are also becoming increasingly important.

Do you think consumers will become more interested in Green Design?

Definitely, yes, and at very different levels of meaning. On the one hand there’s New Sensualism, which is an expression of consumers' desire for a new touch and feel. This trend isn’t necessarily driven by ecological motives, it’s more a result of the stimulation overload phenomenon and tries to find ways for us to rediscover
our senses.

Then there’s a trend we call Moral Pursuit, i.e. “striving for moral values”. We believe it’s a very strong trend – you can observe it in the food and semi-luxuries segment, for instance. “I want to consume – but with a clear conscience” is the motto in this case. Or think of hybrid cars.

In my opinion, a broad section of society is willing to question its own actions and say: for me, luxury doesn’t mean being able to spend as much money as possible or owning as many things as possible; it means feeling good about life. I want the certainty of knowing the things I eat are good quality. Or of knowing the products I buy don’t harm the environment anymore than is absolutely necessary.

And what does all that have to do with furniture?

Well, if you transfer it to the furniture segment, it mainly translates into material and quality-related aspects. “I’ll buy a good piece of furniture that will last a long time and have less impact on the environment than if I buy new furniture every two years” – that’s one way consumers seem to be thinking.

Another example: What happens to old furniture? It ends up being dumped. We should start thinking about subsequent uses during the development phase, not when the products’ life is already over. What about children’s furniture that can only be used for a limited amount of time, for instance? You could design furniture for youngsters to grow with the child: it starts off as a loft bed complete with a slide but can be transformed into a normal bed later on, so your teenage kid isn’t ashamed of having a “baby’s bed”. It has elements that you can repaint yourself; or certain parts with different designs on either side, so you just have to turn them around to get rid of the comic characters.

I think there’s a market for concepts like that, too. If the concept is creative and intelligent, I’m convinced consumers will be willing to spend more money on it. If the product is really going to be used for a longer time than normal, you have to believe in it – and it has to work properly.

So ecological behaviour is largely about products with a long lifecycle?

Yes – after all, everybody has his favourite pieces that he doesn’t want to get rid of because the furniture is such good quality. There might even be a personal story associated with it, and it’s made of materials that acquire a patina. A well-made leather armchair will last forever, although of course it has to be designed in such a way that I can enter into a personal relationship with it. Then maybe even my heirs will get to enjoy it too.

Talking about favourite armchairs: what trends do you see in the upholstered furniture segment?

There’s an increasing demand for upholstered furniture that is flexible and can adapt to various spatial and/or usage situations. And the desired adjustability is being achieved with a growing number of electromechanical solutions for more convenient usage. In the case of armchairs and sofas, the trend towards “lounging” furniture with ever-lower but ever-deeper seats is still very much in evidence. And in the upholstery segment too, there’s a great demand for materials that enhance the user’s wellbeing and comfort. The same thing is happening in the bedding segment: manufacturers are offering a wide range of solutions that promote a healthy night’s sleep and/or are particularly eco-friendly.

Do these trends add up to a recipe for success?

Design isn’t a mathematical science; you can’t rely on 1+1 always equalling 2. It’s a very different discipline compared to, say, engineering. The customer is never quite sure whether the designer is doing the right thing, whether he’s giving his money to the right designer. He doesn’t know whether the product will turn out to be a success. And even successful designers produce a flop now and again. You can never be 100 percent sure. It’s a bit like when you decide to buy a certain item – the consumer and the client the design has been developed for are in the same boat: they both want their decisions to be proved right. In that respect, a design award is a measure of success, too. But a product’s economic success is more important than any design prizes it might win.

Innovative materials seem to be one key to success. When it comes to developing new constructional solutions for furniture, what generally comes first – the innovative material or the designer’s idea?

The path an innovative material takes until it finds its application can vary a great deal. Take carbon fibre composites, for instance: they actually come from the aviation and aerospace industry, or Formula 1 racing. Because they’re so light and extremely strong, there are plenty of potential applications for them in the furniture sector too – like a carbon fibre chair that’s as thin as paper. Materials like that open up a whole new area of creative freedom – which has to be made intelligent use of, of course. In turn, that can inspire an engineer to think up new ideas. So it’s always a question of give and take – a bit like a game of ping-pong. That’s why it’s important to encourage the various disciplines to DESIGNcommunicate. However, one prerequisite for successful collaboration is that people are willing to open up and create platforms for exchange rather than keeping their knowledge to themselves. That’s why the US industry was so successful 10 years ago: the people in Silicon Valley were willing to open up. Instead of locking themselves away and developing things on their own, they engaged in an exchange and were able to inspire one another. That’s what made them strong – they pulled together.

As a designer, where do you see potential for the future when it comes to furniture fittings?

Integrated or minimised solutions in the fittings sector can definitely give the designer new possibilities for furniture concepts or detail solutions. Improved surfaces and details are increasing the quality of the fittings; as a result, they’re becoming a genuine element of the design. There’s a growing number of sensor-controlled electromechanical opening mechanisms on the market. They have great potential for improving convenience, especially for older people or the physically disabled. But designers and furniture manufacturers really need to think carefully about what consumers really want.

* The “Interzum Award: Intelligent Material & Design”, a design competition organised by Koelnmesse in collaboration with Red Dot projects, was presented for the fifth time this year. A total of 209 entries from 115 companies were submitted to the jury. Michael Lanz is one of the judges for this award.

ABOUT Michael Lanz

Michael Lanz, born in 1965, joined Designaffairs (formerly the design department of Siemens AG) in 1991, after studying product design at the University of Wuppertal. Since March 2007, Michael Lanz has been one of the four new owners and managing directors of Designaffairs GmbH. In 2007/08, he was a lecturer in the technical design department at the TU Dresden. Lanz regularly gives lectures on topics such as design, the design process, and trends and has won several prestigious awards. Some of his works are part of the permanent collection of the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich.

Designaffairs is a strategy-oriented and design-driven agency for product and brand development with offices in Munich and Erlangen. It also has a partner agency – S.Point Design – in Shanghai. The creative agency operates internationally and has won about 160 design awards in the
last decade.